Cheung Chi Wai: Humanist Artist Liberated from Traditions
“Chi Wai is a humanist. He is the kind of artist who deeply feels human existence. When I first saw his paintings, I was deeply moved by his dedication to sharing his life experiences. He has liberated himself from tradition. Our collaboration with Chi Wai began in 2016. Before that, I had some experience collaborating with other painter friends. But this time was completely different. The works we completed with Chi Wai were true works of art, not just an experiment. To my surprise, we didn’t realize that two people had mixed together to paint a picture, but it turned out to be such a good new work. It was a great moment of communication, a very rich response to each other’s claims. We plan to continue this collaboration, I am very happy, we must constantly update our work and our thinking.” – Marie Rauzy
Marie Rauzy is the great-granddaughter of Cézanne, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the only artistic heir of the Cézanne family.
Chi Wai’s Perseverance: A Modern Cézanne’s Artistic Devotion
We can find many examples to witness Chi Wai’s perseverance. He is obsessed with painting non-stop. Just like Paul Cézanne, he wants to be a painter wholeheartedly. After learning about Chi Wai’s works, several of us mentioned the similarities between him and Cézanne. In fact the two men did not have many similarities in paintings, but the fact that Cézanne’s lifelong persistence in art made his achievements surpass all other painters of the same period and became a celebrated artist remembered by the times. We see the same characteristic in Chi Wai. – Oliver Bernex
Oliver Bernex, renowned painter and collector, his collection includes a number of works by famous artists, including several by Paul Cézanne.
Unescapable Gaze: Characters’ Eyes Captivate Every Viewer
“The gaze of the figures in his paintings holds the viewer’s attention captive, impossible to ignore, impossible to escape.” – Ileana Cornea
Art as Concept, Insight and Perception
“The process of expressing subjective emotions is like writing an article, a critique, a poem, or a speech. It is the expression of ideas, the articulation of insights, the release of the spirit, and the output of genuine feelings, enabling the viewer to gain new perspectives or insights.”
Ileana Cornea, renowned art critic and curator, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Art Force.”
Chi Wai directly and powerfully reveals social reality
“Chi Wai’s works are distilled from his rich life experiences. His language is direct and powerful, his lines simple and pure, without affectation. His works exude a unique style, full of beauty. He is a revealer of social reality, a rare artist.” – Alin Avila
Beyond form, expressing the inner self through the brush.
“This way, that is, to transcend the original form of things, in order to observe things in depth, and then to present what you see and feel from your own perspective with a brush.” – Alin Avila
Alin Avila, renowned art critic and historian, commentator for Radio France Internationale and France Culture.
Chi Wai has created a unique direction for his artistic creation.
“Chi Wai, with his unique and independent creative style, has opened up a new path in artistic creation.”- Colin Cyvoct
The eyes that gaze, the silent reflection of the figures in the paintings on history.
“The gaze of the figures in the paintings is their silent reflection on history.” – Colin Cyvoct
Colin Cyvoct, renowned critic, columnist for the art magazine “Le Regard.”
Chi Wai's works highlight figures and new creations.
“The most striking feature of Chi Wai’s works is the prominence of figures. In Europe, we can link this characteristic with several events in art history. His paintings belong to the category of new creations. In the context of Chinese art, his paintings can certainly be called by this name.”- Danis Fizelier
Embracing new ideas, revealing the human soul.
“His works exude a unique beauty, his artistic expression seems to have crossed millennia and is presented to the world today. He is open-minded, receptive to new ideas, and has insight into the inner secrets of the human soul.” – Danis Fizelier
Danis Fizelier, collector and editor, president of the “Art and Life” Foundation.
Chi Wai's art reunites expression with the true self.
“We can all feel the beauty in Chi Wai’s works. This may stem from his attitude of daring to express his own views and feelings about the world. His initial intention was not simply to show the audience something, but to reunite with another self in the world by expressing his truest feelings on canvas. Indeed, he is searching for another hidden self; his truest self.”- Sophie Aubier-Sainrapt
Chi Wai's portraits are like kaleidoscopes, with thousands of faces visible in a single glance.
“Chi Wai’s truest portrait is like a kaleidoscope, in a glance you can see thousands of faces. In fact, this is where he meets another self through painting.” – Sophie Aubier-Sainrapt
Sophie Aubier-Sainrapt, renowned artist and curator, professional curator of the French Senate Art Gallery, has published over twenty books.
