Debra Li

    debra_lidan@163.com

    HAVING the ability to reserve an hour every day for a period of decades to pursue a hobby is a sign of true character and ability. Chen Jingqi, a retired engineer from Chongqing, Southwest China, is showing more than 60 of his pen sketches and Chinese paintings at Artron Art Gallery.

    “Unlike most amateur painters who focus on small-size pictures of flowers and birds or landscapes, Chen tries to paint large-size works which tell a story and feature a variety of characters,” said Wan Jie, chief of Artron.

    “His work surpasses that of some professional painters,” Wan said.

    The paintings on exhibition are comprised of three categories: pen sketches of the mountain city of Chongqing, Chinese paintings of people and landscapes, and Chinese paintings of poetic themes rooted in Chinese cultural traditions.

    “The folk customs and landscapes unique to Chongqing, like ferry boats pulled by laborers and houses with tiled rooves, are gradually being phased out as modernity pervades every aspect of our lives,” the painter said.

    “Some people like to capture living history with cameras, I prefer to draw and paint.”

    Chen now has much more time to paint. His paintings are mostly in a realist style, but his ability to portray fast disappearing landscapes requires imagination.

    Of the paintings on display is a Chinese painting featuring a group of Miao ethnic people at a crowded country fair, which is very vivid and meticulous. “It took me more than a month to paint it,” Chen said.

    As he also works on oil paintings, some of his Chinese paintings are impressively bright and rich in color, like one painting in the exhibition that features a Tibetan girl herding two yaks.

    Chen developed an interest in painting at an early age. He gained much confidence when at 8 years old his father praised him for his painting of a tiger. However, influenced by a societal change in the 1960s which saw sciences valued above all other subjects, Chen chose to become an engineer. To pursue his hobby, he often chose to work night shifts so that he could go out and draw sketches during the day.

    In 2006, his work “Xifeng Lie” (The West Wind Is Strong) won a golden award in the national senior citizens’ painting and calligraphy competition. He also published an album in 2010 and a follow-up last year.

    Time: Until Dec. 16

    Venue: Artron Art Gallery, Caitian Road East, Futian District

    Buses: 34, 35, 60, 75, 76, 333, 335, 339