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Lot Essay
"Tibet is the land closest to the sky. There is not a moment when the people here are not in conversation with the heavens and their own souls. They are the nobility of the spirit, happy, free, their eyes full of love, sunlight all over their features. Set foot on this happy land of snows and your soul will be stirred, your body and mind cleansed, your heart deeply touched."
While traveling in Tibet, as he often did, Chen Keng pours his fervent love for Tibetans into his art, using his brush to express the exhilaration he felt there. Sheep Shearing (Lot 3495), an unadorned interpretation of ordinary people at work, was created during one such Tibetan pilgrimage. Chen deliberately softens the lines to give the painting a lingering air of tranquility and calmness; even though the shearers' faces are hidden from view, he still gives us a clear portrayal of the contentment and joy of the Tibetans.
"Painting from life is a powerful means of artistic expression. First, it means 'painting' in a way that captures the most moving aspect of the subject, feeling it with your heart and quickly but accurately expressing it; 'life' is the subject's life force: its vitality, its liveliness. A painting from life may not be perfectly satisfactory or complete, but that's exactly what makes it appealing."
Chen Keng's paintings abound in simple sincerity. Guided in his choice of subject by compassion for his fellow man, he faithfully depicts the things he sees, focusing on painting from life as a crucial part of the creative process and relying mainly on plain, honest colors to create his oil paintings. In Cooking in the Evening (Lot 3496), Chen portrays the lives of water-faring people surrounded in a misty sunset glow at the end of a day's work. With polished simplicity he depicts the moving scene of a family cooking its evening meal.
While traveling in Tibet, as he often did, Chen Keng pours his fervent love for Tibetans into his art, using his brush to express the exhilaration he felt there. Sheep Shearing (Lot 3495), an unadorned interpretation of ordinary people at work, was created during one such Tibetan pilgrimage. Chen deliberately softens the lines to give the painting a lingering air of tranquility and calmness; even though the shearers' faces are hidden from view, he still gives us a clear portrayal of the contentment and joy of the Tibetans.
"Painting from life is a powerful means of artistic expression. First, it means 'painting' in a way that captures the most moving aspect of the subject, feeling it with your heart and quickly but accurately expressing it; 'life' is the subject's life force: its vitality, its liveliness. A painting from life may not be perfectly satisfactory or complete, but that's exactly what makes it appealing."
Chen Keng's paintings abound in simple sincerity. Guided in his choice of subject by compassion for his fellow man, he faithfully depicts the things he sees, focusing on painting from life as a crucial part of the creative process and relying mainly on plain, honest colors to create his oil paintings. In Cooking in the Evening (Lot 3496), Chen portrays the lives of water-faring people surrounded in a misty sunset glow at the end of a day's work. With polished simplicity he depicts the moving scene of a family cooking its evening meal.