Chen Weinong (born in 1962 in the province of Zhejiang, China) is a contemporary artist who combines in his work abstract art techniques and the traditions and philosophy of Chinese painting.

Chen Weinong was born and spent most of his life in China. He received his education at the National Academy of Fine Arts, which, among other things, provides one with a profound knowledge of the history of art, which in the national tradition is indissolubly bound up with philosophy and religion. However symbolic and strict the foundations and rules of Chinese painting are, one of its major principles formulated in the 5th century and still honored to this day is the presence of a spiritualized rhythm of animate movement in paintings. It is this rhythm, which reminds us now of the swell of the ocean, now of sunrays breaking through the clouds, now of the interplay of shadow and light on the ground and the wall of a house, that Chen Weinong’s works are filled with.

Chen Weinong first came to Europe in 2001. Back then, the artist, who had deeply imbibed the traditions of the school of national painting and attained mastership in working with ink and brush, began to explore new opportunities for expressing things through art, get into the spirit of a different atmosphere, and learn certain things anew. Chen Weinong confesses that he has understood that in order to become a contemporary artist he needs to go beyond the traditions of national art. He acknowledges that a contemporary Chinese artist needs to have a profound knowledge of Chinese classic culture and diligently practice traditional art forms and realizes that in order to make his works appealing and understandable not just to his compatriots he needs to constantly search for new language and forms to express his sensations.

Ten years and change later, Chen Weinong’s style is talked about as one that has formed and become recognizable. You can tell the artist’s ethnic background and his penmanship as soon as you look at his works. Having said that, these are not lines of unknown symbols, as hieroglyphs look to most of those who do not know the language. Taken deliberately large, his rhythmic ink strokes from a sign's components become part of a landscape or an abstract composition. They call Chen’s style calligraphic expressionism or abstractionism Chinese-style, finding in it a convergence of abstract art and traditions of Chinese painting. The artist’s primary materials are still paper and ink, but he does not quite always work in traditional ways – for instance, he puts strokes on the sheet standing over it, as Jackson Pollock used to do (critics compare Chen Weinong specifically to Pollock – and to Kandinsky). Symbols in his interpretation simultaneously break free of a past sense and get filled with a new one, while the artist, being under the influence of Western art, himself influences the West at the same time. One of his series is called “Between Calligraphy and Painting”. Speaking of this series and his works in general, Chen Weinong says of himself: “I am an artist, a Chinese artist, but, above all, I am a genuine calligrapher,” noting: “The Chinese believe that painting and calligraphy have the same roots”.

CHEN, Weinong

Profile:

Artist Names: Chen Mo; Master of Shennong Tea House

Born in 1962, Haining, Zhejiang Province, China,

Graduated in 1988, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China,

Memberships:

UNESCO Association Internationale des Arts Plastiques,

Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts,

La Maison des Artistes,

Currently he is living and working between Paris, France and Haining, China

Solo Exhibitions

2014, Chen Weinong  Solo Exhibitions,Gallery Shchukin,Paris,France

2013, Between Calligraphy and Painting by Chen Weinong ,

Gallery Flish,Paris,France

2012, Chen Weinong: die kunst der strichführung-tuschearbeiten zwischen kalligraphie und malerei,

Konfuzius-institut an der freien Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

2012, Chen Weinong :Between China and France,2001-2012,Art Exhibition,Shanghai Art Museum. Shanghai, China.

2012, Chen Weinong: Calligraphie suspendue, Alliance Francaise de Hangzhou, Hangzhou, China

2011, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Galerie LUOHAN, Paris, France

2010，ChenWeinong: L'arte del tratto , Galleria Otto, Rome, Italy.

2009, Between Calligraphy and Painting by Chen Weinong Gallery Nine, Amsterdam, Netherlands    

2007，Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Puxua Art Museum, Jiaxing, China

2006, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Galerie Dryade, Paris, France

2006, Ink Splash Paintings by Chen Weinong, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

2006, Ink Splash Paintings by Chen Weinong, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland - Shanghai, China

2003, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Saint-Martin Gallery, Paris, France

2002, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Myrna Myers Gallery, Paris, France

2001, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, Cite International des Arts, Paris France

2000, Ink Brush Paintings by Chen Weinong, International Art Fair, Dalian, China

1998, Chinese Paintings by Chen Weinong, China Art Expo, Beijing, China

1997, Chinese Paintings by Chen Weinong, Shanghai Art Expo, Shanghai, China

1991, Chinese Paintings by Chen Weinong, Zhejiang Artists Gallery, Haining, China

1988, Paintings & Calligraphy by Chen Weinong, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China

Group Exhibitions

2013, SNBA Salon 2013, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

China National art Gallery，Beijing, China

2012, “Partings and Calligraphy on Chinese Sericulture“,

China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China,

2011, “Art en Capital”, Grand Palais. Paris, France

2010, SALON 2010, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

2010, Gallery Nine, Amsterdam, Netherlands,

2009,Zhejiang Art Museum,Hangzhou,China.

2008, SALON 2008, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

2008，“Zeng a Paris“，Galerie Metanoia, Paris,France

2008, Galerie Dryade , Paris, France

2008, Beijing Library, Beijing, China

2007, SALON 2007,Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

Prix Charles Cottet

2007, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Shanghai ,China

2006, Shanghai Art Expo, Shanghai, China

2006, The 9th Westlake Expo of Art, Hangzhou, China

2006, Palast Nymphenburg, Munich, Germany

2006, Galerie Gereraud Sommer, Munich, Germany

2005, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China

2005, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2005, Milan Art Festival (MIART), Milan, Italy

2004, “Le Chine in Geneva”, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2004, Commencement, Strasbourg, France

2003, Antiquaires, Lausanne, Switzerland

2003, The 12th European Art EXPO, Geneva, Switzerland

2003, "Art in Black & White," Leda Fletcher Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2003，"Chen, Father & Son," Myrna Myers Gallery, Paris, France

2000, Gangneung, South Korea

1999, China Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China

1999, Hong Kong Conference Center, Hong Kong

1998, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, China

1995, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

1992, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China

1985, Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, Hangzhou, China