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Brush Brings Rocky Mountains to Life
At 37, Beijing-born ink painter Liu Yang is putting on his 27th solo show.
More than 200 of his paintings created since the late 1980s are on display at the China National Art Museum until Sunday.
The works all focus on the same subject - the Yimeng Mountains, which Liu describes as his "second home."
This seemingly limited subject has resulted in a remarkably varied range of works.
Landscapes, figures and flower-and-bird paintings all reflect the artist's devoted observations of aspects of the people and nature of this remote, mountainous region of East China's Shandong Province. Yimeng is a well-known revolutionary base during China's War of Resistance against Japan (1937-45) and the Liberation War (1945-49).
"The Yimeng Mountains, renowned for being poverty stricken, have long been neglected by Chinese painters," said Wang Xuezhong, a veteran Tianjin artist and scholar who was born in Shandong.
Bare rocks, flocks of sheep and mountain villages are common scenes in the region. They certainly lack the "elegance and poetry" depicted in the more traditional styles of Chinese ink painting.
"To my surprise, Liu Yang has managed to make the rocky scenes come alive under his brush," Wang wrote in the catalogue for Liu's exhibition.
Liu says he was attracted by the mountains, rivers and local customs when he first visited the Yimeng Mountains in 1986 as a student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
"Living in the mountains for just a few days inspired me to come back and paint them for the rest of my life," Liu said.
He has lived up to this.
"Over the past 10 years or so, I can't remember how many times I have paced up and down the slopes, among the forests and thatched cottages in the mountains. It is there that I have created my paintings and sketches and found my art progressing," he said.
Liu said his efforts have been encouraged and supported by local friends such as Ma Shan, an official in Linyi, Shandong. An avid art lover, Ma invited Liu for many visits to the mountains since 1991.
"Although they are in the style of Chinese literati painting, Liu Yang's works are notable for their modern flavour," remarked Beijing art critic Cheng Dali.
Different from Chinese paintings in a traditional sense, most of Liu's pictures are distinctive for their interesting mixture of the romantic and the realistic, the symbolic and the fantastic.
His paintings are often exaggerated compositions and with a legendary atmosphere.
A few trees might occupy half of the mountain. A herdsman driving some sheep will all of a sudden walk into the picture from one side. A group of mountain villagers might watch an outdoor film or ride bicycles along mountain roads to create dramatic contrasts within the pictures, adding a humorous touch.
Careful viewers will also find simple and clean outlines influenced by Western modern artists Matisse (1869-1954) and Modigliani (1884-1920), as well as innovative Chinese ink painters Hong Ren (1610-64) and Ren Bonian (1840-96).
The simplicity of Chinese calligraphy, seal carving and classical poetry can also be seen in Liu's works. The artist has extensive interests in such important forms of Chinese art - which is often ignored by many Chinese painters of his age.
Liu accepts that his art has benefited from his previous experience as a journalist for China National Radio Station and some art publications, and as an art teacher for foreign students.
Since 1988, he has published dozens of books and albums on art and art theory, including "Feeling for the Yimeng Mountains - Selected Paintings of Liu Yang," published both in Chinese and English by the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn)
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