Cup of Butterflies,Media on canvas,85×85cm,2005Feng Feng's artwork takes the historical legacy of China and expresses it in an innovative visual way. His near sculptural application of paint and mixed media are unique in formal terms, while the ideas and Chinese characters that give meaning to his work thematically address thousands of years Chinese history. Born in 1956, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning, and of mixed ancestry (Han,Manchu&Mongol), the artist has developed a series of work that has spanned the last nearly two decades. Feng Feng has achieved a kind of "equilibrium" between being a poet and painter. Feng Feng uses bold colors that have raw character. The artist delves into three-dimensional representation, utilizing relief-sculpted forms of Chinese pictorial script, calligraphy and engraving plates. He works within the dimensions of color and planar considerations, allowing the three-dimensionality of the works to function in unison with the ancient themes being expressed. The artist's seminal series draws its inspiration from the Western Xia dynasty and draws heavily upon themes whose roots are found in classical Chinese literature. These themes include the sentiment of the embrace of autumn, conceptions of history and of times' passage, and the influence of cultural upheavals. Destruction and latent themes, which elaborate upon identity and visceral spirituality, are predominant. At the fore are the fields of primary colors, those notably employed in the spiritual symbolism associated with Tibetan Buddhism, which is today perceived as the unique heritage of China. Feng Feng delves into the origins of the Chinese character by setting up a direct, stark presentation of the characters amid his densely compositional field or in the relief work, which in often present on his canvas. Ancient scripts drawn from the Buddhist Canon, copper etchings and diverse media are all skillfully employed to narrate a subjective examination of the historical language of the traditional arts and verse of the nation. These ancient symbols are held in contrast to current conceptions and often misconceptions of Chinese contemporary society. The ardour and passion of the artist for classical verse fills the visual creations. Abstract reduction serves to veil characters and other symbols within his work. The many layers of paint and raw materials that Feng Feng uses transform the history of an ancient country and culture. As such, his artworks serves as an address saddled with a tremendous historical legacy. His efforts denote a remarkable conceptual and artistic achievement. The Romance of the West Chamber,Media on canvas,72×62cm,2005In looking at Feng Feng's formal compositions, the artist often dissects his compositions with stark bands of sheet metallic paints, of bronze, gold and silver hues, furthering the concept of crossing time and emphasizing the effect of time on culture. In contrast to the depth of the intense brushwork on the surface, the bands capture the eye, as testimony to the fleeting nature of life. In this sense, the artist establishes a domain wherein the spectacle of history is drawn to a halt and narration to an end. The artist cites the significance of the Song Dynasty in the evaluation of Chinese painting, an emphasis which indicates a deep personal inspiration. The personal significance for the artist returns to the barriers of aesthetic, cultural and personal attributes, wherein their similarities are seen as a parallel in his specialization, a mirror of a natural progression. The parallel extends to the question of aesthetics, the invention and synthesis of an architectural vocabulary and that of painting itself. The perspective aspires to encompass a three dimensional aspect in his work, to allow even the invention of a sphere of what he dubs a " two and a half" dimensional strata, an extra dimension reaching as far as, for example, music. These extra dimensions, such as that of space, raise questions of single and multiple planes, both literal and conceptual. The nature of this symphony of artistic aspiration is to embrace impermanence, to fill the surface with a fluid grace of music, the romantic accompaniment of classical Chinese instruments such as Gu Zhen, and to fuse the ensemble with the static tension of architectural principles with those of cultural history, the still and the fluid. Reflections on the nature of the past, of the traditional and historical, and the dynamic of narration and storytelling come together in an abstract consideration; between flat and sculptural dimensions, a resonance chord strikes the balance. Feng Feng' use of colour, of natural pigments, reinforces this pan-dimensional appeal. He employs a unique technique-an initial and dense application of mineral paint followed by successive layers of acrylic, which are then allowed to dry and work towards the multi-layered compositions-from earlier forced attempts to a later full abandon in the process of painting. Yellow, red and green(earth tones), gold, black, bold red and yellow find special symbolic meaning in traditional Chinese culture. Conversely the presence of blue and grey stands in contrast to