Huguo would be indistinguishable from most other villages in the Xindu District of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, were it not for Chen Jiagui, a 62-year-old farmer-painter whose home has become a kind of salon for art lovers from around the world.

Chen started painting when he was a child. Though poverty prevented him from getting more than a primary school education, he has met with many famous painters in Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming and Wuhan over the past two decades to learn their craft.

Lawrence Speer (second from left) visits Chen (far right) during his trip to Chengdu last Sunday.Li Yang
 

Unlike most traditional Chinese artists, Chen does not name his paintings. His work is in the style of tachisme, an abstract style that relies on random splashes and lines of paint.

"Different people may have different ideas about my paintings. For example, one person might see a star when he looks at a dot on one of my paintings, while another person will see a musical note," he said.

His fans treasure this ambiguity.

"Although they have different interpretations of his paintings, most visitors to his home are surprised that a farmer can produce such nice abstract paintings. Some describe the dots and lines on his paintings as an expression of harmonious co-existence," said Song Xi, a fan and journalist with Sichuan Television Station.

Song interviewed Chen several years ago and has accompanied many visitors to his home ever since.

Chen said he sometimes draws inspiration for his paintings from his dreams. A drawing table positioned next to his bed is evidence of this muse.

"Whenever I find inspiration from sleep, I get up and paint even if it is the dead of winter," he said.

Earlier this year, a friend from Chengdu took six of Chen's paintings to Paris for an exhibition of Chinese art work. Exhibition goers were thrilled by his work.

After learning Chen's story, Lawrence Speer, an American journalist with BNA, a Washington DC-based business consultancy, visited him a week ago during a trip to Chengdu with his French wife and their French friend.

Speer said Chen's paintings embodied the painter's thoughts. When Speer offered to buy one of his paintings, Chen gave him one as "a gift from a Chengdu farmer".

Song said Chen is always generous to visitors despite his poverty.

(China Daily April 25, 2007)