NEW YORK—For a year, painters of Chinese descent from North America, Asia, Europe and Australia have sent submissions of their artwork to New Tang Dynasty Television’s offices in New York. A panel of judges has deliberated on the 140-plus entries and narrowed the selection down to 51 paintings, which will be on exhibit at the Salmagundi Club through Saturday, Dec. 3.
These paintings represent the best works from finalists of the Third Annual Chinese International Figure Painting Competition, which is part of a series of competitions hosted by NTDTV. The competitions are open chiefly to Chinese and overseas Chinese artists in several traditional Chinese or Western arts: violin, piano, classical Chinese dance, martial arts, vocal arts, photography, Han couture, and Chinese culinary arts.
The exhibit kicked off on the evening of Monday, Nov. 28 with an awards ceremony. Michelle Chen from the U.S. came away with the biggest honor, a gold prize for her piece, titled “My Mom.” The painting depicts a baby looking up in wonder at his mother, who is doing Falun Gong meditation. In his eyes, she is larger than life; in successive dimensions, her body takes on a larger and grander form until in the final iteration she sits like a Buddha in the cosmos. The composition of the painting draws the viewer’s eye up from the wondrous gaze of the baby to the mother in this physical dimension and then up to each larger version of her.
Chen is a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation practice based on the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. Practitioners live by these principles in their daily lives and cultivate toward a higher realm.
“A lot of wonderous things in cultivation practice are hard to describe in words, but can be expressed in brushstrokes,” Chen said. “Oil painting can depict what the eyes cannot see. Painting itself is also a self-searching, elevating process.”
Silver winner Shang-ta Yeh from Taiwan won with a painting called “Be Prepared,” which captures the moment of intense concentration before a classical vocalist opens with his first note. In it, an Asian man stands before a piano with his eyes closed. The orchestra begins to play behind him and yet time seems to stand still as he gathers his feelings before he steps into the spotlight.
Yeh was inspired by his brother, who is a singer. “He has to find an inner feeling and then convey that,” he said. “And that’s what I wanted to portray.”
The judging committee chose the winning pieces for their expression of traditional virtues and values using classical realism methods and superior oil painting techniques. The competition’s purpose is to “promote cultural exchange and the art of figure painting that portrays pure truth, pure compassion, and pure beauty,” according to its website. The competition stipulated that contestants must submit oil paintings that include a depiction of the human form. The artworks must be created by traditional, classical, realistic, and academic methods.
Fred Ross, chairman of ArtRenewal.org, made an appearance in support of the competition. In his speech to artists and attendees, he championed the cause of reviving traditional realism.
“We are bearing witness here at this great competition, that the fine arts of painting, drawing and sculpture, are returning to their rightful place ... And to affirm that fine art is only at its best when using the vocabulary and grammar of Realism,” Ross said, noting that the vocabulary of realism are the objects of the real world, which are readily understandable to everyone. To use common vocabulary is to enable art to communicate and “do what the art imposters of Modernism and Post Modernism are unable to do: capture, display and express the ideas, thoughts and emotions of mankind with poetry, beauty and grace.”
His daughter and director of operations at Art Renewal, Kara Lysandra Ross, frames the contemporary realistic movement as a form of backlash against modernist and post-modernist hegemony. “People are getting tired of seeing things that are not recognizable and being told that if they don’t enjoy it, that they simply aren’t conceptual enough,” she said. “Modern art is taking our voice; we must communicate through language that we can recognize.”
The power of traditional arts to communicate human feelings is central to NTDTV’s mission of being a platform for free, uncensored speech among Western and Chinese communities across the globe.
“Some people say that what we’re doing is not mainstream,” NTDTV President Zhong Lee said of the competition, “but I say that while this path is hard, it is very meaningful—we are promoting traditional aesthetics and culture. Your visit and participation is a form of support for this cause.”
Available for purchase will be some original paintings, as well as high quality reproductions in various sizes. An album including all 51 final works will also be on sale during the exhibition.
For more information, visit: http://oilpainting.ntdtv.com/en/ and http://salmagundi.org/
Salmagundi Art Club
47 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Exhibit hours: 1 p.m. – 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday
Nov. 28 through Dec. 3
Open to the general public.
Winners:
Gold winner receiving $10,000 cash award, gold medal, and award certificate:
- Michelle Chen, “My Mom”
- Qing Xin, “Determination Under Persecution”
Silver winners receiving $3,000 cash award, silver medal, and award certificate:
- Shang-Ta Yeh, “Be Prepared”
- Nelson Dong, “Who Am I”
Bronze winners receiving $1,500 cash award, bronze medal, and award certificate:
- Paul Wu, “Growth”
- Yu-pei Hsu, “Obtain the Fa”
Outstanding award winners receiving an award certificate:
- Hong Zan, “Everything Collapsed, Except the Banners”
- Hanna, “Lovely and Obedient Goats”
- Zi Qiao, “Father”
- Chia Ja, “Resume Traditional Arts”
- Jung-Hsin Wei, “Root”
- Ju-Ku Hsiang, “Moment in the Music”
- Tsui-Hua Yang, “Arrive at Museion”
- Yuan Li, “Youth in Tianguo Band”
- Yu Ju Yang, “Tranquility, and Cleanness”
