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拍品专文
Ji Xin’s work fuses the techniques of Renaissance and Netherlandish art, the graceful aesthetics of paintings of ladies from Song and Ming dynasties, and visual elements of China Republican-era calendar posters, creating a highly distinctive personal style. Pre-Spring takes the first stirrings of spring as its theme, evoking a subtle sense of anticipation for spring’s arrival through a composition and atmosphere in which time remains still. The atmosphere of the painting lies between dream and reality, revealing a gentle sense of ritual and a touch of uncertainty. Created during the pandemic, this series reflects the artist’s renewed contemplation of personal emotion and the holistic nature of life.
In the painting, a woman leans against a piece of vintage furniture, her cheek resting on her right hand while her left arm lies relaxed. Her body reclines in a leisurely posture, forming a visual diagonal line that harmonises with the window frame, table, chair, and vase in a geometric rhythm. This composition both echoes classical compositional principles and expresses a contemporary, ethereal state of mind. The figure’s embodies the refinement of the Song dynasty portraits of ladies, while also bringing to mind the sensitive capture of light, shadow, and corporeality in Renaissance painting. The slightly distorted and elongated limbs are rendered in soft tones, creating a still and ritualistic presence. The palette features warm grey as its main tone, with accents of orange-red outside the window, mint green of the dress, and dull red on the furniture. The overall visual effect is muted yet bright and gentle, blending elements of Netherlandish painting with Eastern elegance to evoke an inwardly tranquil and ritualistic atmosphere.
In both Eastern and Western artistic traditions, spring symbolises renewal, vitality, and emotional resonance. By titling his work Pre-Spring, Ji Xin uses soft tones to craft a subtle atmosphere where stillness foretells change and anticipation, as it reveals an interweaving of emotion and time. The nostalgia in Ji Xin’s work is a lament for an idealised past; it is at once a redemption and liberation from reality—an escape from it, yet also a revelation of an inner closedness. The artist weaves this sentiment together with the play of light and shadow and realistic techniques that feature in Renaissance and Netherlandish art, depicting a state of “enchantment” that is simultaneously Eastern and Western.
In Eastern aesthetics, there is an emphasis on emptiness and resonance. In Pre-Spring, Ji Xin creates a visual silence of “what lies beyond the visible still leaves a void” through the postures of the woman’s elongated limbs—draped over or leaning against the furniture, or propping up her cheek—together with the subdued colours and the arrangement of interior still-life objects. This aligns with the aesthetics of the Song dynasty paintings of ladies, which gives accent to stillness and muted beauty. This Eastern expression values not only visual harmony but also the unity of spirit and gesture, in contrast to the expressive body language in Western art. The result is a work that feels at once strange and familiar: one can see the light, shadow, and composition that are characteristic of Renaissance painting, while also feeling the restraint and resonance of Eastern gestures. It is precisely this intercultural tension, viewed through the Eastern perspective in Ji Xin’s work, that makes it so compelling.
In the painting, a woman leans against a piece of vintage furniture, her cheek resting on her right hand while her left arm lies relaxed. Her body reclines in a leisurely posture, forming a visual diagonal line that harmonises with the window frame, table, chair, and vase in a geometric rhythm. This composition both echoes classical compositional principles and expresses a contemporary, ethereal state of mind. The figure’s embodies the refinement of the Song dynasty portraits of ladies, while also bringing to mind the sensitive capture of light, shadow, and corporeality in Renaissance painting. The slightly distorted and elongated limbs are rendered in soft tones, creating a still and ritualistic presence. The palette features warm grey as its main tone, with accents of orange-red outside the window, mint green of the dress, and dull red on the furniture. The overall visual effect is muted yet bright and gentle, blending elements of Netherlandish painting with Eastern elegance to evoke an inwardly tranquil and ritualistic atmosphere.
In both Eastern and Western artistic traditions, spring symbolises renewal, vitality, and emotional resonance. By titling his work Pre-Spring, Ji Xin uses soft tones to craft a subtle atmosphere where stillness foretells change and anticipation, as it reveals an interweaving of emotion and time. The nostalgia in Ji Xin’s work is a lament for an idealised past; it is at once a redemption and liberation from reality—an escape from it, yet also a revelation of an inner closedness. The artist weaves this sentiment together with the play of light and shadow and realistic techniques that feature in Renaissance and Netherlandish art, depicting a state of “enchantment” that is simultaneously Eastern and Western.
In Eastern aesthetics, there is an emphasis on emptiness and resonance. In Pre-Spring, Ji Xin creates a visual silence of “what lies beyond the visible still leaves a void” through the postures of the woman’s elongated limbs—draped over or leaning against the furniture, or propping up her cheek—together with the subdued colours and the arrangement of interior still-life objects. This aligns with the aesthetics of the Song dynasty paintings of ladies, which gives accent to stillness and muted beauty. This Eastern expression values not only visual harmony but also the unity of spirit and gesture, in contrast to the expressive body language in Western art. The result is a work that feels at once strange and familiar: one can see the light, shadow, and composition that are characteristic of Renaissance painting, while also feeling the restraint and resonance of Eastern gestures. It is precisely this intercultural tension, viewed through the Eastern perspective in Ji Xin’s work, that makes it so compelling.