CHINESE PAINTER PLEADS FOR ANIMALS

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http://english.people.com.cn/200512/27/eng20051227_231051.html

Brush strokes evoke empathy with animal cousins

 

 

UPDATED: 09:37, December 27, 2005

Ink painter Liu Zhong is obsessed with animals. The 37-year-old

Beijinger not only spends his days at zoos studying the physiology of

animals, and buying handicrafts featuring different species wherever

he goes, but he also breeds pets at home. This reservoir of knowledge

helps his distinctive depiction of animals in his paintings.

 

Liu's solo exhibition is currently touring Huizhou, Zhongshan,

Dongguan, Jiangmen, Foshan and Guangzhou, in South China's Guangdong

Province. The final showings are scheduled for Beijing and Shanghai

early next year.

 

The artist once used a wide range of materials and styles, including

pastels, watercolours, murals, pottery and ceramics, and graphic

design. In recent years, he has concentrated on creating Chinese ink

paintings featuring animals especially sheep, horses, buffaloes,

elephants and giant pandas.

 

On show are at least 100 of Liu's latest ink paintings on the theme of

animals. All are classified as " bird-and-flower paintings, " according

to traditional art theory. But Liu's unique animal paintings, as

displayed at the exhibition, are very much non-traditional, in the

eyes of many critics.

 

" Like many of his fellow artists, Liu employs Chinese ink, paint

brushes and rice paper, but his animal paintings do not look like

traditional Chinese bird-and-flower paintings nor do they resemble

classic Western paintings of animals, " commented Wang Yong, a

professor of art at the National Research Institute of Chinese Arts.

 

" He has been on a pathless trek; an approach that seeks to weld

artistically the East and the West, " Wang added.

 

For Liu, the feeling evoked by the subject matter is more important

than the physiological accuracy.

 

With non-naturalistic, bright colours and unusual compositions, he

often depicts close-up views of animals, often set against unrealistic

surroundings or simply no background at all, to emphasize the

spiritual aspect of his subject matter.

 

Viewers may find some of Liu's animals maintain a sense of elegance

and spirituality; some others are imbued with a strong sense of

playfulness and joy; others reveal the artist's glorified,

romanticized, or sympathetic perception of wild animals faced with a

shrinking habitat.

 

" Since my early years in rural areas, I have cherished a deep love for

nature and have forged a life-long attachment with animals, " Liu said.

 

" I paint my animals like painting the portraits of human beings,

always trying to bring out their inner feelings. They are not just

meant to please the viewer's eyes. "

 

In fact, some animals Liu paints reflect his personal experiences of

good times and bad times.

 

Human relations with nature

 

Liu also paints to express his understanding of the relationship

between humans and our environment, and his warm support for wildlife

conservation efforts.

 

For instance, Liu often puts together posters for organizations that

are launching wildlife protection schemes. In early August, he visited

nature reserves that are home to giant pandas in Sichuan, and painted

portraits of a giant panda dubbed " Shenglin No 1. "

 

The protagonist Liu portrayed in his work gained fame on July 16 when

it was reported that the female panda had been found wandering around

the city of Dujiangyan, near Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's

Sichuan Province.

 

The panda was taken to the Longxi-Hongkou National Natural Reserve in

Dujiangyan for check-ups and medical care, and was sent home on August

8.

 

" With unsustainable development, land clearing, settlement and

poaching, humans are changing animal behaviour in unexpected and

troubling ways, " said Liu.

 

" When we destroy the habitat of wild animals for the well-being of

humans, the other animals try hard to find ways to survive in the

altered landscape. This sometimes means that wildlife and human life

come into conflict. How to achieve peaceful coexistence with wildlife

poses a big question for mankind. "

 

Liu's best-known animal painting series entitled " Civilization "

exemplifies these grave concerns.

 

For months, Liu has been keeping an eye on the story of a pair of

giant pandas from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province that

are expected to be sent to Taiwan as a goodwill gift from the

mainland.

 

Liu is preparing to paint the chosen pair on the invitation of the

State Administration of Forestry, and his paintings will also be

presented to Taiwan.

 

" To be part of a goodwill act from this side of the Taiwan Straits is

a great honour for me, " said Liu, who believes the giant pandas will

be welcomed by locals when they set foot on the island.

 

Solid training

 

Liu was born in Beijing in 1969, but spent years with his grandparents

in rural Shaanxi Province in Northwest China. At the age of 7, he

returned home in the capital.

 

In his early childhood, Liu was taught to draw and paint by his

parents, who are artists themselves.

 

In the following decade he won numerous gold medals at various

international, national and municipal art exhibitions and competitions

for children.

 

In 1983, his ink painting " I Love the Great Wall " was selected for the

first-ever set of stamps featuring paintings by children to be issued

in China.

 

In 1988, his surrealistic mural painting entitled " Chinese Myths and

Legends " won him a gold medal at an international painting competition

in Finland.

 

Between 1994 and 1997, on a full scholarship, Liu went to France to

learn French and Western art.

 

In 1996, he graduated from the Ecole Internationale D'Art et de

Recherche in Paris with a master's degree in plastic arts. A year

later he got a bachelor's degree in French from the College

Internationale de la Langue Francaise de Cannes.

 

In 1995, he won the coveted Grand Prix du Salon de Bois le Roi de

Paris for his Chinese ink portrayal of a buffalo.

 

In early 1996, Liu worked at the Atelie de Picasso studio, with

several French artists. Later that year, after a joint exhibition of

paintings and pottery, one of Liu's pottery works entitled " Cloud and

Water " was collected by the National Vallauris Picasso Museum.

 

Despite all these successes, Liu has stuck to Chinese ink painting and

refuses to shift to Western art.

 

" I believe Chinese ink paintings are not at all inferior to any

Western art, " he said.

 

" Instead, based on my experiences in China and in Europe, I can see

many new possibilities in Chinese ink painting. But it is certain that

my Chinese paintings will benefit from my knowledge about Western

art, " said Liu, a great admirer of Western maestros such as Picasso

and Chagall.

 

" Liu's ink paintings are very impressive. But I can see how he tries

hard to balance his innovative efforts with his attachment to Chinese

painting traditions, " said French art critic Simone F Brunau, who is

also the chairperson of Cite Internationale des Arts de Paris.

 

" With solid training in techniques, Liu has developed his own idiom of

ink painting. It is easy for one to identify Liu's animal paintings

from those by other Chinese painters. It is safe to say that he is a

young artist of great potentiality, " said Vincenzo Sanfo, a renowned

Italian curator that has collaborated with the organizers of the first

and second Beijing International Art Biennales.

 

Source: China Daily