Artist: Shen Ye

　　Interviewer: Song Jirui (Planning Director of “Youth Art 100”)

　　Time: Feb. 5th, 2012

　　Venue: Shen Ye Studio,Yuntong,Beijing

　　Shen Ye used diversified medium in painting, so her works including paper-based painting and oil painting both. But on the whole, both kinds of works share some internal commonness, clearly indicating that Shen Ye has already broken through the limitation and restriction of specific materials over her creation. Shen Ye selected materials based on whether the material could meet her style of painting “at her own will.” No matter being oil painting or paper-based painting, Shen Ye has been seeking for a way corresponding to her will, i.e. starting from each local part one after another without any prior settlement, and elaborating her individualized awareness to the world in such an uncertain manner.

　　Living a simple life, but focusing wholly on things deserving consideration

　　Song: When did you start painting?

　　Shen: My father is a designer. Many of his elders and friends are calligraphers, painters or designers. Seemingly I was gifted at this at very young age. My father often asked me to pay attention to the relationship between sky and trees, as if it was something necessary. He told me to do pencil sketch when I was a Grade II student in primary school. Every weekend, I had to draw sketches while other children were playing. Sometimes I felt boring.

　　Song: Was it a very fierce competition for entering into the Middle School Attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts?

　　Shen: I did not feel it was that difficult. Mr. Sun Qingyi, my father’s teacher and the Dean of the Designing Department of the former Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, recommended Mr. Wu Xiaohua to teach me. I learned painting from him from Grade II in junior high school and was admitted by the Middle School Attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts without a hitch.

　　Song: What impacts did the Middle School Attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts bring to you?

　　Shen: Learning in the Middle School Attached to CAFA, you could feel a totally different atmosphere. Some young teachers as Liu Xiaodong and Shen Ling were teaching there after graduation. They were young, individualized and professional, without any haughty manner as a teacher. They never forbid us smoking, but smoked and chatted with us together instead. In such an environment and at such an age, our individualities were extremely developed. That was a very happy time.

　　Everybody seemed to read thirstily day and night at that time. I don’t know whether my impression was wrong, but several of my good friends did so. A lot of knowledge was flooding in, including many contradictory and conflicted things. Now I have got to know the pluralism of culture, but at that time I was so stubborn that was anxious to immediately know what the only truth was. I simply could not digest so much. Actually, students, who could be enrolled by the Middle School Attached to CAFA, were all good in basics. However, everybody was, more or less, young, proud and frivolous for being admitted by the school, dreaming to be great master and consequently leading to their feeling at a mess. Having touched some western contemporary artistic forms and concepts, but they still could not understand at all while suspecting about them. In a word, we got no way to solve the “what to do” problem.

　　Song: What were you like when studying in the Middle School Attached to CAFA?

　　Shen: For favorite subjects, I learned thirstily and crazily. But for less favorite ones, I usually treated them more casually.

　　Song: What impressed you most in China Academy of Art?

　　Shen: The reading and intellectual enquiries there impressed me most. In order to make some uncertainties clear, we have started reading professional books on history of fine arts. But the more we read, the more confused we became. In college, our reading became more systematic, with readings on philosophy and phenomenology increased in proportion. Sometimes we also felt boring, since we were interested in other fields as well.

　　At that time, we discussed most on the speculation of accessing art with the attitude of seeking for truth. Simply speaking, that was to deny art as a style or a form first of all, and to suspend transcendental things. Everybody starts to feel the world from him/herself, to communicate with the world, then to speak his/her own language deep in heart. Once the logic was affirmed, the individual uniqueness was established, and then the multiple possibilities of language were probably generated. In those days, teachers and students were talking about those issues every day, no idea where such enthusiasm came from.

　　Song: What is your current state?

　　Shen: Living a simple life, but focusing wholly on things deserving consideration.

　　The invisible or untellable feeling attracts me more

　　Song: The Body series in 2004 are mostly shots of local parts of female body, and the Portrait series in 2008 are also mainly female figures. Why did you choose female as your focus?

