Approximately eight years ago, I saw a Water painting in the shuoHua gallery, a small size, but always lingering in my mind.

　　  I communicated with Robert, the artistic director of shuoHua(ASUS) Gallery,He also focused on water themes related to artworks. We talked about the art created by Chen Yifei, Fang Lijun and He Wenjue with water as their main theme. Robert was not quite as familiar with the Chinese art circle. He depends on his own artistic discretion to purchase the artworks. He advised me that they had been very successful and made a decision to move the galleries from villas near the airport to the Kempinski Hotel. We returned to our conversation and discussed British influence on painting. Robert is from Brittan he naturally knows more about the British artistes.We talked about Turner (William Turner, 1775-1851) and Constable (John Constable, 1776-1837), their artworks have focused on large waters themes. Unfortunately, we were unable to continue our discussion in-depth as Robert was called away on other business.

　　  However, as a result of these encounters and my earlier experiences I began to focus on the painting themes of water. Water has influenced Chinese landscape painting since very early on and many Chinese artworks have depicted many marvelous stories and legends. There are many examples of artists being influenced by water including Wu Daozi depicting water, of all night sound; Xu Daoning picturingwater, throughout the year as moist. Su Shi, in the an article Describe Pu Yongsheng after painting In a brief description of the painting history of water it describes the work of Sun wei, Huang Quan, Sun Zhiwei...of the Tang Dynasty. Their work was superb especially that of Sun Zhiwei’s water murals. The water on these paintings presented a feeling of dynamic motion of pouring down and agitation just like a collapsed house. of contemporary painter Pu Yongsheng, the same period of Sushi, unlike most artists that painted the "dead water", he can draw the "living water", in the summer time he will drawing water works feeling a "very hot chilly wind on his face and blowing in his hair. After Su Shi, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, when drawing water bring a high level of. Although many of them describe the Chinese painting history of water as a wonderful chapter in Chinese art It is undeniable that Chinese artists’ methods of painting water is a minimalist in its approach, and the artists like to take large blank areas to indicate the water, there is not much water in advance of this painting technique this adheres to the academic style of the method.

　　  By comparison European painting of water is full of interest. The 17th century Dutch seascapes have been able to grasp and depict water features in great detail. To the British painter Turner and Constable here, the depiction of water reached a pinnacle with Constable emphasizing that painting should be like scientific research, in the laboratory. His study of the water in great detail emphasized the characteristics of different aspects of the wave and he has a good grasp of the concepts involved. Turner painted the sea, with an eye to shape, which directly inspired the later impressionists in their description of the water. However, with the rise of conceptual art, with water as the theme of today's artists in Europe it has been less common. When today's Chinese artists began to focus on the creative theme of water, not only did they let us think of China's long tradition of landscape painting, they connected to the development of European painting in context, and thus lead to a cross-cultural Considerations.

　　  When i visited the shuoHua gallery the second time, the art works as theme of Water has been sold. They were purchased by a friend working for a foreign financial institutions, he hung the painting in the living room. I am a bit curious to ask him the reason for his purchase of these paintings. He did not brief the artist, but repeatedly stressed that he liked the pictures of the water, because the water bring wealth.

　　  In 2008 the financial crisis hit and generally foreign financial institutions took big losses however, the friend turned out to be very successful, thus fulfilling the faith “the water bring wealth”!?

　　  I had been surchaing for the artist of these paintings and had been unsuccessful until one evening of this summer, when I went into the studio of Yu Da located in Xiaopu, Songzhuang, I realized that Yu Da, was the author of the Water painting he was standing in front of me. After getting to know him I found out that Yu Da is a native of Hunan’ He studied painting at the CAFA in Advanced studies oil painting and showed special talent for realist painting, and experimented with figures, landscapes, scenery and a variety of subjects, and finally experienced the joy of depicting Water themes

　　  With oil painting drawing the Watery town, are not open around The famous artest Chen Yifei worked in oil painting in today’s market Chen Yifei’s classical ladies theme of portraits, bring record breaking prices at auction but his early start is the scenery of rivers and lakes specifically Zhouzhuang scenery. The American Petroleum magnate Armand Hammer visited China in 1985 and presented a special gift to Deng Xiaoping: Chen Yifei's oil painting "Hometown Memories-Bridging." This presentation gave the unknown painter Chen Yifei a high-profile as a public figure. Today we look back at Chen Yifei works of rivers and lakes and can feel his strong feelings of homesickness, We can feel the romantic imagination of Chinese traditional rural culture, thick brush strokes well expressed the historical vicissitudes of rivers and lakes, as one might savor an aging of wine thus, giving the people more thoughts.

　　  Also working with oil painting of Water themes the works of Yu Da have a substantial different from those of Chen Yifei . From a point of view of the painting language Yu Da has escaped from Chen Yifei’s classical painting language He no longer pursues thick texture and subtle color relationships but takes a more lively approach, closer to the information age of people experiencing images spread on the network, the image displayed on the screen, relieved the heavy feeling and sense of history of the image. To make the work more acceptable to the visual experience of people today Yu Da has simplified the process of the language, drawing on contemporary painting in some popular advertising technique of painting. He pays attention to the big feeling, rather than indulge in small details of the work . From the image point of view Yu Da draws the Works of Water theme with no kind of historical vicissitudes of Water Works of Chen Yifei, even more neat and beautiful. If Chen Yifei’s painting is Chinese rivers and lakes in the 1980s, Yu Da is depicting China's rivers and lakes for an audience in the 21st century.

　　  Yu Da let the Watery town out from history, permitting his painting to come out from the shadow of paintings by Chen Yifei, He has adopted a method that respects the reality of today, both in rivers and lakes and of the reality of the situation of today but also the visual experience of the audience of today. Out of respect for reality I am trying to restrain myself and not exaggerate treatment so that my work does not fall into an expressionism and surrealism stereotype. However, the reality of rivers and lakes under the Yu Da’s painting, gives an unrealistic feeling, a fantastic and vulnerable feeling. In this regard, perhaps we can use Plato's cave metaphor to explain: For people accustomed to living in the shadow of the illusory, when one day he saw the real world, but will not really feel unreal.

　　  However, I am considering that more important is Yu Da’s Water Works as they convey an idyllic life. Contemporary art has expelled the poetic. As Adorno (Theodor Adorno) said: after Auschwitz,it is barbaric to write poetry. In an era of poetry one cannot continue to write poetry, which requires great courage! In the hustle and bustle of Songzhuang, Yu Da is not moving for a variety of trends, hiding in the studio structure his poetic rivers and lakes, which also requires great courage! Yu Da believes no matter how cruel reality or how vulgar, poetry is still not devoid of people's minds. This allows hope to awaken the poetry deep in the soul of people which brings the poetry back into people's lives. Regardless of his desire it is important to stick to the idyllic.

7th September , 2015 at Wei Xiu Park,Peking University

作者：Peng,Feng