Wei Yan
Biography
Wei Yan was born in Beijing of China . He graduated from Capital Normal University Beijing, Fine Art Department with a BA degree. After he moved to Canada, he studied at Seneca College ,and then became full time artist and art teacher. Wei Yan’s art studio was established at Toronto 1995. His art works were exhibited and collected worldwide in Canada, USA, Germany, France, Italy,Switzerland and China, as well as National Museum Of China , Fine Art Museum Of China and some Embassies ...Wei Yan has been awarded by many professional international art organizations. He is the member of these Professional Organizations: Member of Oil Pinters of America .
Member of Portrait Society of America .
Member of Circle Foundation For The Arts.
Vice Chairman of Overseas Chinese Artists Association.His innovative new imagery painting is outstanding in integrating eastern cultural elements into western culture .
Artist Statement
My art expression mainly circles around the philosophy of grasping and describing the wonders of the universe. I would like to think its transcendent state of consciousness is magnificent.Philosophy conveys the intangible aspect of beauties with ideas and words. Abstract art expresses the perfection that surpasses popular beauty in form. I depict nature with the thought of Taolism , and achieve my style by using different mixed media, trying my best to discover the multidimensional through my art piece. I name my art as New Imagism.
What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?
Well,I learned fine art since I was a child, and all my relatives and neighbors thought that was I was good at it. I like to think that I was naturally born to do art. I chose a vocational high school that focused on fine arts in high school, and then I chose art in for university. At first, everything seemed doomed due to the hard career path. However, I continued to stay strong due to my love for art. Although it brought me pain sometimes, such as not being able to paint what I imagined in mind, art has always brought me happiness and gratification. Art not only helps me make a living in a country other than my own, but also brings me honor!
What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?
I was a portrait artist when I moved to Canada a long time ago. My clients consisted of successful entrepreneurs, and I decided to focus on abstract art after I received an international portraiture award. I like having freedom without anyone else judging and I believe I am quite fortunate to be an abstract artist. My artworks have been collected globally in the museums such as Fine Art Museum of China, National Museum Of China, and I have received International rewards from different countries. Achieving these honors encouraged me to pursue my goals as an artist. I want to be an artist who understands the structure of images and visual sequence, and can be able to portray his life style on the canvas. I always think that an artist should be responsible for representing their culture. I wanna be an artist who prioritizes politics ,economics, history and humanities into their work and thoughts. Being a contemporary artist is not only a craftsman but also needs to have an independent thought and methodology. Many old masters influenced my art, and I respect them very much but I prefer prioritizing my own influence. I always remember the French Master, the representative of Fauvism– Henry Matisses’s quote;＂The artist who cannot escape the influence of his predecessors is digging his own grave, for his work will be buried among those valued more highly than his predecessors.＂
What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?
As I said, I would like the viewers to understand more Eastern philosophy such as Taoism through my art pieces. The principle of Tao that can be described is not universal and follows the saying; "Heaven follows Tao, Tao follows nature". However, Western discussions on philosophy, ideas, times, fashion and other aspects have been constantly impacting me and kept me engaged in creation. Both culture systems in the East and the West are great! But I can only produce a true sense of the current culture based on my own variation. Therefore I hope viewers can feel even a bit of both philosophies from Eastern to Western through my art. For example, the Greek philosopher Plato regarded the "formula" or the principles and principles of the universe as the primary, eternal and universal. Taoism believes that is not only the origin of the universe that implements changes, but the natural status quo of it that does. I was trying to make multidimensional in my paintings, but I want viewers to see unreal aspects, indistinct patterns，and chaos (etc). From my paintings I want viewers to see the impact of man and life ,the relationship between moment and eternity, the discrepancies between real world and fantasy. Hopefully the viewers are able to feel the unique artistic conceptions that contain philosophies from both Eastern and Western.
Can you explain the process of creating your work?
I think of the concept first and then I do a quick sketch to determine the construction and layout. Building up the rich textures is my priority during the process of my creation, although I waste lots of pigments and different materials for this. It’s always very exciting and it gives me confidence to start pouring pigments on the canvas. I keep doing this step time and times again to correct and modify the results that I satisfied.
What is your favourite part of the creative process?
It’s the build up the textures, especially when I put thoughtful materials into the pigments to create the effects. Sometimes I want it dense and diluted,or dry and wet all according to be designed. Sometimes I want my painting light and graceful ，and sometimes I like the endless powers like quantum mechanical energy to break through the plane. It lets me feel good when I think myself as a general who commands all my artistic materials to walk on the canvas. However, being able to control the thick and thin pigments to create multiple layers is almost impossible. Since I use pouring techniques, I can be surprised sometimes when the flowing pigments out of the control.
Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?
Due to the uncertain situation of the pandemic, I haven’t decided which exhibition I am going to participate yet. But I have accepted and taken part in some online exhibitions already. Although my daily life can be considered, I am very content as I paint almost every day. I wanted to paint a triptych, but recently I’ve started painting pieces of different sizes.
Website: www.yanwei.ca
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weiyansart/
Facebook:Wei. Yan. 716
