(Bleow is the category for Indian young artist first personal Exhibition)

Niranjan, what a genuine and interesting young man! He came to Taipei to study with me in the winter of 2009. My assistant and I picked him up at the airport and dropped him at the apartment that we rented for him. When we left, we asked if he felt he had enough bedding for the night. He said he would be fine and he also brought his own blanket. The next morning, he called and said that he couldn’t turn off the air conditioning because he couldn’t read the Chinese on the remote. I hurried there and laughed…the air conditioning was not on. Coming from India, he must have been freezing on a winter night in Taipei and thought the air conditioning was on. During the month he was in Taipei, he seized every minute to absorb everything in class and practice painting. Two days before he left Taipei, he came to my studio to visit me. He asked me what wishes I had for my life. I said I still wanted to keep climbing the mountain of fine art and see if I could touch the boots of the great masters in the past. He stooped and touched my shoes. I was blown away by his sincerity, wit and humor. I held his hands and said we could climb the mountain together.
He’s without doubt a very hardworking artist. What is unique about his paintings is that all of them are imbued with a sense of poetry. No matter it’s the back of a woman, fishermen pulling a boat, a few pine trees huddling together, grass field, cotton field in the sunset, or a red house in a gloomy, cloudy day, a helpless little boy, a little girl in the sunshine…a sense of poetry is conveyed with a touch of melancholy. Or maybe, he often filters out the surroundings and backdrop so that the viewer can concentrate on the painting and appreciate the reality of life. Or maybe, he subdues the high notes and loudness in colors and sings with a steady and gentle voice? He is adept at presenting Nature in his paintings, be it solemn, joyful or playful, all with a sense of serenity and at the same time – full of poetry.
I’m so proud of this sincere and handsome young man and my heart is full of joy whenever I think of him.

About twenty years ago, I included a few still life paintings in a solo exhibition featuring mostly landscape paintings. One of the still life paintings featured mullets – three mullets, a piece of blue printed cloth and a few red chilies. The painting was very well received due to the vivid presentation of the fish (and cultural belief that fish is a symbol of good fortune). The painting was bought by one of my father’s friends Mr. Xingzhong Gu who was the then president of Qinyi Textile Company. I painted a lot of still life paintings featuring fish the next two to three years. They were all sold out. Since then, fish, crabs and roses became my signature still life painting subjects. Fortunately, I didn’t become a painter who only painted fish and roses to make a living. There are still a lot of portraits, figurative and studio paintings that I want to paint!

I painted this painting for two reasons: To pick up a familiar subject and try some new approaches. The strokes are a bit broader, more concise and the colors are bolder.

More importantly, I too desire good fortunes for every year!

It was cold and wet before the Chinese New Year this year. It was such chilly early spring weather. What should I do during the New Year break? When I was pondering this question, I saw a piece of linen canvas that I brought from Shenzhen, China last year. It’s the same type of linen canvas with rough tooth that I used for the portrait “High School Student,” and the same size too, just the right canvas for a portrait. But who should I paint? Where can I find a model at the last minute? Well, maybe I can just paint myself. The texture of the canvas will make a great painting for an old man like myself. So I started on the afternoon of January 6, coating the canvas, painting the backdrop, and filling in the background colors and the clothes. I continued at noon the following day and didn’t finish the painting until late at night.
I’m almost seventy, what can I find about myself in the mirror? My life stories are quite dramatic. My father was a high level official in the Chiang Kai-Shek government and left with the government for Taiwan in 1949. Since then, I begged in the street and worked in the fields at the age of seven and eight; was almost denied the opportunity to attend the affiliated high school of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in spite of my straight A performance due to my family background, then I went through the Cultural Revolution, persecuted and jailed. After the Cultural Revolution, my life took a positive turn. I was assigned to be a stage designer for the theatrical group in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, where I got married and had two children. I entered the nationwide oil painting competition and won the first prize in the Guangdong province. When I was about to launch my painting career, I got the news that my father passed away in Taiwan, I went to Hong Kong in order to take care of family affairs. After my sojourn in Hong Kong, I moved to Taipei in 1989 where I settled down and live to this day. What 30 years since I moved to Hong Kong from China in 1980! During these 30 years, I consider myself a “half-artist,” half of the time I was trying to make a living, and the other half of the time painting.
I thought I would find some marks of life and sadness in the mirror, there was not much. I thought I would find myself “handsome” and “cool” in the mirror, there was none. There was no Rembrandt’s desolation in his last years nor the arrogance of Corneliu Baba. I’m just me, a Hunan native, an old man.
As I was writing, the lyrics of a Russian folk song came to mind, “…look, this poor old horse, he is my companion on my journey everywhere…”

