Han Qing - Essay

Han Qing :: Essay

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By Night — Manifesting Reality — Some thoughts on Han Qing’s oil painting by Zhao Shulin :: Zhao Zhulin

Han Qing’s work is filled with a kind of sadness, like Han Qing himself. Han Qing is not an outgoing person who makes a strong first impression. You even feel a little worried in talking with him, because his Mandarin is not very standard, and he speaks very slowly, so you must first adapt for a period of time. Moreover his thoughts tend to jump around, and sometimes his replies to your questions leave you far from what you want to know. His thinking is similar to that of a poet. Actually he also made music originally. Perhaps the fluidity of music causes his thoughts to grow unstable. Still, this expression has not led him to state the meaning of his works clearly.

Han Qing's work exposes the human nature and social reality through renderings of the evening light.

Zhao Zhulin

Han Qing started to paint the evening light after 2000. He attempted to use light that borrows the chilly night to confuse, to dazzle, to express loss, confusion, and the loneliness of contemporary existence. By day, we are a group of people; only by night do we become ourselves. By day we camouflage ourselves; only by night do we liberate ourselves. By day we pretend to be sanctimonious angels; by night we indulge fervour and desire with the devil. The night is a paradise of desire, a place where our innermost wants to arrive. But the night is also a hell in which we perish, and give up to lasciviousness and luxury. If daytime is the high tide of life, then night is when we start to appreciate the true meaning of life. When the sun goes down, the streetlamps start to shine. These man-made lights have no natural rays. In this imagined landscape, we start to reconsider the circumstances of daytime. What do we think about at this time? When you walk on the spacious street after indulgence and fervour, the street light elongates your form, the far automobile headlights stab your eyes, and your shadow could extend forever. You attempt to see some truth clearly: who was walking in that far-off place, and what did happen?

Han Qing’s works expose the human nature and social reality through renderings of the evening light. Perhaps daytime is not our real life, but night isour real life. In terms of painterly language, Han Qing has used rosy reds, perhaps to conceal pornographic and carnal desire, or to convey the real lives of contemporary people. What occurs in our real lives is the real situation of every day in which the position of the urbanite is ambiguous, chilly and at loose ends. Han Qing’s oil painting relies on different techniques than those of other artists. Many artists start from the deep colors as they paint, but Han Qing starts from the brightest, lightest colors, and when the painting is nearly complete, he does not make any revisions. Like pencil sketches, his pictures develop bit by bit. His painting is very thin and the paint is very watery. This method can only be completed very rapidly. Perhaps it reflects his character; his life is nearly consumed in fervid indulgence. The life which hides by day and comes out at night sets the parameters for his work. What does he think in the illuminated night, as he stands in the street corner, as the automobile headlights hit him from the side? What do these works tell us? Do we have feelings like his? Are we also lonely and confused? What place do we have to move towards?

March 2006, Beijing