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Du Jie, painter, calm and taciturn; currently lives and works in Beijing. I interviewed Mr. Du during a boiling summer afternoon in Guangzhou. We met at the gallery’s tea room, sitting side by side against the floor-to-ceiling window, streams of sunlight fell through the glasses while outside the gardener was watering the plants. Mr. Du talked about his memory of the 70s, 80s and 90s ... the image of every turning point in his life was vivid. As he spoke tenderly, his joy showed itself in his teary-eyed.

Among the contemporary landscape painters, few could achieve the realm of landscape of such peace, beauty and purity. Du’s realm of landscape possess strong sense of traditional aesthetic and moreover the intensive feeling of modernity. He inherits and develops the spirit of landscape paintings, pursues the nature rather than the expression of tradition. The so-called tradition should be an open concept. The tradition not only includes the elements of brushwork and calligraphy, but also the humanity, the non-profit nature of art and the serenity and tranquility of Zen. The pursuit of traditional realm embodied in Du’s painting undoubtedly includes such inner connotation.

Du’s landscape painting emphasizes the richness of picture. He does not pursue the popular method of ink accumulation to make the picture rich and thick. The richness of his painting mainly relies on the varied structure and delicate lines. Therefore, despite the richness of his paintings, there will be no depressing feelings, and the artistic conception within always maintains the characteristics of freshness and etherealness.

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Shi is renowned for his unconventional ink art style.

“Music has a direct influence on Shi, he never does preliminary sketches, guided largely by the rhythmic and intuition, expressing freely on paper, sometimes torrential sometimes moderate. Everything happened rapidly yet under his control.”

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The subject matters of Shi Jing are pure and simple—young ladies in the serene, tranquil courtyard. It is a secluded, secret world. Shi Jing has studied Chinese courtyard for a long period of time and determined to use this as his subject matters. What distinguished him from others is that he succeeded to give variation and depth to the world his created—the cycle of the four seasons, different kinds of flowers blossomed in the courtyard, the harmony of the female and the nature, etc. The remarkable sensitivity for beauty of the artist is well expressed by his distinctive skills.

Oriental ambiance and a sentiment for the past pervade in the paintings of Shi Jing. He filled his paintings with rich contents, variegated and decorative colors, light and shadow effect, and a sense of joy and happiness. The architectural structure of courtyard such as the tall walls, eaves and window lattice, which give strong sense of form, weight and stillness, form an interesting yet harmonious contrast with the delicate movement and motion of the girls and petals. Shi Jing’s art is after all distinguished, well and widely received.

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Throughout his career, Liu has taken part in numerous China and overseas academic exhibitions. He and his works have greatly influenced the Chinese art world. Published works include “Soul and Art”, “Liu Mu: Landscape Study”, “Clouds, Come and Go”, “Teaching”, “Lessons by Liu Mu”, “The Dairy” and “Blue Sky, the Story of Painting”.