Fine Line of Tradition

Washed in light but earthbound, Liu Guohui frames the subjects of his paintings as part of a larger historical sequence. "China is a country with thousands of years of tradition and of the numerable aspects of culture this has produced, the defining feature has been continuity," said Liu in an interview. Originally from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Liu received early accolades with an award from the Ministry of Culture in 1964 for an illustration series titled, "The Cloud Reader." At the age of 39, and no longer a newcomer to the arts, Liu entered the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1979. He later became dean of the Traditional Chinese Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. "When an ink brush is put to paper, it leaves a trace which becomes anchored in the image," said Liu. But it is the recognizably spontaneous play on the relationship between traditional and non-traditional Chinese aesthetics which stands at the core of his works.