Dong Yidian is a native of Li minority ethnic group from Hainan Island. A graduate of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, he is a professional artist. Besides oil painting, he also makes sketches and water color works; theme of his oil painting works is mostly his hometown Hainan; he creates personified animals in his sketch series; and the water color works present sailboats at sea. Dong Yidian rents a temple as his studio in Xiaozhou Village in Guangzhou. 

 

Dong Yidian said he wanted to conduct an experiment on the two kiwisual stones. Paint streams down the stones, with totem images on top. The work on the stones continues Dong Yidian’s rustic and naive style, and that is his truest color.

 

 

The artist

I first met Dong Yidian in 2009, at the workshop of He Jianning, a renowned artist as well as Dong’s Hainan “comrade”. The outstanding combination of beard, khaki hat and set of clothes compelled you to pry into the stories behind all that naughtiness. After knowing him for all these years, he has the purest heart out of all the people I have ever met.

 

 

When we were getting to know more about him, he always took us to the most bizarre places and have the most amazing food. He said, life began to pick up with the purchase of a car: he started to look into every little corner for good and genuine food, in and out of Guangzhou and up and down every mountain he could find in proximity. "It was downright indulgence." He laughed.

 

 

He rented a temple as my studio in Xiaozhou Village in 2006. It was a definitive moment and he stayed. he clocked in at work in the day, did sketches at the dorm, drove out to the studio to do oil paintings at night and taught at the weekends and summer/winter vacations. He was happy with the routine.

 

About the work

When talking about work, Dong said it was “overcast” last year, and he was just rolling with the punches. Fortunately, it began to pick up on all sides with the help of friends, especially when it comes to creating--- it even excels the prime around 2008-2009. It is during this period that he accepted the invitation from "1-art valley" and finished working on two stones.

 

 

" I was born with a yearning to scribble. To me it is the ultimate in fun. I got a lot of help on the way as well. If I could choose otherwise, I would spend the rest of my life in repentance."

 

 

Not a day has gone by without him picking up a brush and creating. He always has the yearning for creation. He hopes that he can find his own voice and style in drawing and painting one day. 

 

Unique, and happy about it

 

 

When asked to talk about the proposition of “artist and solitude”, Dong said he had no interest in answering that. To him, solitude isn’t the privilege of artists’; deviant people are lonely beings too. "It is fun in itself just to do what you enjoy doing, against all odds, period."

 

 

Video: Stones in Xiaozhou Art Village