Chen Fei - Tapa dura

The work of Chen Fei (b. Shanxi, China, 1983; lives and works in Beijing)is part of a new trend in contemporary Chinese art that represents a clearthematic as well as aesthetic departure from the avantgarde art of the 1980sand 1990s. His pictures evince the unconscious influence of the manymovieshe has seen since he was a child—masterworks and cult classicsas well as B movies. He actually enrolled at the Beijing Film Academy; a seriesof paintings shows 202 villains, with their characteristic costumes andaccessories,from 197 movies ranging from "Clockwork Orange" to "Ichithe Killer," from "The Shining" to "Kill Bill," from "Hard Candy" to "Bride ofChucky." The same morbid sense of humor is evident in Chen’s more recentpaintings. His brush transmutes scenes of human anatomy or death intoharmless jokes. What truly impresses him, Chen Fei says, are the rogues, notthe upstanding citizens, and the same goes for painting: beauty and goodhealth leave him bored.