Who's Chen Yuxiang?

Born in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, 1945, retired employee of Sanya Second Light Craft Factory, director of Sanya Artists Association.

Chinese name: Chen Yuxiang.

Nationality: China.

Place of birth: Chaozhou, Guangdong Province

Date of birth: 1945

Occupation: painter

Representative works: Wuzhishan God

The life of the character

Chen Yuxiang, 1945, a native of Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, is a retired employee of Sanya Second Light Craft Factory and a director of Sanya Artists Association.

In the1990s, a number of dried plant oil paintings were developed. 1March, 1996, interviewed by CCTV. On May 4th of the same year, CCTV broadcast the talk show "Creating Beautiful Pictures with Dead Branches".

1August 1996 Participated in the "China Art Fair" and won the "Newcomer's New Works Award". 65438-0998 The oil painting "Autumn Rhyme" entered the exhibition "Commemorating 20 Years of Reform and Opening-up, National Exhibition of Industrial System Art, Calligraphy and Photography" jointly organized by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Artists Association, Film Association and Book Association. Since 2005, we have devoted ourselves to the research and development of new sculpture materials, to the study of the traditional culture of the Li nationality, and have produced a number of folk colored plastic works that show the culture of the Li nationality with new materials, new forms and new perspectives.

Main work

Painted sculpture

A dark horse in the craft world

In the list of the first batch of masters of arts and crafts in Hainan Province, Chen Yuxiang's colored sculpture is a dark horse that suddenly broke in. Other craftsmen inherited and carried forward this tradition, but Chen Yuxiang found a new way to present the traditional culture of the Li nationality.

Chen Yuxiang's ancestral home is Chaozhou, Guangdong. Her hometown is a famous historical and cultural city in China, and all kinds of handicrafts are dazzling. She grew up in this artistic atmosphere. When she was eight or nine years old, she began to learn embroidery and did some embroidery work for pillowcases in an embroidery factory to earn some pocket money.

In 1960s, Chen Yuxiang came to Hainan as an educated youth who jumped the queue. During his working days on the farm, Chen Yuxiang was glad to see the local customs of Li nationality, the exquisite composition and rich colors of Li nationality's clothes and Li brocade. She realized the long history and profoundness of Li culture, and that this precious cultural heritage should be passed down and displayed.

In her view, Li culture should be displayed not only by Li Jin, but also by more artistic forms, so that Li culture can be promoted more widely. Chen Yuxiang has been looking for a new artistic expression.

As the use of "fiber mud" as a raw material became more and more mature, she thought of using fiber mud as a carrier to create artistic works expressing the traditional culture of the Li nationality on a display board. On a 1.85-meter-high exhibition board, there is a work called "Wuzhishan God", and the huge "Wuzhishan God" smiles at every viewer. Five peaks on the top of Wuzhishan God are connected, with a dragon pattern on the high forehead and a figure of a person on the back. The nose is in the shape of a coconut tree. The leaves of coconut trees extend below the forehead, like layers of eyebrows and three red coconuts, like a red mole between the eyebrows. The image of laughing heartily not only loses the majesty of the national totem, but also makes people laugh. The new image conveys Hainan people's optimistic and positive attitude towards life. Chen Yuxiang's family told reporters that it was a work that she was very satisfied with.

Personal life

Obsessed with artistic creation

The bedroom is the studio.

Chen Yuxiang's life hasn't changed much since he won the title of the first master of arts and crafts in this province. She is still the old artist who is obsessed with artistic creation. Her studio was still rented in a humble room in Xiayangtian, Hedong District, Sanya City many years ago.

From the initial difficult research and development, this year is the tenth year. This journey is not easy. At first, Chen Yuxiang studied and produced it alone. Later, his son and daughter-in-law set up a family workshop together, and then set up a company to cooperate with the school to open a Li traditional culture and art exhibition hall. After years of exploration and creation, colorful sculpture paintings with the theme of Li culture have gradually gained more people's understanding and appreciation, and have also received the attention and support of relevant government departments.

Chen Yuxiang is almost 70 years old now, but he still works every day. She says she is happiest when she does what she likes. Her family told reporters that she has been very devoted to her work, and she is often in a state of sleepless nights, sometimes working for more than ten hours a day. She said, "As long as I live, I will continue to work."

In Chen Yuxiang's home, the reporter saw that she used her bedroom as a studio. Except for some works, most of the rooms are books about Li culture and picture books with Li patterns. After repeated research, she seems to have become a member of the Li family. In addition, the reporter saw several works transplanted from Hailitu in Qing Dynasty, as well as many small frame paintings, whose themes include women's dresses in five dialects, weaving, dyeing and embroidery in Li Jin's four major crafts, tropical scenery of Hainan Island, Li nationality boathouses, rice farming and so on.