His training in traditional Chinese painting techniques is very solid, but he has never been satisfied with simply maintaining traditional styles and conventions. Instead, he has tried to create a more modern kind of Chinese painting through innovations in use of materials, techniques, and composition.

In his painting, the blurry moving forms of the contemporary Tibetan lamas strongly contrast with the stillness of the clearly contoured and brightly colored ancient temples. Feng Bin's contrasts present a basically hopeful picture; although contemporary life is in constant motion, there is a lasting foundation to the culture, the religion, and the history his work represents. 

Feng Bin's recent work has turned to urban scenes and individuals, and in these paintings the linear quality of his earlier more traditional Chinese painting has almost disappeared.  The clear contours of forms in the paintings have been replaced by blurry images, and the composition is even more simplified, with greater emphasis on the flatness of the painted surface. Here, two-dimensionality may imply Feng Bin's critical attitude toward the monotony of urban life.

Shen Kuiyi

Professor, University of California, San Diego, U. S. A.