　　Shen: If there is nothing wrong with my memory (but I am not sure about my memory, that is really a long time ago), I haven’t read any articles about body, politics, power or female art in 2004, so there should not have been any symbolic meanings in my paintings. In 2004, I kept visiting art museums in Europe and the two-month rushing disgusted me. It was some small paintings, such as Van Gogh’s, Morandi’s, Chardin’s and Giacometti’s oil paintings…somehow touched certain nerves in my body. I knew I should capture something, but the traditional painting could not inspire me anymore in terms of scene or way of thinking. So I began to pay more attention to new medium, including photography, multi-media and film. In Europe, I saw a woman photographer--Nan Goldin’s works, very striking. I did not know who she was until I found many of her pictures in China later on. Her pictures are full of life, moving and touching. I have been considering figure’s conditional composition in scenes and have become bored, so I tried to explore the possibility to complete the scene with local parts of body, consequently leading to the Body series. Actually, I should have realized earlier: oneself could be brought into the any painting. The Portrait series in 2008 showed an occasional interest in some image materials. I cannot talk more on the topic of female. If I really impressed others as this, it should be attributed to the subconscious movement by something, or more exactly, the specific feeling in life.

　　Song: Most of the figures’ expressions are absurd, weird, and even morbid. Is this your understanding to current female mentality or social reality?

　　Shen: I am always interested in different cultures, since they may break or correct some misunderstandings brought by education or media. I usually like reading some sociological books, but female mentality or social reality belong to group concept, which I often avoid to think about issues from this point because insufficient knowledge would easily lead to sexual politics and class analysis. The invisible or untellable feeling attracts me more. It seems realer.

　　Song: Did this subject matter come from your actual life experience?

　　Shen: Definitely. Maybe everybody can be touched by different things. As for “touching things in life,” I would comprehend it as an atmosphere jointly created by everybody’s life world, spiritual world and other stuffs. It seems more accurate with not that materialistic understanding.

　　Song: Are you sensitive?

　　Shen: I am sensitive in some aspects, but insensitive in other aspects.

　　Song: The reality in life can touch you, then the figures in your paintings are originated from your friends, or models?

　　Shen: The Portraits of People of a Kind, the Fancy Dress and The Obscure Object of Desire series share some common origins: from pictures on internet, pictures of film and photos of my friends, including club girls, costume party and Thai shemale…In contrast with social investigation on field, I would rather prefer imagining or figuring out their minds from far away. The most beautiful may be the portraits of Thai shemale, which cannot be recognized among all the portraits. Later I put the portrait in the Mysterious Drama—An Imagination of Ceremony (《秘戏——一种仪式的想象》) as a woman’s head, providing a weird feeling. Such a sociological observation may impair the “nature of painting,” but the effect of knowledge generation cannot be ignored. Is it good or bad to personal development or to painting creation? Shall I suspend it or further study on it? Temporarily I have no confirmed idea.

　　Song: Are you a “residential woman?”

　　Shen: Yes, maybe. I often did not step out of my house for several weeks. Occasionally, I went out for friend’s exhibition opening or some parties. Usually I stay at home.

　　Film is another channel for me to know the world

　　Song: Some of your works are erotic, what is your thinking on this subject?

　　Shen: This is one of the most puzzling problems in people’s growths. From what standing point and visual point, as well as with what attitude to look at erotic is my concern.

　　Song: What is your attitude?

　　Shen: Bunuel said in his memoirs, that he had been over ninety years old, and finally free from the interruption of desire, how fantastic it is! It is unknown what the conflict between human nature and the social rules would result in. But I’d prefer to be an onlooker with neutral attitude, finding out what I will see.

　　Song: Why did you name one of your series as The Obscure Object of Desire?

　　Shen: It was borrowed from a Bunuel’s film The Obscure Object of Desire. Bunuel said his The Obscure Object of Desire was inspired by the “pale desire” in Pierre Louys’ La femme et le pantin. The film not only told that female body could not be actually possessed, but also emphasized the special atmosphere in the Director’s time familiar to us all—the sense of unsafety and possible disasters at any time. The Director’s other works, including The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Specter of Freedom, all dealt with the same subjects, even with same methods, sought for certain truth, but finally had to give up after it had been found. Meanwhile, the films also described the persistence and stubbornness of social conventions. In addition, all of them argued about the necessity of coincidence, personal morality and mysteriousness, while emphasized that we must maintain and respect the existence of those elements. To Bunuel, freedom is only a phantom.

