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| Yan Pei-Ming: A Chinese in Beijing |
| By Cecilia Freschini |
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 CCA presents Landscape of Childhood, an exhibition by major artist Yan Pei-Ming. Following Les Funérailles de Monna Lisa exhibition in Musée du Louvre, Landscape of Childhood will stand as a surprising show and the first time Yan Pei-Ming has produced a show without canvases by experimenting with installation.
One huge landscape directly painted on the wall of UCCA's Big Hall frames a series of painted flags representing portraits of 34 Chinese new born children. Imagined as an abounding walk trough faces and urban views, the exhibition powerfully conveys Yan Pei-Ming's intentions and gives the audience an opportunity to discover a vision of our world in a landscape of crisis and beyond.
Born in Shanghai in 1960 and living in Dijon, France, since the early 1980s, Yan Pei-Ming has always been interested in the concepts of  individuality and anonymity expressed in the portraits and landscapes he paints. He has been one of the first Chinese artists to settle and build his career abroad. Yan Pei-Ming is famous for his monochromatic large portraits executed in either black and white or red shades. "I have never felt it necessary to put some things around the persons; I just want to draw portraits."
"Yan Pei-Ming has become the ultimate artist portraying the iconic characters of our time. His work stands as a major reference on the international contemporary art scene and this show should remain a milestone in history since it features the portraits of the icons of tomorrow: the next generation of Chinese citizens framed into an empty landscape, the future", Jérôme Sans, UCCA Director and co-curator of Landscape of Childhood.
A China based writer Cecilia Freschini did te interview with Yan Pei_Ming after the opening of this exhibition.
Cecilia: In 1967 you were a child living in a revolutionary Shanghai, and you saw the Red Guards threw away the monk’s books onto a huge fire… “I decided there and then that I no longer wanted to be a monk, because monk are traditionally peaceful and do not fight back.” You did not give up your naïve intentions; you choose your path with courage and perseverance. From this emblematic anecdote of you childhood, how did you turn up to became a painter? What makes you think you could keep on fighting through art? How you arranged your battle? Which topics in the past and now you’re focused in?
 Yan Pei-Ming: The environment I lived and saw during my childhood was very important for me to become a painter. I like drawing since then. Artists live within the society and the artworks are the reflection of their concerns and understanding about the society. Art is a tool for me to express personal feelings and opinions on issues, for instance wars, injustice, live and death etc. Many people noticed and considered these questions through my artworks. That’s the way I fight. Human is the topic I always focus in and I use portait as a form to explore it. I drew all kinds of people from different classes, like soliders, politicians, religious figures, prisoners, children etc.
Cecilia: Hou Hanru, distinguished curator and critic, said "Ming is certainly one of the most determined and intransigent painters of our time," adding: "looking at Ming’s powerful work, one becomes fully aware of the tension, and the inseparable connection between art and life." Looking at your portraits I’ve always been wondering, where is the border between the figurative intention and the conceptual ones? I mean, what we look is more coming from the realism, from life or from your own feelings?
Yan Pei-Ming: I saw myself as a figurative painter with a wild style and free techniques. I don't consider, deliberately, the idea of being "conceptual". I just use all the methods I could imagine when creating. Realism, life, and personal feelings are all my sources. Since life, death, and human tragedy are common themes and lie in all these aspects.
 Cecilia: 20 years after the “accident” … in your opinion, how the art field has developed in China?
Yan Pei-Ming: There is off course development, at least the enviroment is freer than 20 years ago. But, the development of Chinese contemporary art is manipulated, to a large extent. The fame and attention it perceived, around the world, is deeply related to the development of China, as a country in the global economic network. China grows too fast to have a smooth process for everything. New things born and directly jumped to the result.
Cecilia: Living abroad perhaps helps you a lot in developing your art and gaining success… But an exile is not an holiday and you may hedge a scar in you soul. Can you, try to image which person, I mean, which Yan Pei-Ming, you would be now if you had never left China? Any regrets?
Yan Pei-Ming: It's hard to say "scar". But I do feel that my indentity is the one of an orphan or a vagabon in front of the art world. This “exile” brings me a room for independent thinking and self-exploring, this enables the artistic freedom to develop in my own language. I personally think, independence and self-consciousness mean a lot for an artist. If I had not left, I would definitely be a different person, maybe an ordinarily artist. Environment is vital to create a real artist. So I never regretted leaving.
