“Father” This realistic painting of “Father” might have been possible for many well-trained Montmartre painters technically, but in 1980 China, this old peasant father moved numerous Chinese people's hearts, created a great sensation, probably akin to “Dove of Peace” print from Picasso in his time.
The weathered face stands out against the yellow background, which recalls the lean land of the Loess Plateau in China. “His eyes exude worry, weary and concession, Deep wrinkles carve his swarthy face. The tea in the bowl his rough hands hold has become cloudy”. The meticulously painted portrait radiates an atmosphere of hardship and perseverance which pervades the entire painting. “For the first time, a painting featured the true color of laboring people, who used to be only painted like a bright hero”. No wonder there were accusations saying the painting "smeared the image of laborers" in 1980s following a decade-long upheaval of culture revolution. At the time, China embarked on a social transformation. The misty eyes of Chinese people were just about to see, sense and accept the country as she is. The unadorned debut of a junior student, Luo Zhongli, was created in the messy and crowded dorm of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, but went all the way to win gold at the Second National Youth Art Exhibition and become a milestone in Chinese contemporary art. "I got lucky." Luo said. It might be more than his luck: after 10 years in Sichuan’s rural Mountains, the Father’s face, the feeling in that face, and behind the face has been probably “infused into his blood”; It might be more than his skill: delivering his “seeing”, his “sensing”, and tenderness with the honesty and the passion, the painter is painting himself: the pigment in “Father” became China, as the sketch of “Dove” became Peace.
In the dramatically evolving China today, there are still the misty and the lucky. Seeing, feeling, and breaking through the veil of the mist. |
