Liang Ying, 39, has taken a different road in following the artistic footsteps of her father Huang Zhou (1925-97), who was a veteran ink painter.
After a brief study of traditional ink painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Liang was enrolled by the Fine Arts Institute of Hamburg, Germany, in 1983 and studied there for 10 years. Images, lines and colors under Liang's hands serve purely as vehicles of self-expression.
Her paintings - mostly semi-abstract oils, prints and ink paintings - are actually "personal diaries" that record Liang's emotional currents and individual interpretations of daily life, she said.
Liang's solo exhibition at Beijing's Yanhuang Art Museum, a grand art venue established by her father, shows some of her latest products after years of self-exploration.
The 50 or so works in her current exhibition, which runs until December 15, include oils and ink paintings she has made since 1996.
The two types of paintings create an interesting contrast in both size and tone.
Averaging 75 by 135 centimeters or bigger, the oil paintings are distinctive in their heavy coloration and expressive strokes reminiscent of works by certain Western expressionists.
The more popular part of the show, however, is a series of small ink paintings on yellowish paper usually used by calligraphers and painters to practice their brushwork.
The naked figures in the pictures are made with sketchy strokes typical of Chinese free-hand painting and are mostly relaxed and idle, revealing a casual and free state of mind.
"I love these very happy paintings. What touches me most in her works is the successful blend of the very Chinese and very Western in the pictures," said Sylvia Tetmajer Von Przerwa, a visitor from Switzerland.
(China Daily 12/04/2000)
