Yan Pei Ming. Painting histories
“Kumiko” by Beatrice Brandini
From today until 3 September 2023 Palazzo Strozzi presents Yan Pei-Ming. Painting histories, the most important exhibition in Italy dedicated to one of the main masters of contemporary painting. Evocatively moving monumental paintings.
Name of a dog! Un jour parfait, triptych, oil on canvas. Private collection
Les Funérailles de Mona Lisa, polyptych. Private collection
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Hilary Merkus Recordati Foundation, curated by Arturo Galansino, highlights the powerful and original research of the French-Chinese artist, in a visual multitude between individual experiences and historical events, among icons of western and eastern.
Pope Innocent X bleu, oil on canvas. Private collection
Exécution, après Goya, oil on canvas. Private collection
It is interesting how for this artist there is no boundary between private and personal memories, news stories, newspaper covers, cinema and ancient paintings. Throughout this exhibition, one can in fact admire still lifes but also characters such as Bruce Lee, Mao Zedong, Aldo Moro (more precisely, the discovery of his body inside a Renault 4), together with the reinterpretations of famous works of art , among all Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.
Morat (13 July 1793, Paris), triptych oil on canvas. Private collection (on the right a detail)
Bruce Lee, oil on canvas. Private collection
During the press conference, the artist recalled his first time in Florence, many years ago, to visit the Uffizi Gallery, confirming his great love for this city and for his ancient art; he also recalled his beginnings as an academy student and at the same time as a handyman worker, stating that he has never stopped chasing his dream, that is to say that he wants nothing more than to be an artist.
Ostia, November 2, 1975, oil on canvas. Courtesy MASSIMODECARLO and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery
Aldo Moro (9 May 1978, Rome), oil on canvas. Private collection
Chien hurlant, oil on canvas. Courtesy MASSIMODECARLO and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery
“I paint with a lot of personal feelings. When it comes to feeling in contemporary painting, one is always a little suspicious. It seems you should never use emotion, the heart, I do exactly the opposite! The painting speaks to me, it speaks to the viewer, it speaks of its time. I want to be an actor of my era.” Yan Pei Ming
Yan Pei-Ming
Yan Pei-Ming during the press conference while signing a copy of the catalog published by Marsilio
“The Yan Pei-Ming exhibition. Painter of stories explores the potential of painting, a traditional technique par excellence, and the ability of this medium to be able to talk about our history in an accessible and direct way. Yan Pei-Ming is in fact a painter of history and stories because in his painting we find images that have marked the recent past together with the inventions of the great masters of art history…” Arturo Galansino
“For me the subject itself is the painting”. Yan Pei Ming
Good life to everyone!
Beatrice