Chunming Yu is an artist of two worlds. Trained in the traditional art forms of his native China, Yu has also been greatly influenced by traditions of the West, particularly those of European artists of the Baroque era. His paintings are a stylistic fusion of Eastern iconography, vantage points, and perspective coupled with a devotion to the subtleties and emotional power of light through a layering of chiaroscuro, the interplay of light and dark.

This coupling is accomplished in a deceivingly quiet manner, belying our immediate recognition of this or that influence. His works contain the refined and delicately nuanced chiaroscuro of paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the artists Yu readily identifies with and from whom he appropriated stylistic techniques. He blends them seamlessly into his unique vision of traditional Chinese culture -- as seen through its domestic architecture - and the sometimes perceived separateness of that culture from the West, the competing subcultures within his native land, and, perhaps even more importantly, the underlying oneness of all cultures unifies us all.It is this subtext of Yu’s work that is expressed mainly in the melding of traditional Chinese aesthetics with the stylistic and technical influences garnered from the artist’s extensive study of Western masters.

Many of Yu’s paintings share with the viewer of a traditional Chinese village, the thatched or tiled rooftops puzzled atop of one another, rising higher and more distant as our view recedes.It is an omniscient view. There are many cultural flavors in these works. Though perhaps unfamiliar with an intimate knowledge of the various locations the painted villages depict, they speak to us of communities steeped in history, a connotation that indicates a strong cultural heritage. We understand that these locations are familiar to the artist and his own cultural history. but it is the overarching downward view he gives us that removes any particular identities and enables the viewer, regardless of his or her personal cultural identification, to associate and identify with the image.

The vantage of the downward view expands our understanding in the true meaning of village. We know these are Chinese locales. and there are strong visual indicators that would make them seem to be nothing.It is influenced by the artist’s marriage from East and West. however, which enables us to see them as universal.As a matter of fact, the indicators clearly is signal of China, but the infusion of chiaroscuro, that most Baroque of symbolic techniques, adds a dimensionality that is familiar to Western audiences as well.We see “China”, but we intuit any traditional villages with which we may also be familiar. Light plays at the contours of each separate yet interlocked building, always emphasizing the interplay between separateness and connection. The evidence of life further enhances this universal identification.While we do not see life itself, we are given many indicators of its presence: lights flickering in tiny anonymous windows, a cart by the lane, boats navigating their way across the canvas, and it is in these small signs of life that we are able to imagine ourselves. We may found those could be lights in our houses while we were looking down upon our own village or town.

A strong light motif or recurring image that appears in many of Yu’s paintings is a waterway, often dark and mysterious. traversing its way down the canvas, bifurcating the portrayed villagescape in two. In a psychological sense water often refers to a great spiritual unknown. the mystery of life beyond the apparent which we all - like the tiny boats that dot the waterways - must traverse. The two halves of the villages seem to be separate, an apt metaphor for our own perceptions of our existence in the world, but in fact, they are not. Bridges inevitably appear, spanning that mysterious stream of our unconsciousness, to connect the other. Just as Yu transcends cultural singularity through his expert blending of Eastern and Western painting techniques and styles, so do his works play upon the viewer’s understanding of their relationships to one another, even if oceans of water and millennia of time separate them.

Chunming Yu may be an artist with feet planted firmly in two worlds of artistic tradition, but the message of his works truly reveals the oneness of us all. It is an omniscient and rewarding view.

Preston Metcalf

Santa Clara, California

Curator, Triton Museum of Art

July, 2008

余春明是一位融合兩個世界的藝術家。除了對中國傳統藝術形式的領悟，他亦深受西方傳統，尤其是巴洛克時期歐洲藝術家的影響。他的繪畫在風格上融合了東方肖像畫法、山水畫構圖和散點透視法。他通過明暗對照畫法、對亮光及陰影的控制和對細節的關注，表現了光與影的情感力量。

這種結合是通過一種看似平靜、使人不能輕易覺察到各種畫風影響的手法來達到的。余的作品中包含了很多倫勃朗單色畫中運用得極其微妙精到的元素，而藝術家本人也深刻認識到這一技巧和風格的傳承。他把這些技巧天衣無縫地運用於他對傳統中國文化的理解—例如民居，運用於他對中西文化差異的觀察、對中國各種次文化的解讀，也許還有更為重要的，是對所有文化共性的認同。通過傳統中國美學與西方大師技巧風格的結合，余春明的作品得以表達這一深層含義。

他的很多作品都呈現了鳥瞰某個傳統中國村落的景觀。茅草或是磚瓦屋頂鱗次櫛比，逐漸遠去。這是一副全景圖。這些作品中包含大量文化符號。觀眾也許對這些村莊的地理位置並不熟悉，但它們無疑展現了歷史久遠、人文傳統豐厚的社群。藝術家熟知這些題材，但俯視的視角卻幫助藝術家剝離村落的具體特徵，從而使來自不同文化背景的觀眾對圖象產生認同。

俯視視角還拓展了我們對「村莊」真正意義的理解。我們知道這些村莊地處中國—許多視覺符號都明確無誤地表明這一點。然而，藝術家對於東西方傳統的結合使我們更看到它們的普遍性。誠然，作品中的符號無疑是中國的;但其中的單色畫元素、象徵技巧的巴洛克風格卻為作品帶來了西方觀眾所熟知的東西。我們看見了「中國」，但它們也讓我們想起任何我們所熟悉的古老村莊。余的作品中獨立卻又相聯的門洞中總是出現光亮，它們象徵著分離與聯結之間的關係。生命跡象的出現更加強調了這種普遍認同。儘管我們沒有看見生命出現，卻得到很多它們存在的暗示:遠處窗戶中微弱的燈光、小巷中的推車、行駛的小船；正是通過這些生命的暗示我們想象著自身。它們可能是我們家裡的燈光，我們正俯視著自己的村莊或城鎮。

水路是經常出現在余春明作品中的意象。通常它們幽暗、神秘，從畫面蜿蜒而下，把村莊分為兩半。從心理層面上來說，水象徵精神上某種未知的偉大力量，一種超越平凡的生命神秘性;就像水中行駛的小船一樣，我們每個人都必須行走其中。村莊兩邊看上去是分開的，彷彿我們對自身存在的認識--但事實並非如此。橫跨我們神秘的無意識流的橋出現了，使分離的部分聯結在一起。正如余春明通過東西方繪畫技巧與風格的結合超越了文化的單一性，他的作品引發觀眾思考人們之間的關係，即使他們遠隔重洋。

余春明是一位深植於兩種藝術傳統的藝術大家，同時他的作品又深深揭示出我們所有人的一體性。這是一幅全知的、意義非凡的圖景。

普雷斯頓·梅特卡夫

美國加利福尼亞州聖塔克拉拉市

崔頓藝術博物館館長

2008年7月

（翻譯：邱頎）

【Introduction to the Interlocuters】

Interviewer - Wu Shu, writer, cultural scholar and senior journalist

Interviewee - Yu Chunming, painter, lives in the United States. After graduating from the China Academy of Art in 1982, he taught at Jiangxi University. In 1996, he was invited as a visiting scholar to give lectures in American universities, and later settled in the United States. He was professor and museum curator at the School of Art and Design, Nanchang University.

For decades, no matter where he is in the East or the West, Professor Yu Chunming has had a special interest for the Chinese traditional residence culture. He has continued to travel all over the country to inspect ancient houses, and has completed more than 3,000 special sketches and hundreds of special paintings. He is the master of Chinese traditional residence culture and the first person in the series of Chinese traditional residence paintings. His works are highly recognized by art critics and sought after by domestic and foreign collection institutions and individuals. The National Art Museum of China, Stanford University Library in the United States, Nagasaki City Art Museum in Japan and other influential collection institutions in the world, as well as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and private collectors in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and other countries have successively collected his paintings. The United States Postal Service has twice printed his oil paintings as first day covers for major events and major holidays.

Old house · Road of no return

Wu Shu: You brought your folk houses to the eyes of Eastern and Western art collectors and critics. I want to know, what kind of road have you traveled all these years?

