Beijing Memory: Streets and Alleys, Doors and Gates Portrayed by Cheng Yuanan on View at the Tremont Gallery Aug. 2 to 31, 2001     For those who have lived in Beijing, hutong (alleys) and si-he-yuan (quadrangles, a style of vernacular architecture for residence) must have imbedded deep, indelible images in their memories. For eight hundred years since the Yuan dynasty when China fell to the Mongols, and the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties up till today, Beijing has been the Capital of China. The city is three thousand years old and is one of the world's most famous cultural capital. Used to be surrounded by walls with gates and towers, the city boasted the grandeur of the Forbidden City and the beauty of the layout and architecture of its streets and resident structures. The city walls and gates were torn down a few decades age to make room for expansion. A renowned Swedish scholar of Chinese art, Osvald Siren, published a big volume dedicated to the study of the walls and gates of Beijing with many valuable photographs before they were torn down. It may be the most comprehensive source of reference on the subject. The Chinese government now begins to recognize this short-sightedness that led to the destruction of China's architectural relics as a mistake. However, they are making another similar mistake again. In the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of houses were torn down to make room for housing projects. Hundreds of hutongs and the quadrangles have were destroyed. Each year more of those continue to disappear. The unique character of Beijing is being quickly altered. There have been talks about historic preservation but little has been done to stop the atrocious destruction. In the next few years we can be sure that large scale destruction will take place while China builds facilities for the 2008 Olympic. Artist Cheng Yuan An, a native of Beijing, has lived in one of those quadrangles all his life. Like many Baijing people he has a deep love for the hutongs and quadrangles. For many years he has been using the hutong scenes as his subject for painting. At the first glance one would think that Cheng's paintings are photographically realistic. But there is so much more to it. He possesses the mastery of techniques, no doubt. But beyond the verisimilitude of the scenes achieved through highly skillful recreation of the objective world is the artist's subtle comments on certain events, the recent history, the passing of time, and the vicissitudes of life, and his deep feeling and emotion. These are accomplished through his arbitrary use of light, and contrasts between light and shadow, and between cold and warm colors. His choice of portraying the once gloriously magnificent gates and now worn by the ravage by time is quite philosophical. He has the need to fix his views of the hutongs, the doors and gates of the quadrangles in his memory through painting them. The by-product is that his views are shared by the public through the currently exhibition. As a creative artist, Cheng is certainly not contented with just recording what he sees. To satisfy his desire to design, he separates the many elements on the doors and eaves and takes one or two as motifs for a paintings. For example, a pair of door knockers in the form of animal's heads, the couplets often seen carved or painted on the double-leave doors, the decorative carving under the eaves, the painted beans and brackets. the richly sculpted rocks franking the door for tying horses., and so forth. These pieces are smaller in sizes and extremely beautiful. Although Cheng Yuan An never intended his work or this exhibition as comments on the Chinese government's heavy-handed action, the Curator of the show has exactly that in mind. Other links of related interest Ceramic art of Jendezhen Power Print Sand T Mind of Space Multiplicity and Reiteration Cross the Mongolian Prairie Vision and Aspiration New England International Artists Association Recent Art Exhibitions Fashion Shows