Art is in me, in my soul. I want to express myself through my paintings regardless of whether I get paid.”

— John Hudson Hawke

Anne Zhang

zhangy49@gmail.com

JOHN HUDSON HAWKE, a trained archaeologist from the United States, has started a family and made his name as an artist in Shenzhen’s Dafen Oil Painting Village over the past 10 years.

A ‘Doctor’ artist in Dafen

Hawke, a 63-year-old American, first came to Shenzhen on a business trip in 2003 and fell in love with the city.

“This is a beautiful and modern city,” Hawke said. “With its proximity to Hong Kong, it is a convenient place for foreigners to live.”

But it wasn’t until two years later when he found the Dafen Oil Painting Village in Shenzhen that he made up his mind to settle down in the city. He formed a relationship with a gallery in Dafen in 2005 and thus became the first foreign artist in the village. He is also the only artist in the village to have a PhD, so he is known as “Doctor.”

Hawke has been involved with numerous local art events and organizations including annual art fairs, the International Forum of Art Dealers and the International Cultural Industries Fair.

Hawke speaks no Chinese, but he says it doesn’t prevent him from communicating about art with Chinese artists or viewers because art is a cultural bridge that helps people cross linguistic barriers.

Having been active in Dafen for many years, Hawke has witnessed the ups and downs of the art industry in the village. He said the art industry was booming in Dafen before 2008. Dealers from all over the world came to the village to buy decorative paintings in bulk and millions of dollars was generated by the village. But the global financial crisis of 2008 hit the village hard.

“Art only sells well when the economy is doing well,” he said. “Artists’ lives are an emotional roller coaster, where they experience many highs and lows over the course of their lives.”

As more Chinese dealers and collectors are coming to Dafen, the artists have begun to shift the themes of their work to cater to the domestic market.

But Chinese customers, unlike foreign dealers, purchase only a few paintings at a time, Hawke said. In recent years many Dafen artists have to sell their work at reduced prices at locally held auctions in order to make a living.

A romance story

If Dafen is one factor that keeps Hawke in Shenzhen, his wife is another.

Hawke first met his wife, Lu Suxin, 10 years ago when he was invited to give lectures at Shenzhen Library and Nanshan District Library. Lu, a Chinese who had lived in Indonesia for several years, was then deputy director of Shenzhen Library. But they didn’t get a chance to talk to each other. Hawke said he didn’t even know Lu could speak English so fluently.

Not a long time after the first meeting, a mutual friend introduced Lu to Hawke to help him research a book about women poets in China’s Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties that Hawke was intending to write. Although the book never materialized, Hawke and Lu got to know each other. They bonded over their common interest in culture and art and they married shortly afterwards.

Hawke was a knowledgeable gentleman with a charming personality, Lu said.

“I’m a little short-tempered, but he never loses his temper. If I am about to burst with anger, he will comfort me and nip the anger in the bud,” she said.

Passion for art

According to his wife, Hawke is a quiet man. But when he talks about art and painting, he becomes excited and talkative.

“Art is in me, in my soul,” Hawke said. “I want to express myself through my paintings regardless of whether I get paid.”

Hawke draws much of his inspiration as an artist from studying nature and great works of art by well-known artists. He is good at painting landscapes, seascapes and portraits in oil, pastels and acrylics. He has shown a talent for painting since he was a child.

“From an early age I was always busy scrawling in my room,” Hawke said. “My mom noticed it and helped me explore my potential.”

During his high school years in Victoria, Texas, Hawke won blue ribbons and art trophies in local art shows. In his early 20s, he was known throughout Texas. Later, Hawke taught art in Austin, Texas, and operated his own galleries in New Mexico.

At 41, Hawke made a bold decision. He put his art career on hold and returned to school for his higher education. After 10 years, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and a doctorate in ancient history and archaeology from University of Birmingham in Britain.

With his passion for painting, Hawke returned to painting after completing his studies. Hawke said his higher education enriched his understanding about some subjects and helped advance his art career.

Now Hawke enjoys a simple and peaceful life with his wife in Shenzhen. He gets up early in the morning and has a coffee and a bread roll. After breakfast, he takes a walk with his wife in a park nearby and spends most of the day painting at home.

When asked about the future, Hawke said he loves the current life and plans to travel to other places in China with his wife.

“There is a wonderful rich cultural heritage in China,” Hawke said. “I never get tired of the life here because I’m learning new things every day about China and its people.”