　　For a very long time, watching his films has become my important task, and those films have become an important source of inspirations.

　　Song: You seemed like films very much, what else films influenced you greatly?

　　Shen: I am often crazy about films, whatever films will do. Comparatively, I like experimental films. A good director can explore human nature and human desire deeply, very specifically with individualized comprehension. This is very interesting part. Film is another channel for me to know the world.

　　Song: Which director do you like most?

　　Shen: Too many, but not all the films directed by a director I like. In Japan, I like Shohei Imamura’s Revenge and Narayama Bushiko, Beat Takeshi, Akira Kurosawa; In Italy, I like Pasolini’s Life Trilogy (生命3部曲); In France, I like New Wave’s Rohmer and Quentin Tarantino; In Taiwan, I like Edward Yang’s The One and Only and A Brighter Summer Day, together with Hsiao-hsien Hou’s A City of Sadness…too many films I like, and many pirate films with no Directors’ names, as well as some non-published films which I have never paid much attention.

　　I would rather accept the uncertainty of art

　　Song: When did you start your paper-based painting?

　　Shen: From 1998, I painted many small works on paper. Several of my tutors confirmed and encouraged me to finish my graduation assignment on paper. Thus, my first paper painting was my graduation assignment The Human—Landscape Series, depicting people chatting in a park, who seemed strange as if proposing some plots and appeared the sense of unconscious absent-mindedness. And my master dissertation was Passerby, since I am always interested in the subject.

　　Song: You continued paper-based painting from graduation to 2008 and gave up professionally trained oil painting, why?

　　Shen: The paint for oil painting can be easily dried up in a short time. To my knowledge at that time, such kind of material requires the painter to start after everything has been decided, and the scenes should have been imagined and settled in advance, which does not meet my way of thinking. But paper-based painting can be done partly today, and partly tomorrow. I can stop on a day not in mood and continue on another day. A painting can be finished in a month, even several months, which can be continued at any time. What is more important, the uncertainty is there, which more perfectly meet my will. But after several years of explorations from 2008 to 2010, I felt that it could be possible with oil painting, and I will continue to experiment on it.

　　Song: You have explored paper-based painting for 10 years from 1998 to 2008. Is there any change in your painting?

　　Shen: There are only slight changes during the period, which are not obvious at first glance, only delicate changes in hand feeling. The changes on layout, structure and way of thinking may be a little more obvious. Painting is an experience, and a process of making mistakes, in which many unexpected things will happen and those “unexpected” will be carried on.

　　Song: You started oil painting again in 2008, why?

　　Shen: I have been working on paper-based painting from my graduation assignment. In 2008, I became bored with it, mainly because I continuously painted a few large paintings: The 3m Dreamland IV took 3 months and the Pink Dream of The Obscure Object of Desire cost more than 4 months. I could not stand it anymore. Actually, I have been thinking about oil painting while working on paper-based paintings, so I began my experiment with my experience. At that time, I moved to a new 500m2 studio, then I devoted myself into it.

　　Song: Is it difficult?

　　Shen: At the beginning, I was afraid of oil painting. After waked up every day, I began painting in the 500m2 room. Most of the works finished were 30x40cm small paintings. I slept when felt tired and continued after waked up. At that time, I was very strange and did not know what the painting would look like. One after another I kept painting, many of them were not good. But in retrospect, I found the best ones were often done when I did not know what to do and forced myself to go on, and then forgot anything at the end. Masterpieces cannot be done with strong awareness.

　　Song: Your works before 2011 clearly differentiated landscapes from figures, e.g. the Dreamland series is purely landscape, and the other series are figures. But in your new paintings in 2011, figures and landscapes are put into the same scene. Is it a new direction of your future work?