I was invited by Chang Ge and New Generation Books to demonstrate oil painting and drawing at the International Book Fair in Taipei in February. There was very limited time for the demonstrations. I got only 45 minutes to demonstrate, explain my approach and answer questions from the audience! It was so stressful! The time was too short, especially for the oil painting demonstration. Usually when I do oil painting portrait demonstrations, I will have two painting sessions, including breaks for the model, there will be six hours in total. I need at least two hours when I do portraits on painting trips. So what do I do with 30-40 minutes!! First, you have to finish the painting. Second, the forms and colors need to be true to the model. Third, there needs to be some selling point for the demonstration to keep the viewers interested.
There are old sayings that you need to be well prepared for everything. After lengthy consideration, I decided to use the same size of canvas that I use for travel – 40 x 45 cm. Second, I toned the canvas before the demonstration. Third, I invited my student Sujuan Wu to be the model and spent 20 minutes doing a sketch on the canvas. These preparations shortened the time I needed for the demonstration.
During the demonstration, I used three to four rather big flat bristle brushes for the painting. I didn’t use any medium except for the dark colors for the hair. I started from the dark areas, layering colors with brushes based on the forms and planes. When all the forms were built the time is up.
I had never been so nervous in my demonstrations. So you can guess how relieved I felt when I was signing my name on the canvas!
(February 3, 2012 at the “Mini Salon” in Taipei International Book Expo).

In the spring of 2011, I was invited by the Shenzhen, Luo Hu District government to give a talk for the art class at the Xing Zhi High School. Afterwards, I painted a portrait with some teachers from the school at the teacher study room.
The model is a fresh graduate from the school. Her name is Fu Zhi-yi. She is a very talented student of art teacher Hu Hai-tao. The canvas was provided by a fellow artist Zhang Yao-lun, measuring 60 x 50 cm. It’s a linen canvas with very rough texture. The benefit is that it holds the paints really well.
We had natural light from the windows and florescent lights. The color temperature is on the cool side. It took three half days to complete this painting.
In February 2012, I was invited to attend the first oil painting contest in Hong Kong. I was asked to write an article for the contest’s catalog and exhibit the painting at the contest. This painting is a good illustration of my article’s key points – realism doesn’t mean copying from photos. Realist painting skills should be gained through painting from life. Realist paintings can be fun and engaging. There is a lot more to realism than people think of.

About twenty years ago, I included a few still life paintings in a solo exhibition featuring mostly landscape paintings. One of the still life paintings featured mullets – three mullets, a piece of blue printed cloth and a few red chilies. The painting was very well received due to the vivid presentation of the fish (and cultural belief that fish is a symbol of good fortune). The painting was bought by one of my father’s friends Mr. Xingzhong Gu who was the then president of Qinyi Textile Company. I painted a lot of still life paintings featuring fish the next two to three years. They were all sold out. Since then, fish, crabs and roses became my signature still life painting subjects. Fortunately, I didn’t become a painter who only painted fish and roses to make a living. There are still a lot of portraits, figurative and studio paintings that I want to paint!

I painted this painting for two reasons: To pick up a familiar subject and try some new approaches. The strokes are a bit broader, more concise and the colors are bolder.

More importantly, I too desire good fortunes for every year!

This is a small-sized painting (72mm x 53mm). The model is from Taipei. I bought the clothing and jewelries on a painting trip to Fenghuang City, Hunan in 2006. The previous owner of the outfit is a Hmong lady. She rented the outfit to tourists for photo shoots by the river. When I told her that I wanted to purchase the outfit, she was very reluctant. She told me that this outfit was handmade for her wedding when she was young. I insisted on the purchase and she was very sad to part with her outfit…
I wanted to make this painting withstand scrutiny so I was willing to spend the time to work on it. But I tried seven or eight times, changing the scarf this way and that way and changing the model’s hand position. It was very frustrating. I kept telling myself, be patient, be calm. I deliberated for a while and finally figured out the reason for the lack of harmony. I was trying to create a big Hmong style head decoration. When I let it go and accepted that fact that it was just a small printed scarf, everything else flowed and all my troubles went away.

When I finally finished painting Xuanzang, I was relieved as if I had just finished running a marathon. Afterwards, I painted High School Student, Yellow Scarf and Lady in Traditional Hmong Outfit … and then I went to Yunan China on a painting trip. What a fruitful year!
I simply took a corner of my studio as the backbround. The model was in a relaxed and natural pose. I made an effort to make sure that the model’s outfit and decoration had some bright colors to bring life to the painting. Anyway, it’s not an “academic” studio painting. Neither did I try to create a painting of idealistic beauty. Just yellow scarf, just the model herself.
The painting was first exhibited at the Taiwan – Japan Cultural Exchange Exhibition in Kaohsiung in December 2011.

