 |
 |
CHEN Zhen |
CHEN Zhen
Born in Shanghai in 1955. Graduated from the Shanghai Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1976 and remained at the Academy to teach. In 1982 he graduated from the Set Design department at the Shanghai Opera Academy where he also remained as an instructor. In 1986 he began attending classes at the École Nationale Sup¨¦rieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he passed away in Paris in 2000.
Chen Zhen was trained in painting from an early age. In the 1980s he was first influenced by impressionism but he quickly turned to the domain of abstract painting. The foundations of Chen Zhen¡¯s abstract painting were based upon ancient Chinese philosophers, modern Western philosophers and aesthetic theorists; he called this method ¡°boundary line painting.¡± His Chi in Motion series brought the traditional Chinese cultural elements of ¡°Chi¡± the ¡°Dao¡± and other philosophical concepts into his painting. He also penned a thesis of more than 10,000 characters on the subject. The works in this series represent an important turning point in the artist¡¯s creative process, preparing him for the conceptual art of the future
