Letter of Recommendation

Lee, Kyong-sung

Art Critic

Ex-curator of the National Gallery of Modern Arts

Art is created under the influence of the interrelation of neighboring cultures. For this reason, Asian art has grown out of the interplay between the arts of such countries as Chinas, Korea and Japan.

Modern China has for a long time been isolated from the outside world because of political restrictions. People outside the country had a limited access to modern Chinese arts, and had an underdeveloped appreciation for the beauty of modern Chinese arts in comparison to their own. It was after 1989 Democratic Movement that China gradually started opening its door to outsiders, allowing for a glimpse of its modern arts.

Since then, Korea's E-land group Culture Division has explored for the talented modern Chinese painters and published books on their paintings. One of the achievements by the Division is the publication of a book on Zhang, Li Chen and his paintings. Needless to say, Zhang is one of the painters China is proud of.

Zhang has created his own unique world of beauty based on the Chinese tradition. His paintings have a strong atmosphere and a bold style. Such strength and boldness originate from China's tradition. Zhang, inspired by Qing Teng, Shi Tao and Wu, Chaing Shuo, has assimilated their views of art into his own style. Zhang is said to be the master of painting flowers and birds. These are the means by which Zhang expressed the true character of his art. Zhang's canvass is in itself a universe of beauty portrayed in his distinctive manner.

Zhang's works can be classified into two categories: those done by brush and Chinese ink and those done with his hands. The former shows the grand and subtle beauty revealed by a variety of changes of the forms in his paintings.

His works are grand because the forms of his work are full of energy and as firm as rocks. The essence of paintings, both in the west and the east alike, is how the creative artist shows his own way of looking at the world-artists should develop his own style and his own way of expression. As for Zhang, Li Chen, the canvass is a universe to arrange things in harmony, so the positive space (painted space) and negative space (the space between objects) work together by playing their own roles.

Both the positive space and negative space convey a combined idea. The most extraordinary about his work is the variety of shades in his paintings. His talent for commending such a wide array of shades is superb.

Based on the two traditional techniques of handling ink brushes in Chinese landscape painting. Check whether this is right, Zhang has developed two other original techniques, shupomo and moposhui.

All these techniques are also combined in his painting done with his hand. Here he uses fingers, nails, and palms for applying ink and dye to his canvass.

Zhang, Li Chen (pen name : fisherman) is currently working as a professor of the Beijing Central Institute of Arts and dedicated to educating young artists. Zhang was born in Jiangsu Province in 1939 and had five-years of training from 1960 in Zhejiang Province under the guidance of Pan, Tian Shou, one of the masters of the Chinese painting. Pan, Tian Shou played a vital role in shaping artist Zhang.

Have a look at the life of Zhang and you can find the life of an ordinary artist. Like other artists, Zhang has dedicated himself to his art and training young students.

However, his world of art is unique and creative, which seemed to derive more from his inherent talent than from years of practice. We can relish part of the modern Chinese painting through the works of Zhang. He's an eye opener to the yet-to-know world of the modern Chinese painting.

At the age of fifty six, Zhang is young in the world of art because artists in their fifties are on the stage of developing their own world of art after a training period. When Zhang is in his sixties, we will see his true value as an artist, and are sure that he will consistently continue efforts for his world of art in futuristic, creative way. It is also my honor to introduce other talented Korean painters to you.