Return of the Beijing prodigy who rebelled and went to Paris
Painter and writer Yan Ni, better known by her pen name Shan Sa, could probably have done just as well had she stayed in China all her life. After all, her talent started to shine at a young age, before she left.
Born to a family of scholars in Beijing, she began writing poems and taking lessons in various art forms including traditional Chinese calligraphy, watercolour and Chinese music as early as seven years old.
When she was 14, she became the youngest member of the Beijing Writers' Association. By 15, she had published four poem collections, all with high acclaim in the literary world. But she could not have developed works with a style combining sophistication from both East and West had she not left China for France, when she was 18, in 1990.
'I left China just like many young people who leave their family to try to be independent,' Shan Sa says. 'At the beginning when I moved from mainland China to Paris, China was still a country with closed doors and was very communist, [while] Paris was the capital of fashion, jewellery and lifestyle. At first it was really a quite terrible shock for me.
'But little by little I started to understand how important it was for me to have these contrasts in my life, because they let me understand that there are different points of view in the world, and different points of view of history and culture.'
Shan Sa then spent years reading and visiting museums to get to know France, which is as different as could be from China. And she studied philosophy and history of art and worked under Polish-French painter Balthus 'because all these studies were windows for me to penetrate the Western world - culture is the only key for people to open the door of another society and community'.
Her latest exhibition, in Macau, titled 'Time in West, Light in East', is her first retrospective show of her ink paintings in Asia, and also features her seven novels - written in French and translated into different languages - and poetry collections. Running until June 20, it is a reminiscence of her acceptance and adaptation of both cultures, which she seamlessly illustrates in her work.
'Her work gives me a feeling of tranquility,' organiser Marc d'Hauteville of Art Talent of Paris says. 'When I [see] her work, I feel immediately that I'm at peace, I'm in another place - just like I'm relaxing.
'I can always see things in her paintings. It's not totally abstract.
'It's done with a soft hand and is classical. And you can also let your mind go through it, and give rein a bit to your imagination. Like when you're reading Chinese poems, you can use a lot of imagination.
'She's a contemporary painter from the 20th century, but she follows traditions, not going over the top.'
Her work, especially the colourful ink paintings on rice paper, show great harmony despite the juxtaposition of the traditional and the innovative, Eastern and Western.
Shan Sa says she did all her work with 'Chinese tenderness' and tries to 'express different truth, [which is always] composed of tolerance and understanding'.
And discipline paired with rebellion are what allow her to achieve that. 'In my college life, I learned discipline,' she says. 'And discipline is part of my success. I learned this discipline from my communist education, which [taught me] how to control myself.
'But you also need some rebellion - I left China because I rebelled.
'When you have discipline, you have to rebel against it, otherwise you cannot be a successful person.
'Your parents, your country, your society give you a cultural heritage or economic heritage, but if you just accept them, you cannot be yourself. So to build up your identity, you need rebellious forces.'
Talent and luck - being born of rigorous parents 'who educated me hard' - contributed partly to her success, but having lots of friends has also been crucial to her.
This also explains why her ink paintings changed eventually from black and white when she was young to vivid colour now.
'It's important to be surrounded because people always bring me inspiration,' she says. 'I have many friends [from all walks of life].
'The more interest in life you have - in its various parts - the richer you are, and your personality is more colourful, more passionate. And that also nourishes the art and writing.'
Shan Sa thinks that the Chinese art world is changing and that there are 'different kind of activities and classes and societies that never existed before'.
The 38 year-old said: 'It's a great honour for me to be able to show more than 150 pieces [of my work] in Asia. I know that people who understand my art the most are my Asian audience.'
'Time in West, Light in East' runs until June 20 at the Handover Gifts Museum of Macau. Open daily except Monday, 10am-7pm, free. For inquiries, call (853) 8504 1800.
14
Shan Sa's age when she became the youngest member of the Beijing Writers' Association
- By 15, she had published four poetry books
