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| Liu’s famous “Drunken Beauty” |
By Michael Ussery
With thick, radiant swirls and many vibrant colors, Liu Linghua won the awe and admiration of the Chinese art world and gained honors and fame across China. After being recognized for a decade as one of China’s great painters, Liu is rapidly gaining international acclaim.
His art is known for its unique style of dramatic oil paintings that honor traditional Chinese subjects and combine ancient painting techniques with modern uses of color. Liu’s larger-than-life images capture the eyes of the viewer.
Liu, who has had solo exhibitions in Singapore, Tokyo, and Paris as well as the National Museum of Fine Arts in China, will have another exhibit in November in Paris, and he is beginning to plan his personal tour and exhibits in the U.S. for this fall. The exhibitions are organized by Shanghai Chinese Quintessence Art Co. Ltd., the group that manages his works.
Shanghai Chinese Quintessence, which is the first Chinese company to win the United Nations’ Award for Cultural Exchanges, is dedicated to promoting the best of China to the world. Last year, Shanghai Chinese Quintessence generously gave over two million dollars of support that included hand-made silk tapestries of Liu’s art to international events hosted in China.
Last month Liu was the toast of Hong Kong at a ceremony organized by Shanghai Chinese Quintessence and Hong Kong Wen Hui Newspaper Publishing. The event, which was attended by the cultural and art communities and by top businessmen and government officials, was held to commemorate the publication of an album of Liu’s greatest works. This collection of photographs was printed in a limited edition of 7,000 books. More than 5,000 copies will be donated by Shanghai Chinese Quintessence (SCQ) to organizations around the world including top universities and museums.
At an upcoming Olympic organizational meeting in June, in advance of the much anticipated Beijing Olympics, China will give each nation a gift of a silk-embroidered copy of Liu’s painting, “Drunken Beauty,” based on a famous character from the Peking Opera.
Actress Sharon Stone received a silk copy of “Drunken Beauty” at the 10th Shanghai International Film Festival, and silk copies of Liu’s work were presented to foreign VIPs at the international 2007 Special Olympics Summer Games held in Shanghai. Famous Italian fashion designer and art collector Silvano Lattanzi knelt before Liu’s oil painting.
With his command of heavy oils, use of fine lines, and powerful contour strokes, Liu has been inspired to create richly detailed and colorful paintings, often of characters from the opera, and of flowers and plants. This Chinese master has been called “China’s Van Gogh.”
Liu’s most famous floral painting is “Century Rose,” a brilliant depiction of twenty-one roses representing the blossoming 21st century. “Century Rose” was commissioned in 2001 for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Shanghai, where it adorned the halls, along with 25 other Liu paintings, greeting President Bush and other heads of state and ministers.
Born in Xi’an in central China, the ancient capital of China’s first empire, Liu began studying at the Xi’an’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1984. Naturally gifted, Liu has developed his own style of painting that fuses traditional Chinese painting with the more Western use of vivid colors in oil. Liu’s art is bold and flamboyant.
Despite his incredible success, Liu Linghua remains humble, soft-spoken, and focused on his art. Although his paintings are valued at over one million dollars each, Liu, who is in his mid-40s, declares, “I still must learn. I hope my masterpiece will come when I am 60 years old.”
“Life is tough and an artist’s life is lonely,” explains Liu. “Artists have the ability to make people happy and reflect and that is why art is so important.”
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