周勇油画展

Date: April 26th - May 6th, 2006

Opening Reception: April 26, 6-8pm

Location: Asian Fusion Gallery at New York, 15 E 40th Street, New York 10016

Asian Cultural Center invited Mr. Yong Zhou, a famous Chinese artists, to exhibit his recent oil paintings in Asian Fusion Gallery New York, which is the first stop in his exhibition trip to New York, Beijing and Taipei.

Yong Zhou was born in 1953 in the Hubei province of China. He received his Masters degree in Oil Painting from the Xian Academy of Fine Arts in 1990 under the tutelage of renowned oil painting masters Cai Liang and Chen Bei Xin. Zhou became a professor at the Xinjiang College of Design and then Xinjiang Normal University. For twenty years, he explored Xinjiang and its unique minority Uighar culture, amalgamated what he experienced and created the Xinjiang Series. In 1994, Zhou received the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) Art Award for his painting, The Great Earth’s Pledge, which was praised to have presented “the most vivid contemporary depiction of the Silk Road.”

Yong Zhou came to the United States in 1995. His paintings have been part of exhibitions in America, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He also hosted numerous successful personal exhibits. In 1998, Zhou established his own art school in New Jersey. Since then, Zhou has kept himself busy with painting, teaching and exhibiting to the accolades of many art and cultural organizations. In recent years, his works have been collected by art institutes and collectors, financial institutions and other businesses.

Yong Zhou’s early works exude a local cultural flair with vibrant colors and a down-to-earth touch. His profound expression of the Silk Road culture is woven with the romance of life and its bittersweet reality. People are depicted in an exaggerated yet undistorted manner to fully express their emotions and prevailing circumstance. Zhou has intentionally kept the subject of his paintings somewhat obscure, leaving room for the imagination. In essence, a heavy tone permeates Zhou’s works with rich colors and deep, simple contours. Even though these early paintings do not rely on layering to convey richness, they all exhibit a strong character. One can truly feel the unique joie de vivre so central to art, brimming with the spirit of freedom.

Since then, Zhou has been exploring new themes and techniques. He maintains his basic down-to-earth style while trying new approaches in hue and lighting. Be it the sparkling of a white ballet tutu or the ever-changing background of a scenery, Zhou’s works now take on a more vivacious character. Not only has he absorbed modern art’s signature exaggeration of color and personality, he pays even more attention to the harmony and rhythm of his composition. Zhou has even elevated his paintings’ visual effect with literary themes.

Whether it is the graveness of Yong Zhou’s early Xinjiang Series or the lightness of being of his recent Ballet Series, there exists a romantic notion that stems from life itself and the dreams that traverse beyond life. This unique quality, stemming from the artist’s personality and character, is what sets him apart from the common men.
　

亚洲文化中心很荣幸邀请到著名画家周勇在纽约亚洲美术馆展出他最新创作的作品。本次纽约油画展是周勇纽约、北京、台北巡回展的第一站。其后，其作品还将在北京中国美术馆和台北国父纪念堂展出。

周勇，湖北人1953年生，1990年获得西安美术学院油画系硕士，承师油画名家蔡亮、諶北新。先后任职新疆艺术学院和新疆师范学院教授。二十多年探索磨练于新疆维吾尔族农牧民休戚与共，创作了独具特色的《新疆组画》。1994年荣获《大地的誓言》联合国艺术奖。被誉为“今日最生动的丝绸之路风彩。”

1995年周勇赴美，先后在美国东西两岸•台湾•香港等地展出作品和举办个人回顾画展。1998年于美国新泽西州创建美术学校，近年来作品被艺术机构•银行•企业和艺术鉴赏家收藏。

早期作品风格独具地域风俗特色， 笔触朴拙粗犷，色彩热列厚重，深沉含蓄地表达了丝绸之路的风土人情，浪漫中凝炼着苦涩。人物造型夸张扭曲，但不畸形怪异，求其神弃其形地提炼了人物的内心世界，和此时此刻生活状态的意境。作品主题不外露，开放着视觉的想象空间。画面大都有着滞沉的基调，明亮色块饱和丰富。用笔简练，人物轮廓粗略，层次不多但个性鲜明。特具一种对艺术品格来说极重要的生命力――－作品的内在张力所表现出来的自由精神。

近年来题材和表现形式都有创新。无论白色芭蕾舞裙上的点点光彩，和不断变化的背景色彩基调都更为活泼。吸收了现代绘画中色彩夸张，个性渲泻的特征，更重视形体构图的和谐和韵律，把绘画的视觉效果从文学主题中升华出来。

对比近作《母亲河系列》和多年前画的新疆维吾尔族风俗画，色彩日趋富丽，构图更加稳重。人和自然背景的关系融合无间，画面主题不再局限在人，而是在这样特定天地下的人物了，不但确切地表现了母亲河这个主题，也折射出画家更高层次的审美视野。
无论周勇《新疆组画》的苦涩凝重，和《芭蕾舞系列》的活泼张扬，都有着一个浪漫的情怀，一种来自生活又梦想着超越生活的浪漫理想，这正是画家的个性和艺术品格的特征。