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He Neng & He Deguang.......Contact Fingerhut for information or to place an order.
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| He Neng |
He Deguang
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Born in Chendu, Sichuan in 1942, He Neng showed his artistic promise early on. He attended the high school affiliated with the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and then the Academy itself, specializing in traditional painting. Upon graduation in 1965, he was assigned to Kunming where he had a succession of jobs producing the political images demanded during the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution. He served first as art editor for the Yunnan News Agency, then as set designer for the Yunnan Opera Company and subsequently in the Yunnan Film Studio. He also illustrated books.
The seminal collaboration among He Neng, Jiang and Liu Shaohui that formed the Yunnan School style occurred in 1979 when they worked on paintings of Yunnan scenes for a documentary film. He Neng's printings won him a first prize for illustration, and by 1980 he was transferred to the Yunnan Artists Association. In 1981 he was invited to join the faculty of the Yunnan Art Institute where he is now a professor. In that same year, he was part of the controversial "Ten Yunnan Artists" exhibition in Beijing's National Art Gallery. In 1982 he triumphantly participated in the acclaimed "Heavy Color" exhibitions in Hong Kong and Singapore, which resulted in recognition of the "Yunnan School." He Neng subsequently showed in Europe, Japan and the United States, traveling to California as a visiting artist in1987. Using the renaissance of the Chinese rich color technique that is the hallmark of the Yunnan School, He Neng's visions draw upon china's mythic past. He features images of the cosmic archer (in a style related to Han hunting scenes); the divine long-waisted beauties from the Dunhuang cave paintings who fly the heavens; and the Chinese Adam' as herd boy flutist, wearing hill tribe motifs. He retells tribal myths using water and gourd patterns that appear abstract, as seen in Prayer. He Neng says, "I let the brush strokes follow the fluctuation of my thought and emotion; my result is unexpected. I strain to emancipate myself from the confines of the tangible world -- I struggle and am never satisfied." |
He Deguang, born in 1945 in Kunming, wanted to be an artist from childhood. He attended the Yunnan Art Institute and graduated in 1963 which he remembers as a period of dire hardship. The difficulties are generally blamed on the Great Leap Forward, the misfired economic plan of 1958-60, and natural disasters that resulted in poor harvests. After He Deguang's graduation he was assigned to work in a factory which he did for nine years. In 1972 he was reassigned to an army song and dance troupe as a set designer.
He Deguang participated in the groundbreaking 1980 Shen She exhibition. In 1982 he joined with Jiang, Liu and He Neng to form a group that called itself "Contemporary Chinese Heavy Color" and he also participated in the Hong Kong exhibition of that year. He Deguang felt that the artistic opportunity he had always dream't of materialized in 1982 when he won a spot in a post graduate program at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts. When He Deguang returned to Kunming he took a new job at a masses art center where he is curator of folk art of Yunnan minority peoples. He Deguang talks about art: "I believe that art is a combination of intense experiences, feelings and love . . . I live in an ancient land with majestic mountains, clear blue skies that are full of beautiful people, especially the minority people who are so innocent and honest. My goal is to imbue my works with the love I feel for the people and the land." |