Yu Peng─ The Art of Living fully and Happily

Mee Seen Loong

Over twenty five years ago, when we were all much younger and had the energy to dance non stop and to drink copious glasses of wine, I met Yu Peng in Hong Kong. He appeared at galleries and parties in his iconic grey cotton ‘peasant’ Chinese outfits, holding a basket and an oil cloth umbrella. Once at a party at a hotel, he was even barred from entering and we had to rescue him, assuring the staff that he was indeed the guest of honour! Indefatigable and always animated, Yu Peng made people happy just to be near him. He visited Hong Kong frequently for his exhibitions and even spent a few afternoons painting in my apartment. In my living room I have an early self portrait of his as a young man, seated by a table, surrounded by numerous bonsai, scholars’ rocks and flowers, inspiring me to complement this painting with similar pots of plants and ornamental rocks on stands.

Through the years, many of us visited him at his wonderful house in Taipei, reveling in his company as well as the constant flow of friends who dropped in throughout. A trip to Taipei was incomplete without seeing him.

A year ago I was fortunate to see him one last time. He sat cross-legged by the low dining table drinking wine from a black Song bowl and showed me his calligraphic tai chi moves, interspersed by gulps of wine. We talked about old times in Hong Kong and his paintings, his seal carvings and how he loved to dance. He agreed to paint some new works for the Shuimo (水墨) exhibition I was planning for Spring 2014 in New York.

In the pair of hanging scrolls, ‘The Sky, Earth and me’ and ‘The Laws of Nature’ (2013) Yu Peng reimagines his surreal, lofty mountains and valleys, populated by wiry trees, strange rocks ducks, lotus ponds and a single meditating figure. Yu Peng, brilliant, irrepressible, loving and loyal…… lives on in his paintings and in our hearts.

Vice Chairman, Chinese Art;
Co-Director of the Chinese Works of Art department in North America, Sotheby’s

2014年 摘自《仙才卓絕 縱浪大化》