Coinciding with the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, a painting exhibition with an Olympic theme by Chinese painter Liu Zhong, 39, was held in the capital. Liu has cleverly used birds and animals to illustrate his vision of the world's biggest sporting event. In one work he has painted, five parrots in the Olympic colors fly out of the Bird's Nest, while in another an elephant has its tusks decorated with the lucky cloud designs on the Beijing Olympic torch.

This is the only individual painting exhibition of a Chinese painter supported by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

"The reason that we support Liu's exhibition during the Olympic period is that we are deeply impressed by the themes of his works, which is the care about life, nature and harmony, and his passion in participating in the Olympic cause," said Sha Chengshen, Deputy Director of the Department of the Cultural Activities under the BOCOG.

According to Sha, Liu's works convey a strong sense of protecting nature and pursuing the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, which echoes the idea of the Beijing Olympic Games-to hold a green Olympics. At the same time, Sha said Liu combines Western art with Chinese ink and wash painting, creating a new style that spans different cultural backgrounds, also in line with the Olympic message.

Childhood dream

Although his works cover a wide range of themes, Liu has special love of animals. When he was a child, he wanted to communicate with nature and all its creatures. He raised a menagerie at home, including fish, chickens, dogs, cats and even hawks and snakes.

At the age of 10, Liu participated in his first art exhibition with his work I Invented a Machine to Talk With Animals and since then he has continued with his fascination with nature.

"The animals that have been gradually squeezed out of people's vision by modern civilization make Liu's works feel approachable and full of love," said Wang Jiaxin, a Chinese poet. It is the blue skies, white clouds and vast richness in Liu's works that impel people to think deeply about the importance of nature and in a sense enlighten them, said Wang.

Artistic bloodline

Liu's parents are both artists, who gave their son a good foundation in the basic skills of traditional Chinese painting. "They asked me to observe life, think and then present things through painting," Liu said.

Through his parents, Liu was also able to have access to some of China's painting masters and their works, which played a big role in cultivating his artistic tastes.

His grandmother was also one of his teachers. As a toddler Liu lived with his grandmother in west China's Shaanxi Province. "My grandmother was a country woman who was good at making dough figurines and paper cutting," Liu said.

But apart from his family influences, it was the young boy's passion and love of art that proved to be his best teacher. "If I did not love life and painting, I would not be willing to learn painting during the time that other kids spend playing," Liu said. In his eyes, painting was his fun during those formative years.

Blend East with West

"I am an omnivorous animal, " said Liu."I try to absorb the essence of the fine arts works of painting masters both in China and abroad, including some young artists."

In 1994, recommended by friends, Liu was admitted by the National and International Art Research College in France where he gained a master's degree in 1996. During his time in Paris he immersed himself in galleries and museums, especially the Louvre.

"When I returned to China, I had a new understanding of traditional Chinese painting," Liu said. His works were now vastly different from what Chinese people were used to. From the form of the painting to the images in his works, from perspective to light, his works looked more like Western paintings.

However, the tools that he uses when painting were very much Chinese-brush, ink, palette for traditional Chinese painting, and xuan paper, a high-quality rice paper good for traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Apart from this, he uses lines, signatures and seals, which are all elements of traditional Chinese painting.

"Liu's works should not be defined as traditional Chinese paintings in the real sense," said Shang Hui, Editor in Chief of the Beijing-based Fine Arts magazine. In his eyes, Liu stresses the characteristics of Chinese ink as a kind of medium and connects this material with the art concepts of the West.

"On one hand, there is the orient phenomenon in his works through the infiltration of Chinese ink on xuan paper and the mergence among different colors, and on the other hand, his works have a strong representational style, which is the fruit of the painter's efforts to blend the wash painting skills of China and the Western fine arts," Shang comments.

But, although his works borrow some Western form of presentation, Liu emphasized that he still retains the tradition and essence of the art of Chinese painting. In his view, maintaining tradition and remaining creative should be a simultaneous goal of any artist.

In traditional Chinese painting, works about flowers, birds and animals make up an important part of the complete repertoire of painting skills. But the subjects on Liu's works are different, as he paints animals that few have used before such as zebras, rhinos, elephants, hippos, crocodiles and parrots.

More importantly, as traditional Chinese painting pays especial attention to the energy of a work, Liu always paints the eyes of animals at the final stage of his creation. "I put the most difficult and also the most crucial part of the animal at the end to seize the spirit and make it come alive."

Simone F. Brunau, Chairperson of the International Art Center in Paris, said the myth-like animals that emerge from Liu's brush are very eye-catching. "They look truer than live ones, seeming to run off the paper," said Brunau.

Referring to the impact of the Western culture and the difficulty of preserving and passing on traditional Chinese culture, Liu said that this is the reality that Chinese artists have to face and a problem that they need to resolve.

"Nevertheless, compared with the past, comparisons between and research into Chinese and Western painting are deeper and have a broader realm, which has created a good platform for handing down and further developing traditional Chinese painting," Liu said.

(Beijing Review August 21, 2008)