　　Shen: I called the previous period as “accumulating period”—accumulated materials, created expressional languages and consolidated mental experience…It seemed like ignoring the past a little bit to say so. However, I really feel that the possibilities and the uncertainties in the future are more interesting, since the exact or inexact confusion and curiosity will more powerfully arouse people’s enthusiasm to question and to experiment. Current will soon become a certain preface to the future.

　　In 2011, I got some new understandings to time and space. They were every individual’s personal experience, different from each other in different individuals. Space is the area of life or spirit, enclosed like numerous separated boxes, preventing from entrance. We can put them together, pile them up or move them to other places in our mind…All these are actually a hypothesis, a peep, a forgery or a misreading…a supernatural perception of reality. Time becomes vainer, the only exact “now” is transient, while the past and the future make more senses, but many possibilities can be redefined because of the vanity. If time is assumed as numerous scattered points without normal order, then in which way they can be linked up and whether they can be lined up. If possible, it will be a messy crisscrossing reel like a maze. Past, now and future, like the dreamlands messed up, sometimes resemble the illusions about time or place more than ever. The books and knowledge mostly have been included into private world as individual value system, sometimes act on individuals transiently, accidentally, superficially and temporarily in a teasing, material and imaging manner.

　　These understandings can completely change your working method, your knowledge and utilization of materials. Finally, I got many things to do in the following days.

　　Meanwhile, your cognition may change at any time. Except firmly grasping “myself,” other things became uncertain indeed. I could only follow my own heart, with nothing can be predesigned.

　　Song: Why did you start paper-based painting again in 2011?

　　Shen: One objective reason was my studio would be removed. From 2008 to 2010, I was painting some large-sized works and in very good mood. But the good mood could not continue because I had moved to a space not as large as the previous one. Another reason was what I just mentioned, I wanted to experiment on some new knowledge and experience, for which paper-based painting was more suitable than oil painting, so I simply turned to paper-based painting again.

　　Song: Reviewing your artistic path in the past seven or eight years, what is the mainline running through the period in your opinion?

　　Shen: It is bumbling if I say pursuit or questioning. It should be respect to the mysteriousness of things, neither easily believe in anything nor easily disbelieve anything. But I feel the most important is the inner problem.

　　New Solo Exhibition will open a new journey

　　Song: Why did you hold the solo exhibition?

　　Shen: I agree with the importance of exhibition told by Mr. Zhao Li. He said, You are facing single scene and separated thinking in painting. Exhibition is going to put many single scenes together. How to arrange and what is finally delivered are probably totally different from your original thinking. The preparation process is a period to systematize thinking on different stages, and a time to communicate with others. Everybody is different in knowledge structure and personality, so listening to various feedbacks and comments is a precious opportunity to study.

　　Song: Which works and works during which period are included in the exhibition?

　　Shen: I selected several serial works from 2004 to 2011, except two series. There are my oil paintings finished from 2008 to 2010, including the Portraits of People of a Kind series, the Fancy Dress series and The Obscure Object of Desire series; and paper-based paintings before 2008, including the Body series, Dreamland series and The Obscure Object of Desire series, together with the new paper-based paintings in 2011.

　　Song: Will the outline of your creation be recognized from the exhibition?

　　Shen: Yes, it will. Basically the continuity of my thinking in painting and some specific changes can be seen in the past seven or eight years, and I have tried my best to express those changes.

　　Song: How long did you take to prepare the exhibition?

　　Shen: It took me a really long time, after I decided to hold the exhibition last summer.

　　Song: The exhibition is going to be opened, what do you expect from it?

　　Shen: I will try my best to vividly deliver my concerns, my thinking in painting and the changes in my thinking in a truth-respecting manner.

　　Song: What is the difference between this exhibition and the previous one in Gallery Yang last year?

　　Shen: The solo exhibition in Gallery Yang mainly included my works in 2008, 2009 and 2010, as well as a few works from the Mysterious Drama—An Imagination of Ceremony and the Mysterious Drama-An Imagination of Love. The works to be exhibited in Today Art Museum cover a larger time span and more are paper-based paintings. Some works are exhibited on both exhibitions, but it is a valuable opportunity to display works with multiple meanings in different spaces, especially on personal systematized exhibitions.