 Anna Zhao anna.whizh@yahoo.com MORE than 60 pieces of landscape paintings by contemporary artist Mai Hongjun are on display at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum through Sunday. Themed “Nature’s Nourishment,” the exhibition is characterized by heavily colored paintings of mountain views. The artist’s portrayal of mountains presents the magnificence and grandeur of nature, a frequent topic of traditional Chinese painting. His paintings are often accompanied by a few lines of poetry that reveal what the artist was feeling as he was painting. Mai said he prefers landscape as a dominant subject because he has a profound longing for nature and enjoys life away from the hustle and bustle of urban cities. Mai boldly breaks from tradition by using rich colors in his paintings. He said he tries to integrate colors that are prevalently used in Western oil painting with traditional Chinese painting techniques. “When I was an art student, I thought using more colors would increase the visual effect of my paintings and differentiate myself from other painters, but the result was not satisfactory,” he recalled. “I later realized that traditional Chinese landscape paintings are indispensable from the skills used in strokes of Chinese calligraphy, so I began to hone the basic skills of traditional painting and constantly readjusted my understanding of the Chinese spirit of painting.” To enrich his reservoir of Chinese culture, he also learned martial arts, Beijing opera and seal engraving. As a painter who was nurtured by an orthodox art education, Mai attached great importance to the basic elements of traditional Chinese culture. “Writing and painting are very close to each other — they are two variant forms of art but share common ground,” he said. Mai said that modern people are seldom exposed to authentic traditional Chinese culture and art students are not taught enough of the basics of how to use ink and a brush, so it’s difficult for modern artists to produce works that parallel masterpieces from the past. He thinks that a traditional Chinese artist can only excel by capturing the essence of Chinese culture and study as much as possible China’s cultural heritage. A professional painter at Beijing Fine Art Academy, Mai’s works have been collected by key art museums in China. While landscape paintings by many young artists have developed into a new genre of “new ink art,” Mai doesn’t think what he has created is new to or a breakthrough from tradition. “We live in a completely different time from the old masters and naturally what we create should suit the needs of our time. I think an artist’s concern should be how to create works that ponder modern people’s lives,” he said. Xu Qingsong, chairperson of the Guangdong Artists Association, said Mai’s paintings show a “very mature and meticulous use of ink, which is attributed to his solid skills in traditional landscape painting. He has seamlessly transplanted modern people’s aesthetic appreciation of landscape through the expression of traditional Chinese painting,” Xu said. Dates: Through Aug. 9 Venue: Guan Shanyue Art Museum, 6026 Hongli Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路6026号关山月美术馆) Metro: Longgang or Longhua Line, Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit B | 