Artist Linjie Deng: Bridging the Culture Gap Through Art
Right before the Labor Day weekend, Artist Linjie Deng was positioned at The Southampton Arts Center, ready to supervise the installation of his exhibition “Young Forever” as a featured solo artist at The Hamptons Fine Art Fair. At 29, he is the youngest and only Asian artist at the fair.
Artist Linjie Deng — often described by the art world as the embodiment of the emerging artist — has been on the scene internationally for nearly 6 years, with featured art at the Stop Asian Hate Campaign and the United Nations COVID-19 Art Call Out for Creatives. The Executive Director of Hamptons Fine Art Fair, Rick Friedman said, “Linjie managed to encapsulate the growing relationship between individual and society through his works of Chinese calligraphy, paintings and photographs. And a stroll through his exhibition, which opened the Thursday before Labor Day, made you scared, made you cry and made you laugh.”
“It is important for American audiences to discover how Linjie visualizes the clashes of emotion that a person of his age faces daily, both in western and eastern cultures,” said Charles Saffati, Founder of Carlton Fine Arts Gallery, who has worked with Linjie throughout his career and who organized the exhibition, “Young Forever,” which runs through September 5.
The Yin-Yang Chinese calligraphy series artwork of Mr. Deng contrasts two strong important values of the West and the East: proud and humble. Linjie grew up with his mom telling him, “Modesty helps one go forward while pride makes one fall behind.” He learned to do what he was told. Linjie was very humble even when he obtained the highest GPA and scholarship at his Beijing University. “But, after I came to America, everyone kept telling me – ‘Be proud of yourself. I’m so proud of you.’ Sometimes I don’t know which feeling is wrong or right,” Mr. Deng said.
He has been influenced by the various values that flooded his cross-cultural background and focused on creating art that examined the different emotional reactions of Chinese and American peoples. When Linjie created the “Proud and Humble” Yin-Yang, he used Chinese ink and pen brush to draw the characters in 5 different historical fonts of calligraphy. In the Gold sections, they translate to read “Proud.” In the Black section, they translate to read “Humble.”
During the art fair, Linjie saw the several thousand attendees ready to view his works and he became extremely nervous. He felt his works were his “babies” which he nurtured into fruition. But, would other people like his “kids”? Would the throngs of American audiences accept and appreciate Linjie’s Chinese calligraphy and Yin-Yang Culture? Or will the culture gap be insurmountable?
Linjie said, “When I saw so many people attending drawn to and photograph Chinese Calligraphy, I was shocked. Even an 8-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl said the same thing: ‘I really love the Yin-Yang”! Linjie was happy. “It was like these kids were really liking my children.”
Linjie is confident about his creations, isn’t afraid of controversial issues and looks at his work in both a fun and serious way.
“The work titled “Kiss Me, Kill Me” made lots of viewers scared and they wanted to know the story behind the painting,” Linjie said. “This painting represents my feelings about love, love is not just chocolate, roses or rings. Love means feeling good, but also becoming vulnerable – giving someone the chance to hurt you. People live for love, people die for love, people kill for love. Especially between two powerful lovers. So, I just combined the two sides of love in my painting to illustrate these feelings.”
In the same series, there is another painting about love too, depicting a razor blade in a lollipop. Linjie said, “My lollipop is sweet, honey flavored and beautiful. But there is no sweet without sweat. Everything has two sides; love is not an exception. Love is the most dangerous and powerful weapon. So, we must be careful while we enjoy the pleasure of love. But at the end, everyone was laughing after they got closer and read the title of the artwork, ‘Suck Me, F*** Me.’”
Linjie said, “I cannot remember each person’s name, but I will remember their faces. Thanks to my audience. And a big thanks for my gallery team. I can’t wait to see everyone again at the, Carlton Fine Arts Gallery.”
Linjie Instagram: @linjie_deng
Gallery website: http://www.carltonfa.com/