Yu Chunming: After the Cultural Revolution in 1978, the college entrance examination was resumed. I was admitted to the China Academy of Art. After graduating in 1982, I taught in the Department of Architecture of Nanchang University. In 1996, I was invited by UCLA University to give lectures in the United States as a visiting scholar and settled there. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts, I devoted myself to exploring my own individual style, working day and night at home to create my own creations. Because everything I can draw is what I know, and what I know is almost all other people's styles.

In the summer of 1983, I went to the mountainous area of southern Anhui with distress and wandering. When I got out of the car, I was shocked by the special scenery there - a hundred-year-old house was formed by mountains and rivers, forming villages everywhere, all with black tiles and white walls. After the natural weathering in the rain, the original monotony is broken, and a beautiful picture with rich texture and rigorous combination of blocks and surfaces is presented between the mottles. I was walking in the alleys, stepping on the bluestone slabs spanning hundreds or even thousands of years, and I felt even more vicissitudes of life and my heart beat faster. There was no painting or image that shocked my heart so much. Looking for a painting object? Maybe this is called fate. Since then, I have willingly shouldered the big "burden" of traditional Chinese culture, and decided to use the way of painting to retain a section of history, and a painting for more than 20 years, traveled all over China, visiting those ancient dwellings with local characteristics.

It took me more than ten years to travel all over China's vast rural villages and towns, drew more than 3,000 small sketches, took tens of thousands of photos, and wrote a column on "local dwellings" in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, started writing books, participated in the seminar on folk houses and folk customs hopes to arouse people's sense of responsibility to protect ancient Chinese houses. Every summer, I go out for two months. The road is difficult, and I have experienced many dangers. Not to mention, I am also financially indebted. What makes it even more painful is that not many people can understand all this. The work unit is not supported, the work is unstable, and the society responds indifferently. Even the China Youth Daily, which has always been daring to follow the trend, refused to publish my articles on residential research and paintings at that time, they said: “Painting a broken house reflects the dark side of socialism.”

Wu Shu: Did you ever think about changing course?

Yu Chunming: Maybe it's because of my personality. Although this road is long and difficult, I often feel that the mountains and rivers have no way to go, but the Chinese folk houses in the world are like a treasure house of aesthetics, which is enough to support my concentration. After more than ten years of research and sketching, I spent more than twenty years creating hundreds of paintings depicting more than thirty typical residential environments and various old houses across the country.

Wu Shu: I think it is difficult for oil painting to control the monotonous white walls and black tiles of water town dwellings in the south of the Yangtze River. After all, oil painting is a kind of painting native to the West, and it has its own cultural genes. The chance of successful grafting of different genes is very small, isn't it?

Yu Chunming: Contrary to what you think, when I was moved by the temperament and atmosphere of the dwellings, I found that the traditional watercolor and general painting skills that I used very well were pale and weak, so I wanted to express it in different ways. At that time, I was working on lacquer painting. Inspired by the technique of "separation of oil and water", I tried to draw sketches of residential houses by combining oil pastels and watercolors, and obtained unexpected results. I just want to accept the feeling that the folk house gives me and express it, and never give up the idea to deliberately pursue and express my personal “skills."

After immigrating to the United States in 1997, Yu Chunming did not turn to the easy-going business style in the fierce commercial competition environment, but continued to create the theme of residential houses for which he had been fighting for more than ten years.

Wu Shu: How did you integrate your paintings into the local art market in the United States and get recognized by the mainstream art circle?

Yu Chunming: The traditional Chinese concepts I want to express are not understood not only by Americans, but also by the Chinese people today. I need to translate what I want to say into a language that everyone understands and loves. What the picture wants to convey is a universal cultural connotation. To do this is very difficult, first of all, we must find the cultural differences that exist between different artistic genes.

Once, Yang Siliang, a Ph.D. in the history of oriental art from Danas University, came to live in a small house. He looked at my painting and said, "Your paintings have the traditional Chinese flavor and connotation, and have an oriental spatial relationship, but there is no light. Add light to your paintings, this is America after all." Dr. Yang's advice was like a slap in the face, after that, I deliberately distanced myself from the local culture and historical ecology, looked back "from the shore", and conducted a study on the differences between Eastern and Western painting arts. A comprehensive review and reflection.

In the two major art systems of the East and the West, Western art focuses on "light", trying to express the "God" - the Creator by establishing the sense of order of light in the shape of objects and people. Light represents God; Eastern art focuses on the "Qi" of "mixed with things, born from the heavens and the earth" ("Tao Te Ching"), and achieves the goal of cultivating "Dao" with the order criterion of "vigorous and vivid". From different angles and forms, Eastern and Western art each renders its own "God" or "Tao". The light illuminates objects that can be seen and touched, while the "Qi" cannot be seen or touched. Westerners have no way of understanding "Qi", and Easterners can't easily understand the meaning conveyed by Western light. How to realize the connection between the two, so that there is "Qi" in the light, and "Qi" can transmit light? This is the first new topic I set for myself since I came to America.

It is not easy to find a good connection point between the language of "light" in Western art and the language of line and space in the East. I try to put light in texture, line and space to express human nature and life experience, outlook on life and warmth of home.


When choosing the elements of Chinese painting that are easy to integrate with Western painting, I found that only by going back to the Tang and Song dynasties can I combine with the color and light of the West. Paintings at that time emphasized the relationship between nature and the soul. The paintings after the Song Dynasty did not have any innovation for hundreds of years, and basically did not consider natural elements. Painting became a kind of graphic lyricism, emphasizing the expression and expression of temperament and ambition. In the Tang and Song dynasties, they were in a stage of diversification and opening, and a variety of artistic methods were frequently exchanged with the West. During my research, I found that the structure and shape of the landscapes that appeared on the background of early Western Renaissance oil paintings seemed to be similar to those of the Song Dynasty landscape paintings.

Wu Shu: I have also noticed that in recent years, your collection of residential paintings has expanded rapidly, and even the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has collected your works.

Yu Chunming: The most comforting thing for me is that through more than ten years of exploration and experimentation across the Pacific Ocean, I have tried my best to combine the rhythm and charm of Eastern and Western painting art, and combined the two into my own painting style, and finally found a way of my own. The artistic path - oil painting + ink painting to express Chinese ancient dwellings.

When the East meets the West, what will happen is the blending of color, light and line space, the contrast between ink rhythm and light and shadow levels, the aesthetic conception of Chinese literati who cultivate life in the world of pen and ink, and the Western aesthetic concept that reflects the cosmology in the light of God Fusion in visual order. Oil painting can also express the artistic conception in ink painting, but it cannot replace the medium of ink painting, which is its unique aesthetic value. The core value of all human art forms should be detached from regional cultural traditions and belong to all human beings.

(English translation by Peter Ho, Daniel Chan)

【對話人簡介】

訪問者——吳樹，著名作家、文化學者、資深記者

受訪者——余春明，著名旅美畫家。1982年於中國美術學院畢業後任教於江西大學，1996年受邀作為訪問學者去美國大學講學，現定居美國。

幾十年來，無論身處東西方，余春明教授對中國民居文化情有獨鍾，持續走遍全國各地考察古民居，完成專題速寫三千餘幅、專題畫作數百幅，被業界譽為「中國民居文化集大成者」「中國民居系列繪畫第一人」。其作品受到藝術評論界高度關注與國內外收藏機構、個人的追捧。中國美術館、美國史丹福大學圖書館、日本長崎市美術館等世界有影響的收藏機構，以及英國原首相撒切爾夫人和美、英、法、德、日等國的私人收藏家都先後收藏了他的畫作。美國郵政當局兩次將他的油畫作品印製成重大活動、重要節日的首日封。

【老屋子 · 不歸路】

吳樹：您帶著您的民居異軍突起出現在東西方藝術收藏家和評論家的視野里。我想知道，這些年您究竟走過一條怎樣的路？

余春明：1978年文革之後恢復高考，我考進了中國美術學院就讀，1982年畢業後在南昌大學建築系任教，1996年受美國UCLA邀請作為訪問學者赴美講學並在那邊定居。從美院畢業後，我曾致力於探尋自己的個性風格，夜以繼日地在家裡苦思冥想進行創作，整整一年做了無數次嘗試，最終一無所獲。因為凡是我能畫出來的，都是我知道的，我所知道的，幾乎全是別人的風格。

1983年暑期，我帶著苦惱和傍徨去到皖南山區，一下車便被那裡一道特殊的風景線震懾——一幢幢百年老宅依山傍水組合成一處處村落，清一色的黑瓦白牆經日曬雨淋自然風化後打破了原有的單調，在斑斑駁駁之間呈現出一幅幅肌理豐富、塊面組合嚴謹的優美畫面。我步行在小巷之中，踏在橫亙數百年、甚至千年歷史的青石板上，更覺步步滄桑、心跳加速，以往沒有任何繪畫或物象讓我的內心如此震撼，這不正是我苦苦尋找的繪畫對象嗎？也許這就叫緣分吧，此後，我便心甘情願地背負起這個中國傳統文化的大「包袱」，決計要用繪畫的方式留住一段段歷史，並且一畫就是二十餘年，走遍中國56個民族，遍訪那些具有地方特色的古老民居。

我用了十幾年時間，走遍中國廣大農村鄉鎮，畫了三千多幅小速寫，拍了數萬張照片，並在人民日報海外版上撰寫「地方民居」專欄，開始寫書，參加民居、民俗研討會，希望能喚起人們保護中國古民居之責任感。每年夏季外出兩個月，路途艱辛，屢經危險且不說，經濟上也是負債累累。更痛苦的是這一切沒多少人能理解，單位不支持、工作不穩定、社會反應冷漠，連一向敢於追新潮的《中國青年報》當時也拒絕刊載我的民居研究文章與繪畫作品，他們說「畫破房子是反映社會主義黑暗面」。

吳樹：沒想過改弦易轍？

余春明：也許是性格使然吧，儘管這條路走下來既漫長又艱辛，經常會有「山窮水盡疑無路」的感覺，但天南地北的中國民居猶如一座座美學寶庫，足夠支撐住我的定力。做過十幾年的調研和寫生之後，我又用了二十多年的時間，創作了數百幅描述全國三十多處典型民居環境和形形色色老房子的繪畫作品。

吳樹：我覺得油畫很難駕馭江南水鄉民居色彩單調的白牆黑瓦。畢竟油畫是從西方土生土長的畫種，有著它自己的文化基因，不同基因的嫁接成功的幾率非常小，不是嗎？

余春明：與您的想法恰恰相反，當我被民居的氣質與氛圍所感動後，發現我用得十分熟練的傳統水彩和一般繪畫技巧顯得蒼白無力，便想用不同的方法去表現它。當時我正好在搞漆畫創作，受到其中「油水分離」的技法啓發，我試著用油畫棒和水彩結合的方法畫民居速寫，獲得意想不到的效果。我只想接受民居給我的感覺，並將其表現出來，從不捨本求末去刻意追求、表現個人「技巧」。

【離岸 · 隔岸 · 蟬變】

1997年移民到美國之後，在劇烈的商業競爭環境中，余春明並沒有轉向討巧的商業風格，而是依然繼續他已經為之奮鬥了十多年的民居題材創作。

 吳樹：您是怎麼將自己的繪畫融入美國當地的藝術品市場，並得到主流藝術圈的認定？

余春明：我所要表現的中國傳統觀念，不僅美國人不理解，連現在的中國人都不理解。我需要把我想說的，轉化成人人都懂的、喜愛的語言。畫面要傳達的，是一種普世的文化內涵。要做到這一點非常困難，首先必須找到不同藝術基因之間所存在的文化差異。

有一次，美國達納斯大學東方美術史博士楊思梁來家中小住，他看了我的畫說：「你的畫面有中國傳統味道和內涵，有東方的空間關係，但沒有光，你必須要加進光在你的畫面上，這裡畢竟是美國。」楊博士的點撥如醍醐灌頂，那以後我有意疏離本土文化和歷史生態，「隔岸」回望，對東西方繪畫藝術的差異進行了一次全面梳理與思考。

在東西兩大藝術體系中，西方藝術以「光」為表現重點，試圖通過建立光在物體和人的造型上的秩序感來表現「神」——造物主。光代表了神；東方藝術則以「有物混成，先天地而生」（《道德經》）的「氣」為表現重點，以「氣韻生動」的秩序准則達到修「道」的目的。東西方藝術從不同角度，不同形式各自渲染自己的「神」或「道」，光照著物體是可視、可觸的，「氣」則看不見摸不著。西方人對「氣」無從理解，東方人對西方的光所傳達的涵義也不容易理會，如何實現兩者的對接，讓光里有「氣」、「氣」中透光？這是我到美國後為自己設定的第一個新課題。

西方藝術「光」的語言和東方的線及空間的語言之間，要找到一個很好的結合點很不容易。我試著在肌理、線條、空間上放進光，表現人性和人生的經歷、人生觀和家的溫暖等。

在選取容易與西畫融合的中國繪畫元素時，我發現只有回到唐、宋時期，才能與西方的色光相結合，那時候的繪畫強調自然與心靈的關係。而宋以後的繪畫數百年沒有任何創新，基本上不考慮自然元素，繪畫成了一種圖解式抒情，強調的是性情、抱負的抒發與表露。而唐、宋時期正處在一個多元化開放階段，多種藝術手段與西方交流頻繁。我在研究時發現，西方文藝復興早期油畫的背景上出現的山水，其結構和造型似乎與宋代山水畫有相似之處。

吳樹：我也有過留意，近年來您的民居系列繪畫作品收藏面迅速擴大，甚至連英國前首相撒切爾夫人也收藏了您的作品。

余春明：最可以告慰自己的是通過十幾年跨越太平洋的探索與試驗，我努力融合了東西方繪畫藝術的光韻與氣韻，並將兩者融合為自己的繪畫風格，終於走出一條屬於自己的藝術道路——油畫+水墨表現中國古民居。

當東方遇到西方，會發生的是色光與線條空間的交融，是墨韻與光影層次的對比，是在筆墨世界里耕耘人生的中國文人審美意境與在神的光照中反映宇宙觀的西方審美觀念在視覺次序上的融合。油畫一樣能表現出水墨畫中的意境，但它不能代替水墨畫的媒質，這是它獨特的審美價值所在。人類所有藝術形態的核心價值，應該是超脫區域文化傳統的，是屬於全人類的。

Abstract: Though the artwork of Yu Chunming is a recreation of historical images, the contemporary style is a reflection of the developing progress of art globalization. His artwork presents an overall sense of tenderness, desolation, and mystique, as well as Chinese-ness embedded within the Eastern cultural settings, where the theoretical foundation hails from the Voluntarism coined by Schopenhauer, and the unique Eastern aesthetics — the Zen aesthetics of Zhuang Zhou, which emphasizes self-perception and intuition awareness. However, what distinguishes his artwork from the Western Ruins Art, is that the Eastern Ruins Art of Yu Chunming is acquired with cognitions of Ruins Art under the philosophical concept of “Unity of Human and Humanity,” as well as senses of Eastern regional culture symbols and sentimental identifications emerging from patriotism. His art language is mature, with a strong graphic program as well as a distinct artistic style. In spite of the irretrievable vanishment of Ruins Art during the progress of globalization, urbanization and modernization, the paradox of modernity has often led us to linger on Ruins Art. This long accumulated cultural symbol evokes a kind of emotional memories and cultural sources that could never be erased. Also, we often compare these two as naturally as conducting an introspection between living a real life during the day, and dreaming under darkness of night. The graphical images of Yu Chunming’s artwork are possessed with a profound ideology, strong visual impact, and abundant contemporary sense of color. It’s equipped with the unique Chinese characteristics, and integrates contemporary metaphysical school of art as well as the ideology of spiritual landscape art at the same time. It even coincides with the artistic philosophy of School of Ruins Art in art history.

Keywords：Yu Chunming, Ruins Art, Chinese-ness, Mystique

Many have mentioned Yu Chunming and his works to me before, and some have also introduced me to how his works are dedicated to ancient Chinese housing and dwellings. With the invitation of museum director Mr. Shu, I paid a comprehensive visit to Yu Chunming’s art exhibition, filled with questions. All the doubts that I had before were answered after visiting his exhibition. I have been hesitant to define an artist and his/her artwork (within the Theory of Art History) by “what he/she paints.” For example, the sunflower theme of Van Gogh is particularly renowned; however, Art History professionals have defined him as a key figure of ”Post-Impressionism.” Thus, after seeing Yu Chunming’s artwork, I completely changed the standpoint of viewing him as a ‘dwellings painter’ in my mind. Through the long-gone dwellings, streets, ruins, and regional landscape symbols, Yu Chunming has unveiled the emotions and spirit behind these landscapes, and emphasized the historicity, immutability, and imperishability of the landscapes through the realist style reflected by oil paintings. Most of them are abounded with Eastern atmosphere of mystique and tranquility. Fan Jingzhong has defined Yu Chunming’s artwork as “the glory shines like history and myth.” He describes, “Mr. Yu gives us an opportunity to peek at dwellings all around China. The viewers are most definitely familiar with these kinds of scenes.

Though the dwellings are already decadent, even completely vanished, these images vaguely concatenate into incessant memories. Those dreamy touches are like déjà vu, but with a sense of uncertainty, almost like the feeling that the great poet Li Bai had once described, ”Walking under the moon while slightly tipsy, heading west to the winehouse; unwittingly forgetting men and matters, being outside the world.” All the things captured, from waterside pavilions, cloud rooms, and shrines, to vast corridors, stockaded villages, and ancient ramparts, are all embedded with the spirits of the ancestors.” [i] The subject matter of Yu Chunming’s ‘elapsed ruins’ and his philosophy of ‘searching for spirituality in landscape art’ reminds me of the school of Ruin Art in the Western Art History. I looked up the related topics in history of art and aesthetics again with this question in mind. The theoretical system of Ruins Art is quite intact and well-grounded. In fact, Yu Chunming’s artistic philosophy coincides with Western Ruins Art, he has also acquired a clear and cutting-edge artistic awareness in the matter of urbanized cultural process. He is adept at illustrating the regional images of East Asia through contemporary art. The ancient Chinese dwellings, regional landscapes, and local customs accumulated by history are precisely reproduced and represented in his works through visual art full of spirituality. His works have formed a complete image system of itself, with a transcultural element and novelty embedded inside the usual and the unfamiliar, in which every viewer is deeply moved by this kind of unique spiritual landscape art.

The Positioning of Eastern School of Ruins Paintings and Traces of Art History

The Western landscape paintings had been separated from figure paintings, same applied to Chinese Shan Shui paintings. The backgrounds of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings <Virgin of the Rocks> and <Mona Lisa> had been the prototype of landscape paintings. Then we can see traces of landscape paintings’ growing maturity in the background of Pieter Bruegel’s works <The Peasant Dance> and <The Blind Leading the Blind>, in particular, Giovanni Bellini’s paintings of a landscape nature became the sources of development of spiritual landscape paintings. As of the 17th to the 18th century, Jacob van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema were among the pioneers of developing landscape paintings to a matured level, where artists and viewers then had realized the uniqueness of this aesthetic. Later in history, the Barbizon School emerged as a self-contained school of art. When Western art history developed to the 19th century, the emergence of the Hudson River School in the United States became an important school of paintings. After emigrating with the discovery of the New World, the early painters began to depict the landscape of the Hudson River Valley where they lived, revealing the emigrants exploring their own relationship with nature. This is seen as an early process of the native American art culture establishment, whether it was the Barbizon School or the Hudson River School, both of which were landscapes with a tendency towards objectivity.

Most importantly, there was another transformation of landscape paintings in the 18th century, which being the development of landscape paintings led by the German Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), who was arguably the first artist to depict transcendental landscapes, depicting delapidated buildings, ruins, snow, ice, rocks, and lonely people-- that is, the emergence of landscape paintings infused with subjectivity, presenting an overall mystical atmosphere to his paintings. This had provided a solid foundation to the redevelopment of the Metaphysical School of Art as well as Ruins Art in the 20th century, thus becoming the representation of spiritual landscape paintings.

Following this lead, we have found the definitions for “Ruins” in Wikipedia: “Ruins are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate destruction by humans, armed conflict, or uncontrollable destruction by natural phenomena, with many structures becoming progressively derelict over time due to long-term weathering and scavenging. There are famous ruins all over the world, with notable sites originating from ancient China, the Indus Valley and other regions of ancient India, ancient Iran, ancient Israel and Judea, ancient Iraq, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Roman sites throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and Incan and Mayan sites in the Americas. Ruins are of great importance to historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.” [ii]

The Ruins Art emerged in Europe during the 20th century, of which the artworks often depicting architectural ruins from the Classical Antiquity, thus expressing the spiritual core of historicity and philosophy. "The School of Ruins Painting is inextricably linked to the Metaphysical Painting (Pittura Metafisica) established in the early 20th century. The painters of the Metaphysical School had their own unique ways of exploring the metaphysical world: Giorgio de Chirico specialized in the ‘defamiliarization’ of familiar elements in life, such as Italian piazzas, sculptures, and human figures. Giorgio Morandi focused on the grey color of lower purity, and conducted an exploration of the metaphysical realm in the field of color.” [iii] Extending from the ruins of civilization to the phenomenon of ruins in decaying spiritual and material states, Yu Chunming also uses the language of metaphysical painting in his exploration of ancient Chinese dwellings and architectural ruins. He also applies the perception of “the unity of heaven and man” under the Eastern concept to ruins, that is, based on the Eastern interpretation of ruins, he aims at the remains of ancient Chinese dwellings, and explores the metaphysical philosophical ideas through the ruins of ancient Chinese civilization.

Given that Yu Chunming grew up in China, it is inevitable that his art is of the regional cultural background and traces of Chinese art. By the time Chinese art reached the end of the Qing Dynasty, already represented or reflected a lack of vitality and an incapability of innovation. The first Chinese artists to study abroad in France, including Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, and Wu Dayu, all anchored their hope on external forces to initiate reforms and innovations. This artistic enlightenment went on for some time during the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement until being interrupted by the war. Then came the emergence of artists who created works on the theme of resistance of war and salvation, such as Guan Shanyue and Jiang Zhaohe, and art thus became a matter of artistic sociology, and the path to enlightenment was subsequently broken off. A few years into the establishment of the new PRC, art was more often in the service of ideology. It was not until the 1980s to the present that we returned to the essence of art, to its true value. This period happened to be when Mr. Yu graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. As Qiu Zhenzhong inscribed: “The dwellings are an unadorned culture, but it can be easily destroyed. The dwellings culture of any ethnic group can be changed beyond recognition as modern lifestyles permeate, as anthropologists have constantly warned us. Yu Chunming's work on dwellings is not only his personal enterprise; he has preserved a valuable factual record of the observing and understanding of the dwellings culture for our time. ... The rigorous overlap of brushstrokes makes it seem as if one is confronted with a world that is bygone, mysterious, yet ready to be entered anytime. No artist has yet treated the dwellings in this way.” [iv] At that time, Yu Chunming determinedly walked towards the nature, towards dwellings, he broke through all kinds of life choices and struggles he had faced in life through his journey of landscape paintings, and reached self-perception, which took him out of his home, out of Jiangxi, and out of the country. It was a process that was of a legendary tone and research value.

Combining the two various traces of East and West, whether it be the Italian Metaphysical School of Painting and the Ruins Art, or the early American landscape painting and the Chinese landscape painting themes, have all become a historical foundation for Yu Chunming's art of paintings. At the intersection of Eastern and Western art history, Mr. Yu has always been concerned with the natural environment in which he exists and the art of inhabitancy in his surroundings, forming a very clear sense of the issues and a clear historical trajectory. His works give prominence to the specificality of the times and highlight a thematic landscape that had been forgotten by many. As he said during his lecture, “I am particularly interested in the remains of historical vicissitudes and often feel elements of peacefulness in the study of Matisse.” [v] He returned to the countryside, to the West of China, to where he was brought up, to find the language and symbols for everyday use of his own. However, the most valuable of all is that he eventually left China and came to the United States, the forefront of world art. Each region has its own cultural heritage and traditions, the East and the West, the South and the North formed different characteristics due to different climates, geographical environments, and humanistic traditions, which are in fact conventions of one’s culture. Eastern culture has many humanistic traditions and is sometimes a confined “Family Culture,” which is an important characteristic of Chinese regional culture. Yu Chunming has done a comprehensive theoretical analysis and classification for this unique characteristic, plus his work is a comprehensive understanding of it. Indeed, the family culture of the East has a well-established cultural system that maintains the rituals and visuals of the race. The architecture and dwellings of the East have a distant historical memory of everyday life, which is unique among the cultures of the various peoples of the world. Therefore, according to Yu Chunming, "Chinese culture does not emphasize people or even people are not included, so there’s no way that we can paint people as well asartists in euripean countries such as the United States; however, the unique cultural symbols represented by family culture are embedded in Chinese culture, so I will paint Chinese dwellings, which is the exact representation of the family culture"[vi] Decades as one day, Yu Chunming has seen dwellings as a representation of Chinese culture, especially a culture from the ancient times. This is called the “Ruins” Art in the West, while it is an art of ancient ruins formed by the family culture. Yu Chunming deems their uniformity at some level. However, with the process of globalization, every regional culture will eventually come to the world stage, we can see this reality from the current conditions of historical ruins all around the world. Thus, it is a completely different time from it used to be, whether it is the family structure, or the paternalism of the East, there’s still a phenomenon of reversion until this day. However, no matter how outdated or ordinary the Chinese dwellings may be, this is a particularly important feature of Eastern culture, and there is no way to judge whether it’s right or wrong in aesthetics and histories, as this is the cultural context in which the Oriental people have lived for thousands of years. In art history, it could be argued that this is 'Ruins Art.' However, this is the core of family culture in China, and its cultural identity will be reflected in all aspects of contemporary culture as time progresses.

So, as he himself has told me: "The first time I saw Kiefer's work it resonated strongly with me, and this is what I wanted to express." The painter Yu Chunming makes extensive use of color, light and shadow, and perspective in realistic painting, not to reproduce the object, but to express the emotions of metaphysical and spiritual paintings through Chinese regional ruins.

The Unique Graphic System of Spiritual Landscape Painting

In the history of Eastern and Western art, all great painters have had their own unique graphic language. This process of accumulation and evolution can also be seen in the three historical stages of the formation of Yu Chunming's paintings. In his early years, hetraveled far and wide and sketched all over the country, which was the initial stage of his graphic creations, painting real landscapes, like photorealism, that was a stage of accumulating materials. We can see the importance of this accumulation in a large number of Mr. Yu's sketching works from his early years, when he abandoned photographic means in favour of a large number of sketches to accumulate materials. We know that sketches that combine one’s mind with action can not only record the natural landscapes of the outside world, but also allow for an artistic sublimation in the artist’s mind. According to Zheng Banqiao’s process of "bamboo in the eyes" and "bamboo in the chest" to "bamboo in the hands," Mr. Yu completed an important transformation in his artistic creation through the process of "dwelling in the eyes" to "dwelling in the chest" to "dwelling in the hands." His sketch works are intimate and touching, with a vivid live quality as well as emotional quality, which differentiates them from the style of the camera.

The second phase of Yu Chunming's work combines his own language with the styles of paintings of masters in history, encompassing classic Chinese Shan Shui landscapes and Western landscape materials, combining current creations with the traces of art history and reality, thus elevating sketches and realism paintings to the level of art, and finally forming his own unique style of painting and art language. While in virtue of the language of Chinese Shan Shui paintings and Western spiritual landscape landscapes as well as Ruins Art, Mr. Yu Chunming also drew on the language system of Western modern paintings. His works have combined with Western art, including the most avant-garde of American art. Using the modern Western sense of composition and color-blocking, we can get a glimpse of senses of Fan Kuan, Shi Tao, Brueghel and Rembrandt from his paintings; moreover, the modernity of Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Morandi, Marguerite, and Rousseau, as well as the senses of contemporary American early landscape paintings and avant-garde art. He has strung together the art languages of the Eastern and Western painting worlds and created his own unique style of painting. Most importantly, the family culture that Yu Chunming depicts belongs to the unique cultural system under Chinese social values, where dwellings represent a symbol of the family culture; thus it’s a unique artistic system that differentiates itself from Western cultural symbols.

He often uses traditional realistic styling methods, in which they share similarities with Western metaphysical paintings in multiple aspects including linearity, space, perspective, structure, light, and shades, except that the subject of his depictions is the imaginary ruins art of the East. He is very interested in the historical and emotional nature of his subjects, a sense of personal experience in the relics of the past, combining the literariness with visuality through the muscular symbolism of the trees and streets in his images. Mr. Yu's portrayal of the remains of Chinese dwellings from the past is different from other ordinary still life paintings, and fills the picture with a sense of aesthetic historical imagery shaped by common (every-day) people, together with the Western spiritual art of landscape painting--an exploration that is like a 'gene' and is very important in the history of painting schools around the world. Later on, no matter how American art developed in a post-modern direction, the gene of spiritual landscape painting was always present, that is, the creation of landscapes and themes of man and nature has never been stopped. Although, we live in cities that are made of steel and concrete, the state of traditional Eastern culture is invisibly integrated into our subconsciousness. He believes that coming overseas is more than just moving his studio to the United States; he wants to bring the genes of Chinese culture to America and combine them with the local culture.

Having heard Yu Chunming's lectures on Chinese dwellings, it was clear to me that he had conducted in-depth studies and iconology examinations of the various ethnicities and dwellings all around China, and that these materials were also of historical value to the study of Chinese architectural history. Most importantly, he did not remain only with architecture itself: the historical gene of spiritual landscape painting combined with the metaphysical school of painting and Ruin Art provides clues and roots in Western art history for the development of Yu Chunming's art. He uses the dwellings as symbols to speak on Chinese culture, and this cultural accumulation has been long integrated with his mind.

Most importantly, Yu Chunming draws on the aesthetical theories of Schopenhauer and Nietzschean, who argued that “the only way to have innovative, extraordinary, even immortal ideas is to be completely isolated from the world for some time, if the most unusual things can reveal their novelty and specialness, to show their true nature.”[vii] Through his paintings depicting dwellings that have been isolated for some time and even currently alienated, he shows a novelty in our contemporary urbanization process, which according to Schopenhauer's philosophy is the essence of his artistic thought in painting. The creation of oil painting medium is universal, but each region has its own distinctive cultural symbols and theoretical system. I would like to use the term "representative of Eastern Ruin Art" to position Yu Chunming’s uniqueness as to traditional creation of oil paintings. His work is mainly based on the departed dwellings, but not limited to them, the positioning would be more appropriate with this kind of broad vision. Because every artist is fond of illustrating one’s thoughts and ideas through the theme that one is most interested, such as Qi Baishi painting shrimps or Xu Beihong painting horses, we cannot simply define any master in art history as a painter of a single painting category. After two transformations of Mr. Yu’s “Chineseness, de-Chineseness,” he is ushering new transformations and artistic ideology collisions. Just as Li Keran said, “Use the greatest force to fight the way in, then use the greatest force to fight the way out.” It is within our anticipation that his experience and perspective will be even more exciting in his future artistic creation.

3. Oriental Aesthetics: The Picturization of Poetry and the poeticization of Images

Yu Chunming believes that literature is an important factor in the art of painting. Although he emphasizes modern visual language in his pictures, he does not exclude literary language, and his works subconsciously penetrate a poetic meaning through his personalized language. Each of Yu Chunming's paintings is a poem, and when I see his painting "Spring Glory" I naturally think of the poetic meanings of: "Spring grass grows in the pond, willows in the garden change into songbirds. Sad to think of the Bin poem "Out of the Chariot," even more emotional to think of the Chu song "Spring Grasses Growing and Luxuriant." (Xie Lingyun's "Climbing up the Pond").

When I saw a group of his sketches, I thought of the realm in the poem of Wan Qiyong of the Song Dynasty: "The short and long pavilion, the ancient and modern emotions, the cool toad outside the building is a measure of life. The autumn is clearer after the rain. The clouds are flat in the evening, and the mountains are crossed in the evening, the sound of autumn leaves and geese is not to be heard by pedestrians.” Seeing some of his works in "The Bronze Years" reminded me of Dong Qichang's poem, "Stream clouds over the rain add to the mountain's greenery, flower pieces stick to the sand for the fragrance of water." Seeing some of his cold-colored works in the hall inside I also thought of the poem of Wang Wei in the Tang Dynasty: "A little rain in the lightly shaded pavilion, I was too lazy to open the courtyard door. Sitting down and watching the moss, the lovely green color is almost dyed to people's clothes.” Mr. Yu really has achieved the picturization of poetry and the poeticization of images. When I saw the "Frozen Sail" series, I thought of Du Fu's poems, such as "A stone spring flows from a dark wall, grass dew drips from an autumn root" and "In an empty village, only birds are seen, the sunset is not met by people, the wind blows on the face of the ravine, and the pine dew drips from the body." It is worth mentioning that Yu Chunming's paintings are the initiator of using the medium of oil painting to express the aesthetics of oriental poetry's desolate cold imagery, and he has bridged the highly organic unity of Chinese and Western aesthetic concepts to achieve a seamless and perfect combination.

I grew up in the rural areas located on the border of Shaanxi and Gansu Province, the living environment at that time was the exact architectural style portraited in Mr. Yu's art. And as it is, I grew up in the courtyard of such dwellings in Mr. Yu's paintings. At that time, these buildings were surrounded by mountains and water, and the fragrance of the wooden structures fused with the fragrance of the earth left a deep impression on us, especially the life in the kiln at that time was a vivid nostalgia, and the lights and shadows of the paintings made me recall the memories of sunrise and sunset on the plateau or my mother lighting the oil lamp. Mr. Yu's full of emotion brush strokes give us a reproduction of oriental residential environment such as tulou, hammock, bamboo building, compound, kiln, and other characteristic regional landscape, first of all, the regional landscape itself is a kind of artificial transformation unnaturalized man-made form of art design works, Mr. Yu's keen metaphysical aesthetic vision found this desolate cold aesthetic properties. Moreover, he highly blends natural beauty and artistic beauty together, realizing a modern linguistic transformation of Chinese Ruin Art in his art world. At this moment, as overseas travelers, especially those who have lived through these experiences, I believe that when they encounter these paintings in a globalized context, like in the United States, I believe that everyone can't help but feel a kindred emotion. His work "Chimney Smoke" seems to be brought into some kind of timely memory, into the nostalgia of childhood, and in the painting one may find some scenes from the past: from time to time, a picture of childhood will emerge in front of the village at the entrance of the house, and the smoke curling up from the roof will remind us of our mother's figure cooking or yelling to the children to come home.

When we see Mr. Yu's paintings we can find many matching lines from classic poems, I think the painter does not create according to the context of certain poet, mainly because the painter has a poetic way of thinking about images, which is the key to creation, the frames that Yu Chunming selected, a landscape, a few trees or mountains and waters is already a pictorial presentation of a poetic way of thinking. However, the way of presenting words and images under the same artistic concept is very different, just like Dunhuang frescoes presenting Buddhism inside, but the images have a completely different system composition from Buddhist scriptures. Mr. Yu's paintings often use "exaggeration," "repetition," "deformation," and other formal language transformations to achieve poetic expression. In ancient and modern times, there are really very few painters who can paint the poetic meaning of the desolate cold. I would like to use a poem by Qin Guan to convey the overall touch I got: "Because it was severe autumn, the podocarpus trees in the courtyard had begun to wither, and the flowers and plants in the courtyard were evenly sprinkled with a layer of white frost. On the gorgeous pavilion, we sat close together. The host poured wine frequently, leaving no cup empty. Outside, the autumn wind blew the embroidered curtains creaking, but the room was still filled with a pleasant fragrance. With her long and slender fingers, she slowly played the guzheng decorated with white silver. When she was tired of playing and her hands were cold, she rested on the stove for a little while. Although it was autumn and everything was dying, her face still seemed to have the color of spring, red and gorgeous, which was actually the flush of wine." Mr. Yu's painting art is a poem without words, and these images are a high combination of his travels and reading of books.

Yu Chunming used his personal experience to elaborate the uniqueness of this regional culture, for example, he felt a particularly strong native culture when he traveled to Mexico, which reinforced his emphasis on the cultural differences in his works. In fact, whether it is Indian culture, Mayan culture, or the formation of China's regional residential culture is mainly caused by the closedness, the regional culture is not concerned with the progress and fashion of the outside world until it has gone through the process of culture globalization, just like the differences between Bauhaus architecture and residential architecture, the set of culture developed independently by the regional culture is permeated with the power of craftsmanship for thousands of years. Yu Chunming's paintings of residential houses do not emphasize going back to the past, but rather finding a cultural spirituality and poetry in these houses, and his peculiarity lies in the fact that he came out from China and then persisted abroad to experience the metaphysical spirituality formed by the accumulation of this home culture, and expressed it in the form of visual works. The poems describing this culture in Chinese poetry are historically significant sequences, for example, Bai Juyi wrote in "Thinking of Home on the Winter Solstice in Handan": "On the winter solstice in the Handan post, I hug my knees in front of the lamp and the shadow accompanies me. When I think of sitting at home late at night, I should still talk about people who have traveled far away." For example, Wang Wei's well-known poem "Remembering my brothers in Shandong on the ninth day of the ninth month": "Being alone in a foreign place, I miss my relatives more than ever on festive occasions. When I think of the place where my brothers are climbing today, I will think of the one person missing when I plant cornelian everywhere." …and so on. Family culture is not only reflected in the literary history of the written word, but also in the visual art of fine art. The symbol system formed by Chinese family culture is a unique cultural Chinese-ness, and this cultural specificity is needed in the world culture, and this characteristic is forever objective, no matter in the past or in the future.

In conclusion, the art of Mr. Yu is a special case of regional and cultural differentiation in the cotemporary globalized art process, the metaphysical art concept and the pictorial meaning of Eastern Ruin Art are the unique characteristics of his paintings. This case of Asian American art identity and imagery may be overlooked by Western art history in the current context of contemporary American art, and may also be forgotten by Chinese contemporary art history, which advocates following Western ideas, but the place of Yu Chunming's art in the threads of Chinese and Western art history is unquestionable. Just like Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun and other overseas artists, Yu's artistic journey of "Chinese-ness and de-Chinese-ness" is a very interesting subject. Art history should break out of the paradigm of monolithic and postmodern contexts, and art theory should also focus on iconographic oriental clues. We need to return to the focus on the "art world" or "art atmosphere" advocated by Arthur Danto, just as contemporary researchers of Ruin Art believe that "art does not save ruins, but it can start life." In particular, the creative concept of Eastern Ruin Art that Yu Chunming is currently practicing must not be ignored, and we should not forget the specificity of Asian artists in the American context, neither should we forget Yu Chunming.

[i] https://www.sohu.com/a/282391523_116897

[ii]https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E5%BB%A2%E5%A2%9F

[iii]https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BA%9F%E5%A2%9F%E7%94%BB%E6%B4%BE/53161155?fr=aladdin

[iv]http://collection.sina.com.cn/wjs/2018-11-01/doc-ihnfikve1119256.shtml

[v] Professor Yu Chunming: I paint residential houses, Seven Days Ask Travel Media, Canada

[vi] Conversation between Liu Junping and Yu Chunming, the evening of January 6, 2023.

[vii] Quoted of Qiu Tian. An Inquiry into the Artistic Concept of Metaphysical Painting School and Its Influence. Beauty and Times. 2017(02):9-10

By: Liu Junping

Translator – Chinese into English: Ruoyi Li

English Language Editor: Vijaya Channahsorah, Ph.D.

我自2010年離開灣區到2021年歸來，整十二年。這期間，我經歷了每年至少四趟從中國的鄉村到都市，再到國外這樣的生活，使我更清晰的體會了中西文化的差異與共性，也更明確了自己的藝術道路和責任。

中國從原始時期開始就和歐洲不同，中國原始岩畫是書寫的，歐洲原始岩畫描繪的，如法國拉斯科洞穴岩畫，有體積有光影。中國原始岩畫，是畫也是字，所以書畫同源。後來中國畫都是以書寫為主要手法，是二維的，沒有光影，「光」是西方繪畫的最重要語言。

我來自中國，在中國生活、學習大半輩子，熟悉、喜愛中國的文化藝術，學過國畫，畫過漆畫，畫了二十多年的水彩，作為基礎訓練，走過印象派，學過抽象繪畫語言，研究過古典繪畫，並考察和調研了十年的中國古民居，深諳中國傳統居住文化的內涵，並把它融入我的畫中。

我來到美國，要做一位職業畫家，我的畫必須要有「光」，有了「光」，物體就有了體積、空間，它和東方的平面空間是矛盾的，但是我不想破壞畫面中的平面關係，那樣將會失去我作為一個中國人的原型，於是我找到了最喜愛的「倫勃朗光」，它使我的畫面有光但又不失去平面感。

我以為，中國文化的根本是「家文化」，老房子是中國古代文化的物化載體，我把中國民居當「人」來畫。在中國文化是「天人合一」的，人與自然萬物是一樣的，所以，我也畫山水，從宋代山水入手，加上光，從「像」再到「不像」。

將我生命中的所有關於漆畫、水彩、古典油畫、印象派、中國山水、古代陶瓷等都打碎，重組、融合產生出屬於我生命的繪畫。

畫是生命的載體，生命會消失，畫卻會留下來，我們對畫負責，也是對這個世界負責。從世界看中國，中國藝術只有融入世界才是出路。

繪畫走到今日，留給當今畫家的空間很窄，歷代大師什麼形式，什麼語言都畫過，要與他人不同，唯有聽從自我心靈的呼喚，因為每個個體的生命都是不同的，用不同的生命尋找個性的藝術，無論東西，無論抽象還是具象。

這裡展出的五十幅油畫和一百餘幅水彩，都是疫情期間的作品；有在疫情中對遠山的嚮往，有身在海外對故鄉的思念，也有疫情中社區人群的撕裂，和對和平寧靜生活的期望。這是我們共同走過的三年，畫筆留下了這些特別的時刻。

余春明

2022年11月

It has been twelve years since I left the Bay Area in 2010 and returned in 2021. During this period, I experienced at least four trips a year from the countryside of China to the city, and then to a foreign country, which made me more clearly understand the differences and commonalities between Chinese and Western cultures, and also made my own artistic path and responsibility clearer.

China has been different from Europe since the primitive period. The primitive rock paintings in China were written, while those in Europe were depicted, such as the rock paintings in Lascaux caves in France, have volume, light and shadow. Chinese primitive rock paintings are both paintings and characters, so calligraphy and painting have the same origin. Later, Chinese paintings all used writing as the main technique, which was two-dimensional and without light and shadow. "Light" is the most important language of Western painting.

I am from China. I have lived and studied in China for most of my life. I am familiar with and love Chinese culture and art. I have studied Chinese painting, painted lacquer painting, and painted watercolor for more than 20 years as a basic training. I have gone through impressionism and abstract painting language. I have studied classical paintings, and investigated ancient Chinese dwellings for ten years. I am well versed in the connotation of traditional Chinese living culture and integrated it into my paintings.

I came to the United States to be a professional painter. My paintings must have "light". With "light", objects have volume and space. It is contradictory to the oriental two-dimensional space, but I don't want to destroy the two-dimensional relationship in the picture. If I do so, I will lose my archetype as a Chinese, so I found my favorite "Rembrandt light", which makes my picture bright without losing the sense of two-dimensional.

I think that the root of Chinese culture is "family culture", and old folk houses are the materialized carrier of ancient Chinese culture. I draw Chinese folk houses as "people". In Chinese culture, "Heaven and man are one", and man and nature are the same. Therefore, I also paint landscapes, starting from the landscapes of the Song Dynasty, adding light, from "resemblance" to "dissimilarity". Break up all the lacquer paintings, watercolors, classical oil paintings, impressionism, Chinese landscapes, ancient ceramics, etc. in my life, reorganize and fuse them to produce paintings that belong to my life.

Painting is the carrier of life. Life will disappear, but painting will remain. We are responsible for painting, and we are also responsible for the world. Looking at China from the world, the only way out for Chinese art is to integrate into the world.

Painting has come to this day, leaving little space for today's artists. The masters of the past have painted in any form and language. To be different from others, you have to listen to the call of your own soul, because every individual's life is different. Use different lives to look for individual art, no matter Eastern or Western, no matter abstract or figurative.

The 50 oil paintings and more than 100 watercolors exhibited here are all works during the pandemic; there are yearning for distant mountains, longing for hometown overseas, and the tearing of community groups during the pandemic and the expectation of a peaceful and tranquil life. This is the three years we have walked together, and the brush has kept these special moments.

Chunming Yu

Nov., 2022

中國有著和美國一樣大的領土、卻居住著五十六個民族。這些民族由於各自的文化習俗各不相同，如信奉伊斯蘭教的新疆維吾爾族，和藏傳佛教的藏族以及有著自己語言文字的納西族、歷史悠久的苗族、侗族等等。再加上各族的地理氣候環境又差異很大，所以他們的居住建築都各不相同。就以佔各民族百分之九＋二人口的漢族來說，其居住建築的形式就多達數十種。全中國典型的不同形式的建築共有三＋幾種之多。這些建築都是不同的人文文化和生態文化的產物。

中國是家文化的國家，美國人也很重視家庭，可是中國的家是在一塊土地上，幾百年乃至上千年延續著一個大家族。是一個村莊，大部分家族一二百年來都沒有離開過，一直在這塊土地上繁衍後代。在中國的傳統社會里，一個農民一生最大的理想， 是為子孫，而不是為他自己，建造一幢房子。房子是祖先留下的。上面有很多祖先的教導、規矩。記載了祖先的榮耀，有很多雕刻歷史故事的門、窗，教導家人做人的道理。連房子的結構也是按照禮儀等級來建造的。傳統的中國人為家族而活著。中國古代人物畫得不到重視。而許多著名的古代畫家都畫他們的住房和街道。因為中國的房子承載著中國的傳統文化。

由於中國的居住建築有著深厚的文化底蘊和豐富多彩的造型。所以。千百年來成為許多畫家表現的對象。如著名的《清明上河圖》就是畫一條宋代的城市街道。中國沒有西方的人文文化的背景，他們的人物畫始終是一個弱點，技法上也是用花鳥、山水畫筆法。因此。在現今的中國有一批畫家以民居為對象來畫畫，由於中國江南水鄉較靈秀優美。所以己故旅美畫家陳逸飛就以純寫實的手法畫了一批江南水鄉的油畫。被紐約的哈默畫廊於八十年代推出。早年留學法國的中國畫家吳冠中目前以高昂的畫價稱雄於東方藝術各拍賣行，他仍是以江南水鄉為對象，用中國畫的筆墨來表現線條和墨韻的美。在許多畫家爭相捕捉江南「小橋流水人家」的古典意象來抒情時，如今居住在美國北加州聖荷西的余春明，卻是深入到中國民居的各個角落和中國居住文化的深層。他的民居畫，有著吳冠中和陳逸飛共同的內核：抒情性的懷舊。他的調子剛好在吳冠中的輕淡和陳逸飛的濃郁之間，不溫不火，不濃也不淡，是一種如同《詩經》世代孔子所贊嘆的「哀而不傷」的境地。余春明的民居畫的深度和廣度是有別於吳冠中和陳逸飛的。吳冠中最用心的是江南的山村和水鄉。而陳逸飛反復畫的，只是周莊。余春明卻把視角和筆觸伸向中國所有的鄉間和所有的民族。他是凝重的，很少有簡淡和輕快。他是深沈的，是沈浸的，很少有隔岸旁觀的間距。

余春明1955年生於中國江西。1978年考入中國美術學院，從1983年到1995年間，他幾乎每年都探訪中國各省的古老鄉村和城鎮，其間畫了3000余幅速寫和幾百張水彩油畫、漆畫。在這段時間里，他用中國畫的線條和水墨韻味及西方油畫的技巧，表現中國古老的居住觀念和豐富的民居造型以及他的人生體驗。有的畫有些抽象意味。有的畫像寫實卻不是實景，而是一種觀念的寫照，如表現中國家族希望後代繁衍發達的觀念的《月之韻》就是以皖南一帶徽式民居為對像。表現侗族的《鼓樓的傳說》，以鼓樓代表家族的中心來表達侗族人強烈的家族凝聚力。有些畫表達現實與傳統的距離、衝突。如《塵封的記憶》和《圓堡的故事》《紅岩的述說》等，就是表現如今中國計劃生育與傳統的多子多孫觀念的矛盾。而表現婚姻觀念的《桃花塢》顯得＋分的和美；表達農村冬季的《冬閒 》又異常寂靜……他的繪畫形式與內容結合的非常之好，畫面總有一種寧靜、夢幻的感覺。

當今的中國，高速發展的城市擴建，使幾百年來見證中國歷史和民俗的古老民居在快速的消失。余春明畫民居的近二＋年，正是中國加速現代化的時期，古老古民居也加速消亡，許多當年他畫過的地方，現在己面目全非，如紹興古城，早己沒有水鄉風味。蘇州也只有一小塊區域保留了下來。在湘。黔邊界一帶侗家也不見了侗民歌舞。就是被保護的民居點，如上海的周莊。也不是以前的原貌，如這幅梯雲橋的水彩畫裡面的那棵樹，如今就沒有了（如圖）。北京的衚衕破壞的更嚴重，連許多四合院也被拆毀，變成商廈和現代住宅。看看今後北京城的規劃，龐大的故宮紫禁城在新的北京市規劃圖上就像玩具一樣。原北京的衚衕基本將全被拆光了，正如中國《新京報》說余春明的畫：為這個時代留下了一份珍貴的記錄，是畫里的民居博物館。硅谷亞洲藝術中心（Silicon Valley Asian Art Center）館長舒建華說：「迄今為止，在人居關係的把握上，還沒有那位中國畫家達到余春明的深廣度。經過20多年的執著探索，質樸和技巧、寫實和寫意，融合無間。在有著四千年農耕文明傳統的鄉土中國、全面走向城市化和市場化的21世紀，連天安門附近的許多老四合院都面臨「其命維新」的時代，余春明的作品必將有著「史詩」般的價值。」

China, having the same land area as America, inhabits fifty-six distinctive ethnic groups. Each of these groups have their own cultures and traditions: the Uighur of Xinjiang follow Muslim disciplines, the Tibetans worship Tibetan Buddhism, the Nakhi developed their own script, and the ancient tribes of Miao and Dong have their own traditions to abide by. These ethnic groups helped develop a diversity of architectural styles. For instance, the Han people, accounting for 92% of Chinese population, have almost 100 distinctive residential building styles. There are more than thirty kinds of representative styles all over China. These architectural styles are the products of the diversity of cultures and environmental conditions.

Just like Americans, Chinese culture values family above all things. But because of historical reasons, the same piece of land has nurtured generations of one family for hundreds even thousands of years. Families that never left their homeland developed into villages. In traditional societies, the lifetime dream of a peasant is to own a house, not for themselves, but for the next generation to live in. Since the families stay on the same plot of land for hundreds of years, houses are passed from generation to generation. In each house, there are sayings and family rules left by their ancestors; it contains records of all the fame and success of the family. Hand-carved doors and windows tell stories of how to live life. Even the structure of the house is designed according to the traditional hierarchy of the family members. Because Chinese people place more emphasis on family as opposed to themselves, most traditional Chinese painters paint houses and streets, which carry the essence of Chinese culture within them.

Because the richness of Chinese culture has precipitated in the form of residential architects, folk houses have become a popular subject that many traditional artists try to express. Such love for folk houses has drawn the attention of many contemporary Chinese painters. Since the water village in Jiangnan (south of Yangtze River) is famous for its exquisite beauty, Chen Yifei, the famous Chinese-American painter, painted a series of water villages in Jiangnan using realistic techniques. The series was promoted by the Hammer Galleries in New York in the 80s. Wu Guanzhong, dominating in eastern auction companies with soaring prices, also expressed the beauty of water villages in Jiangnan by the use of lines and rhyme of the traditional Chinese painting. While many artists are struggling to catch Jiangnans 「home by the bridge over the flowing stream」 and use classical images to express their feelings, Yu Chunming has explored each and every corner of Chinese folk houses and has penetrated into the depth of the Chinese culture. Although there exists the same core in the subject of Yu Chunming, Wu Guanzhong and Chen Yifei’s paintings, Yu’s paintings have a more imposing and earthly feature that is rooted deeply in thousand-years of history. While Yu Chunming tunes his paintings in between Wu’s mildness and Chen’s richness, he did not restrain himself in the Jiangnan region like Wu Guanzhong and Chen Yifei did, but extended his painting brush to all the ethnic groups and regions of China.

Yu Chunming was born in Jiangxi, China, 1955. In 1978, he entered the renowned China Academy of Art. From 1983 to 1995, Yu traveled all over China to visit ancient villages and cities and produced more than three thousand pieces of colored sketches and hundreds of watercolor, oil painting and lacquer painting. During that time, he used line techniques and the implicit beauty of traditional Chinese painting, combined with western oil painting styles and his own life experiences to portray the ancient way of life and the richness of folk house styles. Some of Yu’s paintings have surrealistic elements while others seem realistic but actually do not exist. They are reflective of his ideas. For example, the tradition of Chinese families wishing their descendants to continue the bloodline and reap success in the future was embedded in 「Rhyme of Moon」, modeled with architectural styles from the southern Anhui area. The 「Drum Tower’s Tale」 uses a drum tower to show the strong family bond of the Dong people. Paintings such as 「Sealed Memory」, 「Tale of the Round Castle」 and 「Red Rock Mountain’s Tale」 express the conflicts between reality and tradition, informing us that the custom of procuring many children is no longer realistic. The meaning of marriage in《桃花塢》 portrays an impression of harmony while the portrait of winter in the countryside modeled by《冬閒》 appears very subtle and quiet. His art forms fuse perfectly with the contents, evoking a dream-like feeling in each painting.

China, now thriving with high speed development of city extensions, vastly reduces the number of ancient folk houses. During Yu’s twenty years of folk house paintings, these ancient treasures disappear after witnessing hundreds of years of Chinese history. Many places where Yu Chunming had once visited no longer exist. For instance, the old town of Shaoxing had long since disappeared and Suzhou only managed to retain a small region of folk houses. The rate at which these folk houses disappear affects old traditions, where in Hunan and Guizhou, the Dong folk dance can no longer be found. Even protected folk house regions, such as Zhouzhuang, Shanghai, cannot stay unharmed. The destruction of Beijing’s alleys is considered most serious; even Siheyuan are being turned into office buildings and apartment complexes. This is why the 「Beijing News」 described Yu Chunming’s work as a legacy of precious records during this era. His paintings are regarded as a museum for traditional folk houses. As many of China’s traditions and ancient architectural styles die out, Yu Chunming’s work will continue to be valued as historical masterpieces.