Yao Shaohua’s Spirit of Freehand Brushwork
Yao Shaohua’s Spirit of Freehand Brushwork |
| HONG KONG, Oct. 7, 2011/PRNewswire-Asia/ — Chinese painting is a unique imaginary art characterized by freehand brushwork and spirit. The spirit of Chinese painting has prospered for more than three thousand years without any sign of withering. It represents the essence of traditional culture of the east, incorporating the universal outlook of seeking harmony between human and nature and the conventional philosophic thinking of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Chinese paintings seek to express feelings via objects and embody spirit in several brush strokes.
Therefore, the mental outlook of the painter is the basis of creating works and the most important standard to judge their artistic value, which is getting close to “virtue” and the moral perfection of human beings. That is the reason why the value of Chinese art works is all about the spiritual value they embody. Freehand brushwork, in the development of Chinese culture, stands for an outlook on life typical to Chinese people. So artists have to live a life of freehand brushwork’s style before they can develop a similar spirit and apply it to their works. This spirit has also exerted a profound influence on western art. Yao Shaohua, one of China‘s top artists, is conveying his deep understanding of his rich life experience in his unique tiger paintings. Yao’s tigers, which are depicted with powerful strokes, are seen as a symbol of people’s strong inner world. He showcases all his energy and talent through his works and has created a new spectacular style of tiger painting featuring Chinese favor. The essence of Yao’s tigers is about courage and power, the characteristics of Chinese nation. During an interview, Yao shared his concern about endangered spices: “Although I am not familiar with other spices, I know a lot about tigers, Asian tigers in particular,” he said. “In the early days of last century, due to the surging of population on Bali Island, the habitat of tigers were converted to fields. What’s worse, they were slaughtered by man-made factors and sold to Europe. During the World War II, not a single tiger could be found on the island because the last one had been killed on Sep. 27, 1937. The massacre of Caspian tigers were not banned until the 1960s to 1970s and they went to extinct in the 1980s. The tigers in Java died out in the 1980s. South China Tigers are listed as one of the endangered species and now can only be seen in zoos.” “When I am painting, I hope to reinforce the images if tigers in people’s mind, which can serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting animals,” he added. |