Pathos as a Sentiment — On the Meaningful Expression of Chi Wai's Art
From any perspective, Chi Wai is a truly pure artist. First, he did not come from an art background, and was once a successful financial expert; second, he devoted a great deal of energy to artistic creation, and his works are numerous; third, his works consistently maintain his personal style, always holding a strong worldly sentiment, with a feeling of pathos running through them.
Chi Wai, as a commoner, engages in creation, yet he rejects the beautiful and the elegant, always facing society, holding a critical eye on the times, placing ethics in his works, using a free and expressive brushstroke to depict the current scene, and attempting to give people a visual and moral awakening. This shows that his art is not for aesthetic purposes, but a visual critique. He never indulges in pointless lamentations, nor does he limit himself to his own sorrow. The reason for this, I believe, is that life is always the theme of his art, transforming a profound insight gained through experience into a powerful emotion, thus giving his works an almost innate power. This is precisely the origin of his pathos.
Chi Wai, with a rare critical spirit and severity, faces the changing China and the world, making his own moral critique. He hopes to use this as a basis to preach a message of great love to the world, as well as personal stories closely related to human nature. His unique life experiences make his art equally unique. I once called this uniqueness the “Chi Wai phenomenon” in an article. What I mean is that, at least for now, I have not seen anyone, even in the art world, who uses such force, such persistence, such a frenzied brushstroke, to keep his eyes on life, to take human nature as his subject of observation, and to make his works keep pace with the development of the times, and to highlight the changes in his emotions as history rises and falls. Obviously, in our great and ancient country, there is a person who, with a childlike heart, does childlike things, without regard for the thoughts of others, without making pointless aesthetic moans, without making uninspired depictions, but carrying pathos through to the end.
Chi Wai’s works, in terms of theme, are often expressed through human figures. His figures in paintings always have a sense of expressive staring, under an appearance close to madness, they contain stillness or even silence, silently facing their own encounters with the world, facing the suffering that is happening, there is a sense of suffering in them. His works have strong color contrasts, often without regard for the visual balance between color blocks, even intentionally destroying this balance, allowing the desire for expression to rise to the appropriate form. In terms of quantity, Chi Wai paints a lot, a lot, and there are new works every year. However, I always feel that we should treat all his works as one. What I mean is that his creation has a high degree of internal consistency. This also creates a characteristic of his work display, that is, a wall of portraits, from a distance is a flashing group, making you fascinated; up close, it is a specific individual, each time staring at you, making you think, making you speechless, making you dialogue with the work in space, and experiencing pathos in the dialogue. This shows that Chi Wai unintentionally broke the neurosis of single-piece works. All his works come together, mirroring each other, howling at each other, creating a strange atmosphere on the scene. The meaning of his works is truly amplified in this howling atmosphere, giving pathos a shape, and thus pointing directly to the heart.
The reason for this is that Chi Wai first questions himself, then starts from his heart, and finally, with a compelling style, implements pathos itself. Chi Wai’s art is an art of pathos. – Yang Xiaoyan
The Art of Melancholy Emotion
“In every sense, Chi Wai is a true self-taught artist. First, he did not graduate with a degree in art, but rather achieved a successful career in the financial industry. Second, he has devoted a great deal of time to artistic creation, producing many outstanding works of art. Furthermore, his works not only maintain a unique personal style, but also consistently reflect a strong emotion towards reality, an emotion characterized by a pervasive sense of melancholy.” – Yang Xiaoyan
Yang Xiaoyan, Vice Dean, Professor, School of Media and Design, Sun Yat-sen University, renowned Chinese art critic
Simplicity and Essence: The Works of Chi Wai Cheung
“In terms of simplicity and essence, Chi Wai’s works may be incomprehensible to many, for example, eight out of ten people may dislike his paintings, but the other two who like them will like them to their very core.”- Hirokazu Idekawa
Hirokazu Idekawa, a renowned Japanese cultural figure over 70 years old, founder of Art Obsession Co., Ltd., dedicated to managing and cultivating artists from overseas and Japan.
A Direct Expression of Anxiety for the Lives of Mankind
“In the eyes of documentary writer Zhang Gong, among the countless oil painters in contemporary China, there is no painter who more accurately and directly expresses his anxiety about the state of human life than Chi Wai Cheung. His works are not beautiful, nor are they fashionable, but they reflect the suffering, setbacks, and even sadness that people encounter in their pursuit of happiness, as well as their pursuit of a kind of happiness.” – Zhang Gong
Zhang Gong