Publications

Cen Long: Life and Art｜Cen Long: Vita e arte

2024 Published By Silvana Editoriale , Italian

INTRODUCTION

Cen Long’s artwork unfolds a luminous world imbued with strength and hope. His art consistently influences the audience, akin to the legendary constellation, the Southern Cross, soothing hearts and instilling both hope and courage.

——Metra Lin

󠀠In his paintings, Cen Long constructs a terrestrial paradise,one that is not devoid of hardships but is genuine and substantial, inviting the viewer to pause and contemplate. Through his universal visual language, he forges a bridge between East and West.
——Candida Syndikus

Invisible Passages:
A Connection Between That Which Is and That Which Has Always Been

2022 Published By Crux Art & Books , Taiwan

INTRODUCTION

The persisting quest for the truth, the beautiful, and the good appear especially invaluable given the ceaseless changes occurring in the world. Artist Cen Long has dedicated decades to the excavation of life’s meanings and values. As a follower of light, he brings to life the struggles of those against daily toils and anxieties with honest and emotive pictures, and by doing so, reflects and reconstructs the realities that exist in this vast world.

In this exhibition, Cen Long’s oil paintings are shown in tandem with relics from the fifteenth and sixteenth century, including two carved polychrome wood of the Virgin Mary, one with the Child and one with winged cherubs, a painted wooden sculpture of Saint Jerome, a portrait of the Saint in meditation, and the invaluable crowning masterpiece of the great renaissance maestro, II Paradiso by Tintoretto (1518-1594), all provided by the Fondazione Venezia Servizi alla Persona. Our curatorial philosophy is to connect the fifteenth century to the modern-day and so highlight the recurrence and constant resurrection of the spirit of purity and grace. Through the conversation between artworks from disparate times, we hope to exhibit the truth that the spirit of art bridges the Distances of times and spaces. —Metra Lin, Curatorz

The Southern Cross-Cen Long, His World of Art

2021 Published By Crux Art & Books , Taiwan

INTRODUCTION

The southern cross is a star that shines eternally in Cen Long’s heart. It is small, but nonetheless a bright and magical star; it brings him luck and illuminates his soul in a way that it becomes his muse and guides him on the path of art.

Cen Long’s artwork combines a serious classical realism with a modest expressionism. He often uses minority groups, fishermen, and farmers and even personified animals to project the utopia of his imagination; he hopes that his artwork can become the southern cross for people in one’s modern world of sound and fury.

Cen Long-The Follower of Light

2022 Published By Crux Art & Books , Taiwan

INTRODUCTION

Cen has dedicated his life to defending what he sees as truthful in art. His artwork is full of vitality and intellectual undertones. Cen only paints people that he respects, hard working people who do not let the traumas of life drag them into perdition and weakness, and for whom challenges are also opportunities.

Cen’s paintings have always been suffused with an inner glow, a holy light of kindness. Cen’s earliest motif was the traveling bard, wandering amid depictions of down-to-earth scenes of Northern Chinese agriculture, cultures, and farming habits. These rustic human landscapes brought to light his most frequent theme: the harmony between man and nature lending the strength needed to survive in harsh conditions with only primitive technology. During this period, the light that permeates Cen’s art is one of gentle hope. In Gazing at the Stars (2017), a woman looks up from working the fields to gaze fixedly into the night sky. The Pearl Fishers’ Rite (2019), which was exhibited in the Church of Malta in Venice, is a very concrete example of how important the light motif is for Cen. As the pearlfishers haul their boat ashore, a woman leads the way, illuminating the path with a torch which symbolizes the steadfast faith that supports humanity in all its struggles.

Now at the age of sixty, Cen is still actively developing as an artist, continually incorporating his ideas, philosophies, and experiences into the substructure of his painting. I am truly impressed by Cen’s relentless drive to perfect his art, which incidentally reminds me of a passage in Jean-Christophe—“Most men die at twenty or thirty; thereafter they are only reflections of themselves: for the rest of their lives they are aping themselves, repeating from day to day more and more mechanically and affectedly what they said and did and thought and loved when they were alive.”

Cen refuses to rest on laurels and wallow in old achievements, rather, he is an artist who embraces the boldness of the present and the hope of the future. He hopes to establish an artistic language that neither excludes nor panders to specific demographics, employing universal themes and timeless images which he hopes may bring feelings of hope, love, and positivity of life to all his audiences.

Cen Long and His Silver Age

2014 Published By China Today Art Museum Publishing House , Beijing

INTRODUCTION

"Cen Long and His Silver Age" features a series of recent works, categorized by critics as the "Boundary Series" and "Wandering Series." The artworks predominantly depict Northern farmers, seafaring fishermen, wandering monks, and nomadic ethnic groups in Xinjiang. The artist seamlessly integrates imaginative subjects with natural depictions, portraying self-sufficient and symbolically charged utopian worlds. This effort to construct a personal utopia reaches a quasi-religious level, creating a profound fusion of individual aspirations and artistic representation.

The Southern Cross-Cen Long, His World of Art

2012 Published By Crux Art & Books , Taiwan

INTRODUCTION

From China, the artist Sen Long stands on the clouds, singing the lonely song of his art. He once shone brightly in the Chinese art scene but lost his brilliance amidst various disruptions in the larger environment. After more than a decade of silence, he speaks again through his work "The Pure Land." Slowly, his art, like stars in the sky, twinkles and radiates.

The value of art lies in its permanence and universality, inspiring minds, uplifting spirits, and transcending time and space with its beauty. Sen Long, a Chinese artist, is a singer standing on the clouds. He admires the beauty of simplicity, yearns for the pure essence of life, and resolutely avoids losing himself to commercialism. His art reproduces the Pure Land from Dante's "Divine Comedy," purifying hearts and guiding viewers into the serene path of returning to simplicity.