Zeng Hao – Oriental God Artist
The main inspiration of Yiqing Yin’s Fall 2012 collection is the legend of Nüwa. A chinese goddess of nature. She used the artist, Zeng Hao to portray her inspiration in her own moodboard.
The way Zeng has painted her is in a very serene and beautiful way because most of the legends show her a serpent goddess. Either way she influences nature therefore he seems to have latched onto that aspect instead.
He painted her painted her perched on a large stone, the details of which are intricate yet blurred at the same time, forcing us to focus on Nüwa herself. The way her head is tipped draws the eye to follow onto the flower she’s holding, then naturally our eyes will follow from there to her torso then eventually down to her feet. Her eyes being closed also makes it seem much more intimate.
Zeng’s artistic technique allows us to appreciate her whole position slowly and methodically. He turned an originally quite sinister deity into a ethereal, distant being. His style is very realistic, adding to the intimacy of her being real.
Looking at more of Zeng’s work, this one being an example, he seems to never have their eyes open or looking directly in front of them. It gives the impression that he’s not supposed to be capturing them. He does it in a way where they look in the middle of something mythical. All the goddesses are sat down on the same sort of stone chair, which I have started to view as a throne. They also have same flowers.
This last picture is also one of the goddess Nüwa. This painting is much more of an traditional and ancient Chinese painting. She is portrayed as just a head on the body of a snake. Which makes it seem less enticing than the work of Zeng Hao. Especially since she doesn’t seem to have a particular place to be like the thrones. However, the place around her looks healthy and alive and that is supposed to be because of her since she is the goddess of creation. Chinese people who grew up on this legend may see this painting in a much different way.
By Monique Olowu