Chen Yiming’s ability to apply his extraordinary and unique style of realism to a variety of subject matter is evident from his depiction of beautifully costumed women placed in lush surroundings or playing instruments, to traditionally dressed figures at work on the beach in Southern China to sumptuous still life paintings. Chen Yiming captures the exotic appeal and lure of his native China.
“A painting is a poem without words” ... Confucious
The work of Chen Yiming echoes that truth. His work has a mystical quality which transcends the image depicted on the picture plane. The canvas is merely an opening through which the viewer enters an idyllic world. We are drawn into the world of the artist and sitter in the canvas.
In “Where Music Begins”, the artist painted a beautiful lady dressed in qipao (traditional Chinese dress also known as cheongsam) blowing lightly into a flute, disturbing the quiet and serene afternoon. The artist meditates on the country’s vanished past that is signified by the old houses bathed in the afternoon sun. In this canvas, perhaps, we can sense mixed feelings of the transient beauty being lost in historical and cultural space. It is through this series of paintings that Chen Yiming attempted to capture the nostalgia for the lost space through the realism and sincerity of his art.