Monday, Oct. 27, 2014

RARE ROSES

Chinese artist on showcase during American Rose Center’s 40th celebration

chen-yuhua-with-pots

When Chen Yuhua was a young boy, his only dream was to one day immerse himself into something he loved. Born in 1936 in Suining, located in the Sichuan Province of China, he lived in extreme poverty in an area filled with warlords, banditry and natural disasters. It wouldn’t be until many years later that he would begin to fill canvases with “magical roses,” a subject that would stay with him for life.

Yuhua is currently showcasing both 2D and 3D art at The Gardens of American Rose Center in Greenwood. The exhibition is a part of the American Rose Society’s 40th anniversary celebration.

“This is my first time being [in Shreveport] and I very much want to go back and promote,” Yuhua said. “I think this is a beautiful place for others to see. The people love roses and they really want to come.”

Yuhua was recently in the United States for his Oct. 19 opening. He spoke about his life and work through a translator.

“I grew up in the countryside,” the 78-year-old artist said. “I always loved the natural element when I was young. I always thought roses, compared to other flowers, were greater and more attractive.”

During Yuhua’s time in Suining, he felt very isolated and alone. It was when he graduated in 1954 that he moved to Beijing when he was accepted into the Beijing Institute of Industrial Technology for studies in mechanical engineering. He knew that he was interested in this field, but had already tapped into his love of the arts. 

When Mao’s Anti-Rightist Movement was introduced in 1957, some of Yuhua’s school friends were listed as “rightest.” Yuhua stood up for his classmates and underwent political fire, eventually becoming listed as a “rightist.” He was never allowed to resume his studies and was exiled to factory work. 

For the next 20 years, he suffered alongside hundreds of thousands of others charged until he was vindicated in 1978. It was in that time that he met his now deceased wife, Yang Beili. “She had experience with the modern rose,” Yuhua said. “We got to know each other in the 1950s but both experienced difficult times. It was quite confusing. We searched for a piece of our soul with the roses. We put more love and energy into that together than separately.”

Unable to build a career in engineering, Yuhua turned his hobby into creating a life in horticulture and in art. Yuhua’s love for nature, flowers and plants later narrowed to concentrate on rose culture, mostly due to his wife. She was diagnosed with a spinal tumor which deteriorated her health, and after an operation, developed muscular atrophy in her lower limbs. Yuhua planted golden colored roses downstairs near their home in hope that the blooms would motivate her to leave her bed to tend to them. Always in a high spirit, the two used roses as a means of therapy.

By 1976, Yuhua was totally focussed on the growing of roses and painting. His reputation grew with the help of a neighbor, Madame Bigxin, a nationally respected writer. She introduced Yuhua to other painters and purchased his paintings as gifts for friends from all over the world, including notable socialites in Beijing. After living in Beijing for 30 years, Yuhua and Beili moved to Shenzen. It was while living there that he became known as a nationally recognized artist.

In 2008, Yuhua and his wife returned to his hometown of Suining to take care of his mother. Upon his move he noticed there were no roses in the town so he taught the residents how to grow them, helping to cultivate a blooming, colorful city. Soon after, the rose was named the city flower. “The roses are beauty,” he said. “The roses bring beauty.”

One day, while in the search of a wild species of roses to paint and grow, Yuhua discovered a factory making pottery for commercial use. He thought pottery could potentially be a new art form he could incorporate into this work, turning the two dimensional roses from his paintings into 3D sculptures. “In the beginning it took a long time. The colors weren’t right, the shape wasn’t right,” he said. “Finally I overcome the problem and now it’s clear.” 

Yuhua’s work will be on exhibit 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Gardens of the American Rose Center through Feb. 28. Admission is $5 per person.

ON STANDS NOW!

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