User:海豹水狗狗/Cen Long

岑龍 Cen Long
出生	1957年
母校	西安美术学院
职业	Artist
风格	Figurative art

Cen Long

Born in 1957 in Guangdong, China, Cen Long is a former professor in the Oil Painting Department of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. Rejecting institutional constraints, he resigned from his teaching position in 2005, retreating to Wuhan to fully devote himself to artistic creation. His father, Cen Jia wu, was a distinguished anthropologist, ethnologist, and art historian. However, during the Cultural Revolution, he was subjected to political persecution and ultimately took his own life, leaving an indelible wound on Cen Long’s psyche. Profoundly influenced by his father’s intellectual and moral legacy, he chose to live with integrity, distancing himself from the social engagements of the local art scene and instead immersing himself in a relentless pursuit of artistic truth.

Cen Long’s painting style is characterized by deliberate austerity, meticulous brushwork, and a sculptural sense of form. His compositions are precisely structured, with a palette that is subdued yet richly layered, exuding both depth and a commanding presence. Through restrained expression, his work conveys profound meaning, allowing his paintings to withstand the test of time while provoking deep contemplation. His brushstrokes encapsulate an acute sense of humanistic concern, and his canvases serve as vessels of emotion, creating an atmosphere of clarity and tranquility. His work offers those entangled in the tumult of contemporary life an opportunity to rediscover the beauty of stillness and reconnect with the fundamental purity of human nature.

Biography

Cen Long graduated with a master’s degree from Xi' an Academy of Fine Arts around 1980. He later became a professor at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, serving as a senior member of the China Artists Association, a member of Hubei Province’s Art Professional Title Evaluation Committee, and an academic participant in the Chu Culture Research Center at the same institution. He was also a key figure in Hubei’s participation in China’s 85 New Wave Movement, a pivotal avant-garde movement that challenged socialist realism and redefined contemporary Chinese art.

Since China’s reform and opening-up, Cen Long has been recognized as one of the country’s most distinguished contemporary artists, receiving numerous accolades. His work Shennongjia Magical Animals and Plants was selected for the First National Science Art Exhibition in 1982 (gouache), while Twilight Snow was featured in the First Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition in 1987 (oil painting). That same year, Toward the Mountain of Tian won the Excellence Award at the First Chinese Art Festival (oil painting). In 1989, The Old Charcoal Seller was selected for the Seventh National Art Exhibition and awarded the Silver Prize of Hubei Province (gouache), while Northern Series – Mountain Pass was also chosen for the same exhibition, receiving another Silver Prize at the Seventh National Art Exhibition of Hubei Province (oil painting). In 1990, Chinese Kickball Figure was featured in the National Sports Art Exhibition (oil painting), followed by Join the Army – Enlisting in the 1991 National Exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Northern Series – Story was included in the National Memorial Yan’an Art Exhibition in 1992 and won the Bronze Prize of Hubei Province (oil painting).

In 1993, his work I Am a Chinese Kid was part of a group exhibition and received both the Chinese Books Award and Bingxin Literature Award (gouache). That same year, Northern Series – Childhood was selected for the Eighth National Art Exhibition and won the Excellence Prize of Hubei Province (oil painting). In 2004, North won the Excellence Prize at the Tenth Art Exhibition of Hubei Province (oil painting).

Due to personal reasons, Cen Long gradually withdrew from the Chinese art scene around 1993 and moved to Japan, where he became a lecturer at Nagoya University of Arts. During his time in Japan, his illustration The Old Charcoal Seller received an Honorary Mention at the Noma Concours, organized by the UNESCO-affiliated Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) in 1994 (gouache). Later, his work The God of Thunder also won an ACCU Noma Honorary Mention in 2004 (gouache). However, deeply missing his mother, he returned to China after approximately three years.

Cen Long spent several years of his childhood in Lyon, France, where he received his earliest artistic enlightenment before his parents brought him back to China. The experience of growing up in a European artistic environment left a lasting impression on his aesthetic sensibilities. From a young age, he was profoundly influenced by his father, Cen Jia wu (1912–1966), a prominent sociologist, art historian, and anthropologist, as well as by his mother, Feng Lai rui, a distinguished historian. This intellectual upbringing instilled in him a deep concern for the lives of ethnic minorities and the working class, themes that would remain central to his artistic practice throughout his career.

Whether in oil painting or illustration, Cen Long’s works are imbued with deep humanistic empathy and a profound sense of compassion. His subjects are often drawn from society’s lowest strata, yet he resists portraying them as figures of tragedy. Instead, he accentuates their dignity, confidence, and quiet resilience. In an era when the art world is increasingly dictated by market forces, Cen Long’s approach stands apart, prompting viewers to reflect on the raw realities of life and rediscover the authenticity of human experience. His work not only captures the simple yet profound customs of China’s rural heartlands but also offers a counterpoint to the commercialized trends of the contemporary art market—advocating for a purer, more unadulterated visual language of oil painting.

Since 2010, Cen Long has re-emerged with his Purgatorio series, a body of work shaped by profound introspection and the trials of his life. These paintings transcend mere representations of laborers, transforming them into symbols that embody his vision of an ideal world. In his canvases, the humblest figures bear the greatest spiritual significance. His artistic philosophy resonates deeply with the themes explored in Purgatorio, the second canticle of Dante’s Divine Comedy, through which he articulates his engagement with the notions of purification, suffering, and transcendence. Using his brush as a conduit, he channels his reflections on Purgatorio into a visual exploration of redemption and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.

Exhibition History

• 2024
  • Sowing Hope: Cen Long The Follower of Light, Palazzo Isolani, Bologna, Italy, 2024.12.15-2025.1.12
  • Sowing Hope: Cen Long, Palazzo Querini, Venice, Italy, 2024.04.20-2024.11.24
  • Sowing Hope: The Purgatory in Cen Long’s Paintings, L’Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence, Italy,2024.03.04-2024.03.30
• 2022
  • La Luce Delle Stelle-Cen Long Solo Exhibition, Santi Apostoli Space, Venice, Italy, 2022.5.6-2022.6.26
  • Invisible Passages-A Connection Between That Which Is and That Which Has Always Been, Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Venice, Italy, 2022.3.10-2022.4.7
• 2017
  • Ten Years-Cen Long 2008-2017, The Thermos Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan, 2017.12.30-2018.2.28
  • The Story of Two Old Photographs, The Thermos Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan, 2017.10.28-2018.10.28
• 2014
  • The Silver Age, Today’s Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2014.10.25-2014.11.4
• 2010
  • Purgatory, Rong Ren Foundation for Arts & Culture, Tainan, Taiwan, 2010.12.11-2011.1.9

• 2016
  • ART. FAIR, Koelnmesse Hall 1, Cologne, Germany, 2016.10.26-2016.10.30
  • The Trio of Expressionist Painting – Oriental Thoughts and Concepts, Ludwig Doerfler Museum, Germany, 2016.6.11-2016.8.7
  • Art KARLSRUHE, Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center, Hall 4, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2016.2.18-2016.2.21
• 2015
  • ART. FAIR Cologne, Koelnmesse, Hall 1, Cologne, Germany, 2015.9.24-2015.9.27

influence

Dante Alighieri , Divine Comedy - Purgatorio

Bibliography

• Cen Long: Vita e arte, Candida Syndikus, Metra Lin (2024),Italian,Silvana Editoriale ISBN 978-8836656707
• Invisible Passages,Metra Lin (2022),Taiwan：Crux Art & Books ISBN 978-9869838566
• The Southern Cross-Cen Long, His World of Art,Metra Lin (2021)。Taiwan,Crux Art & Books ISBN 978-9869838542
• Cen Long-The Follower of Light,Metra Lin (2019),Taiwan,Crux Art & Books ISBN 978-9869838504
• Cen Long and His Silver Age,Metra Lin(2014),Beijing：China Today Art Museum Publishing House ISBN 978-9881206879
• The Southern Cross-Cen Long, His World of Art,Metra Lin (2012),Taiwan,Crux Art & Books ISBN 978-9868762633

External links

• Long, the pit of Bologna is the best way to get to the port of Bologna - Italian （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• Cen Long e Dante - Italian （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• Cen Long's Works - English （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• Seminar Speranza: The Purpose of Dante's Art of the Long Century （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• - （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• "Seminare speranza" in the Purgatorio terreno of Cen Long （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）