Fated for Half A Lifetime 半生緣: Chen Chengwei Solo Exhibition With Yan Gallery Hong Kong 陳承衛香港一畫廊展

Fated For Half a Lifetime – Chen Cheng-Wei Hong Kong Solo Exhibition Preface 

When I spoke about my thoughts on this Hong Kong solo exhibition last year, the idea of painting a piece that is different from the past came to my head, I made a bold attempt to take the other half of the character out of the picture frame. In the early stage of creation, the name ‘Fated For Half a Lifetime’ emerged in my mind; this name is consistent with my innermost feeling, and perhaps this was the beginning of my fate with Hong Kong.  

A friend once said that my painting not only is a form of realism; furthermore, it depicts emotions from generation after generation. To this statement I agree with, somehow though I would rather believe that I am still living in the memory of the past. Thus, with my intuition and impulse, I keep seeking for that sincerity and affection I desire. Because I believe that our every daily life is a continuity of a certain fate from the past. Therefore, I try my best to live in a balanced, pure and mysterious world of my own. I am fearful for disturbance to my life brought by the troubled society; I strive to conceive an understanding towards the idea of beauty. Additionally, with my inimitable passion towards dramatic and lighting, gradually, I discovered this is all accompanied by fate; they are deeply embedded in my pictures. From those pictures, you can see my vision and expectation towards love. I peruse purity and beauty diligently; like a poet I rhyme, each and every piece of work is my own distinctive interpretation towards the existence of beauty in this world. I transform ordinary characters, bestow with how I would portrait them, they are living, in actual fact taking place in the presence. These classic images was already long embedded in everyone’s heart, in each person’s heart there is unfulfilled love story.