references
Yan Cheng developed his own personal style, one hailing from various disciples of modern abstraction. If the influence of Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun, whom Yan Cheng met during this period, is above all manifest in the freedom he took from the constraints of figuration and stricter gestures, the artistic expression he developed was different from that of his two predecessors: he sought to divest himself of the real world. His painting is, in effect, eminently physical and visual; the artist incessantly seeks to transcribe upon the canvas the dialogue between man, the universe, and nature, deeply suffused with millennial art and Chinese philosophy. The titles of his works, as opposed to those of Zao Wou-ki’s later period which bear dates, demonstrate the intrinsic link that Wang Yan Cheng maintains with the real world, through titles such as Vase Composition or Night Falls on the Water. The mass of colors on canvas, their contrasts and harmony, the work in relief and planar areas, the fantastical conglomerates created by the painter, often drove critics to speak of his painting using cosmic terms, which then situated his works as depictions of “primordial chaos” or dizzying “black holes.” Wang Yan Cheng’s painting aims to portray the essence of things, interiority hidden behind appearances. To access this realm, the viewer has to enter his pictorial dimension to uncode the creator’s process by following the paths of thought and contemplation. Having created a piece for Beijing’s Opera in 2007, Wang Yan Cheng was named Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters. He shares his time between France and China. Ultimately, his life very much reflects his art, which emerges from skilled, thoughtful growth as well as from exchanges between two sets of culture from which he can draw inspiration to develop eloquent, singular, original art. A brilliant creator of emotive and sensorial art with material contrasts and plentiful colors, Wang Yan Cheng won a place within the leading figures of contemporary lyrical abstraction.
作为中国当代艺术艺术家领军人物之一，王衍成于1960 年生于广东，幼年时常帮助其父母在煤矿工作。18岁开始 于山东美术学院学习，正式接受系统的美术教育，由于大 多数于山东美术学院任教的老师都曾于欧洲游学，于是王 衍成也较早接触到西式的美术教育系统。1989年王衍成于 参加北京第一届当代艺术博览会，同年，他来到法国并于 Saint-Etienne居住，并之后搬到了巴黎。除在街头帮路人 画肖像画以谋生之外，他同时经常参观博物馆及博览会， 受到法国及西方现代文化的滋养，毕加索及罗斯科等西方 大师都对其有较深影响。1996年王衍成受邀参加摩纳哥亲 王阿尔贝二世基金会举办的展览并获得阿尔贝亲王大奖， 自此掀开了其艺术生涯上辉煌的篇章。也是在此阶段，王 衍成开始舍弃其写实主义的绘画风格，而转向与赵无极和 朱德群方向的抽象主义表达。 王衍成逐渐发展成具有个人风格的抽象主义绘画，赵无极 及朱德群的绘画风格对王衍成的个人创作影响可见一斑， 艺术家开始将创作主题转向超越现实的虚无世界，他的绘 画是有形而又直观的，艺术家继承了中国传统哲学文化， 尝试追寻人，自然和宇宙之间的关系。不同于赵无极后期 作品，王衍成的作品仍保持某种程度的具象元素，流水， 拂晓等自然元素存在其作品内，矛盾与和谐，空阔与丰 盈，凸出及平缓的色块。艺术家作品中岩石状色块被赋 予‘原始的混沌’，或‘令人晕眩的黑洞’的名称， 王衍 成作品中通过描绘的抽象物质向观者传达一种力量，透过 画面将观者带入艺术家创造出的世界并且同时激起观者对 作品和自身关系的反思。 2007年，王衍成为北京歌剧院创作一幅重要作品，并相继 获得“法兰西共和国艺术与文学骑士勋章”和“法兰�
