Chen Chen
From Jieyang, Guangdong. Born in 1969, university graduate. Has studied painting since childhood, with no other particular skills—painting is his profession. Neither traditional nor modern, neither Chinese nor Western, he describes himself as “straddling the fence.”
Like a Dream (Tune: Rumengling)
By Meng Zhong
This spring’s unprecedented epidemic confined people to their homes and violently tore society apart.
We each have different views of the world. I am right, you are wrong—this is the root of the world’s suffering.
Such suffering, however, in the realm of art, becomes the driving force behind creativity.
People suffer because they cannot find a reasonable explanation for themselves or for the world. But art is not an escape from reality—it is another way for people to express their view of the world. In other words, it is a little space humanity is compelled to carve out for itself.
Chen Chen’s world of figure painting uses a warm gaze and brush to sidestep direct confrontations of the real world. Instead, he transcends them with a Zhuangzi-like attitude. Through these detached, otherworldly figures, he expresses his perspective on the world—an approach used to explore life’s fundamentally unanswerable questions.
Behind his humor, absurdity, satire, and even a touch of cynicism, lies his compassion, sentimentality, and love.
The American novelist Amor Towles wrote in A Gentleman in Moscow:
“The most reliable sign of wisdom is a consistent sense of happiness.”
Those who are wise and joyful always carry a sense of ease and humor.
I enjoy finding the artist’s emotional state and mood within their paintings—savoring what lies beyond the ink and brush. A skilled hand, whether dealing with humorous or tragic themes, produces work that is rich and unrestrained. Good writing should be the same. In Chen Chen’s work, there is just such richness—freedom and wisdom.
You may ask: how does one attain this?
In truth, our state of being is something we cultivate and adjust over time.
Would you like help translating the poem title 如梦令 (“Like a Dream”) in a more poetic or culturally nuanced way?