Cecilia: Now China is a completely different Country compared with the one you left... lots of artists friends of yours, came back and start a new life here… never come this plan into your mind?
Yan Pei-Ming: In my opinion, China is becoming more and more material along with the economic development. The environement for art creation is loosened but, as I mentioned, what I have been focused on are issues existed in all modern society and human beings, not only in China. Thus, coming back or not doesn't matter. Recently I travelled and exhibited around the world including China.
Cecilia: You started to make exhibitions pretty early, and you made lots of shows. Is there anyone that meant a particularly importance to you?
 Yan Pei-Ming: Every exhibition means a lot me. The career path for an artist is like constucture. The deeper the foundation was, the higher the building would be. Creation needs accumulation. You can witness my artististic development, the birth and the implementation of new ideas through my exhibition. In another word, artists present their thinking about the society and politics through the exhibition.
Cecilia: This is a really lucky and significant year for you. Your works have been exhibited in lots of remarkable museums: from Gamec (Bergamo) to Musée du Louvre (Paris) and the San Francisco Art Institute… and finally back to China! If I’m right this is just your third exhibition in the Mainland… it should be very meaningful to you…
Yan Pei-Ming: Yes, this is my third exhibition in Mainland China, my first one in Beijing. It's important to me since it's like going home. I tried a new form and method in a very young and, probably, the best art space in China.
Cecilia: In my point of you, this at UCCA Art Center, is a really amazing and surprising one. How the project born and how did you developed it? Why the decision to avoid your signature style drip paintings on canvas? Is just a case or means you are searching for new painting experiments?
 Yan Pei-Ming: When I saw the UCCA space for the first time, I was surprised by its significance and beauty. It’s the kind of space all artists dream of. I don’t want to damage the beauty by hanging paintings on the walls or dividing the space into areas. So I drew the landscape on one entire wall, painted the portaits on 34 flags, and hanging them upside down in two rows in the middle of the hall, one meter from the ground. Visually, the flags are like at a half-mast to mourn for the life and death. It’s the simpliest form which keeps the transparency and beauty of the space to the greatest extent. But due to the extremely loud engine sound of the blowers and the wind, it is the richest form as well. As soon as entering the hall, one should feel the visual and acoustic tense. The floating flags provide a dynamic shape and different expressions of the children’s faces. Therefore, the curatorial plan was an accidental result, affected by the feature of UCCA space. I didn’t consider it as installation art but a way to communicate and express.
Cecilia: What brings you from portraying the iconic characters of our time to painting 34 unknown Chinese new born children?
Yan Pei-Ming: I did paint some famous figures but more of my objects were anonymous, like children, prisoners and soldiers. This exhibition is not the first time I drew children or so-called ordinary people. I feel this world is becoming more and more material, a  “celebrity society”. We cared about those celebrities, stars, politicians, rather than a child begging on the street. It’s a common phenomenon. The photographs of my paintings were provided by the United Family Hospital. They are either orphans or abandoned. This exhibition aims to make people face the minority group again, someone who is not one of the celebrities. The landscape on the wall is the wonderland for those miserable children.
Cecilia: Which different you perceive between foreign and Chinese audience? How do you think Chinese art lovers face your work?
Yan Pei-Ming: Compared to local audience, westeners tend to like my works more. I think, this is becuase it takes time for Chinese people to accept/understand my art. No "MADE IN CHINA" mark existed in my works. On the other hand, it also takes time for Chinese people to develop the habit of visiting art galleries and museums, appreciating art. The art community is growing here. Take the audience I talked to this time, they got the feelings I tried to say and were moved.
Cecilia: Tell me a little about the present relationship between Yan Pei-Ming and China.
Yan Pei-Ming: China is my home country. I’m an artist. Art has no national boundaries.
 Cecilia Freschini is an independent curator and art writer based in Beijing, China. She is specialized in Chinese contemporary art market with four years experience as a consultant and art dealer. She has promoted international exchanges between China and Europe. Now, she is a contributing Editor of Flash Art International, Exibart On Paper, Art Manager and Contemporary Art & Investiment. Curator of China Box of the 4th Prague Biennial. Cecilia was born in Verona in Italy. For more info please go to: www.ceciliafreschini.com 
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