convention, their use a rarity in Chinese traditional representation. The use of broad swathes of black, a technique driving towards the focal point of the mind or intellect of the views, is a minor yet powerful note in this symphony of art, which serves to reduce the noise of time to a silent contemplation.The presence of calligraphy and characters serves to illustrate the word as a symbol. The contemporary spiritual void in China sheds light on his compositions and reveals their inherent echo of the great importance attached to pre-established ideas of symbolic reference and of the intrinsic quality of the Chinese character in a cultural context. Feng Feng's art serves as a poetic and literary collage, a visual and historical depiction of the depth of Chinese culture and its roots, amplified by creations which present poetry, the poems of which become titles to his work. Additionally, each image conveys an "innate", "inherent" and obscure tale, which the artist himself embraces. The resultant work can be thought of as the fruit of the artist's personal meditations. Peach Blossom Fan,Media on canvas ,80×80cm, 2006The questions of aesthetics and form are neither contrived nor forced for Feng Feng. Earlier experimentation allowed for a variety of disastrous as well as successful attempts at full abstraction, and for them, the artist learnt to abandon himself to the process of creation. The discovery of multi-media compositions allowed for the emergence of a truly unique artistic signature, and that originality is what strikes the viewer today. The artist cites a personal maturity that came to him when he had the idea of abandoning oneself before the creation at hand was experienced, rather than pursuing a more calculated, exacting process on canvas. While outside the conventional and orthodox approach of an earlier generation of painters, this personal direction furthered the artist in an intricate and passionate game of painting for its own sake. This direction was in contrast to and broke with the restraints of a formalism engrained in him during his education in both Science and Architecture at Tianjin University (where he was to graduate in 1981), and has led to his current acclaim as a pioneer in the school of abstraction. On reflection of new trends in art, the artist retains a vigilant stance, while appreciative of new initiatives; he espouses a philosophical opinion which laments, if not refute, the crass materialism which now inundates the sphere of contemporary art. Feng Feng express little interest in the emergence of successive generations of artistic movements and current trend. While admonishing that these directions are neither void of significance nor meaning for today, the artist's predominate concern is specific, to that of history, and the examination of which has been an entirely subjective exploration throughout his career. He has consolidated this vision-past at the core of his artistry. His passions and interest for the literary fields, for those of poetic verse as well as storytelling and folktale, are ample and sufficient fuel for his personal artistic vision. Outside the dichotomy and debate of the academicians, literati and intellectuals, Feng Feng has attained a profound insight into the question and quintessential nature of history itself. The hermetic practice of the artist affords greater insight in a meditation set apart from the ebb and flow of society. His work illustrates man's madness for definition, delineation and identification. In Feng Feng's art, each individual creation is an execution of a chapter drawing to a close, a deconstruction and rebirth in a subjective stroke and, within a profound simplicity, born of contemplation and reflection. Feng Feng's detachment and observation have yielded an acuity and resonant depth, which amplifies the compositions of the artist; a quasi-spiritual tone is apparent, despite his atheism. The cultural, historical and societal episodes of China have imbued a leviathan of dormant spiritual symbolism-misconstrued, perverted an iconoclastic legacy of deviation and hyperbolic rhetoric-which remains until today. As the concept of Fine Art is an importation of the past, Feng Feng concerns himself with the paradox of Cultural-Art and Art-Culture, a pivotal concept and a point of contrast between the artistic language of the East and the West. The artist's intent is no neither incorporate nor counter this language, which distorts, nor to re-examine the Exotic in culture, whether indigenous or foreign. Instead, his work reflects the error and variants in his central preoccupation with history. While professing a deep interest in Buddhism and Taoism, Feng Feng himself does not practice, less concerned with the paths of spirituality than with their beauty. The presence of such a visual and tonal language in the selection of lacquer, pigment and paint, serves as an ironic counter-current to preconceived and false conceptions of the cultural identification of China as well as that of the minority communities and their diverse spiritual traditions. Feng Feng's work emits a subtle echo across time and an absurd, pale mimesis of societal perceptions and misperceptions.