_Resident in the Mountains_(Zhongdian, Yunnan)_45X38CM_2011.10

This spring, I was invited to go on a painting trip in the northeast Guizhou (Southwest China). But I had to cut the trip short due to hip inflammation. After I recovered, I decided to make another trip to Northwest Yunnan this fall. We avoid the mainland’s National Day holiday, arriving on October 13 in Zhongdian, Yunnan. We started painting on October 14. The official name of the place we’re in is Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is also known as Shangri-La (“Paradise” in western culture) in recent years due to promotion of tourism by local government. I had no idea what kind of “paradise” it was before the trip. All I knew was it has an altitude of over 3,000 meters, with insufficient oxygen, very cold in the morning and night and that we had to bring a warm coat and the medicine to prevent mountain sickness: "Rhodiola."

Also on the trip with us is a Taiwanese painter Su Juan Wu. She is passionate about plein air paintings and is an experienced outdoor painter. Those who have viewed my drawing DVD will know that she’s the subject in the charcoal drawing "Girl with Pitcher.” Other members on the trip include Chao-Long Chen from Hong Kong, Changhua Yu from Shenzhen, as well as female artist Wenting Pu and Hongyu Li from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.

Wenting Pu’s husband Yunzhong Yang works as a manager for a fertilizer company in Dali, Yunan. He is extremely busy. However, the couple drove for eight hours to pick us up at the Zhongdian airport and arranged for us to stay at the "Jilaideng HOTEL". Later, when we went to Dali, Yunzhong Yang showed us around and took very good care of us. He also gave us a ride to the Kunming airport and saw us all the way through the customs entry. I would like to give my sincere thanks to Wenting and Yunzhong here.

Shangri-La is very beautiful because it’s pristine, not overly developed. The rolling hills densely covered with evergreen pine are dotted with dazzling red and gold foliage. Solid Tibetan style houses are fixated on the ground. The trapezoid white walls exhume glowing warmth under the sun. The ground is covered with bright red ‘Euphorbia flowers’. The fields are dotted with cattle, sheep, horses …

This is where the Kham Tibetan people belong. The Kamba man is very handsome, with a high nose, piercing eyes like eagles, and a well-defined mouth. They are at once enchanting and intimidating. The Khampa woman is dressed modestly. But all of them have a brilliantly red tassel as part of their hair decoration which is visible from afar.

We painted for five or six days. One of us suffered from mountain sickness. Furthermore, my back pain came back. So we decided to cut our stay in Shangri La by three days short. When we came back to Lijiang, we felt a lot better. We didn’t even need our coats. But Lijiang is a town too commercialized so we left for Dali the next day. Dali is very different from Shangri La and Lijiang. This ancient city is full of houses with white walls and black roofs, bordered by Cangshan Range and Erhai Lake. The Bai people are very friendly. Although we spent quite a few days there, we still felt it was too short.

I haven’t done as many paintings as I wish, but I did my best. It sounds like an exhausting trip. That’s not what I meant. I really enjoy plein air painting. Plein air painting is one of the best things in life for me.

November, 2011
Taipei

_ Tibetan house at dusk_( Zhongdian,Yunnan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_Erhai Lake in Autum_(Dali, Yunan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_WuHua Tower_(Dali, Yunan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_ Tibetan woman, Qilin Dolma_(Dali, Yunan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_Pasture_(Zhongdian, Yunnan)_45X33CM_2011.10

_A creek on the plateau_(Zhongdian, Yunnan)_45X33CM_2011.10

_The Plateau_(Zhongdian, Yunnan)_45X33CM_2011.10

_Sunset in the faraway mountains_(Dali, Yunan)_45X33CM_2011.10

_By the Erha Lake_(Dali, Yunan)_45X33CM_2011.10

_Kamba women, Patia Dolma _(Zhongdian, Yunnan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_Bai man, Yang JianHeng_(Dali, Yunan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_Bai woman, Li KaiFen_(Dali, Yunan)_45X38CM_2011.10

_Yang YunZhong_(Dali, Yunan)_45X.38CM_2011.10

_Wu SuJuan and Pu WenTing

_Yu ChangHua, Yim MauKun and Chen ChaoLong at Jinsha River

_Yim MauKun, Pu WenTing and Chen ChaoLong on their way to Lijiang

_ Wu SuJuan with TiBetan elementary school studen

_Painting Kamba woman, Patia Dolma.

_Wu SuJuan painting pasture

_Doing a pencil sketch of a Bai woman at Nan Men, Dali

_Painting Kamba man, Duji Qilin on the second floor at his house

_Kamba Tibetant house in Bulun village  in Napa Hai,  Zhongkian

_Li HongYu and Duji Qilin

_Yu ChangHua and DujiQilin

My San Francisco, oil painting, 1980, Hong Kong

I received a call from Ms. Huang of "Hui’s" gallery in Hong Kong at the end of June. She asked me if I will be in Taipei because Mr. Hui wanted to come by for a visit. Mr. Hui making a trip just to visit me? What an occasion!
In early July, Hui Yiu-Lam flew to Taipei as he promised and checked in at "Hotel Eight Zone", a relatively new hotel at the intersection of Jinshan S. Rd. and Zhongxiao E. Rd. close to my studio. Hui then visited my studio, looked over the paintings and had a few meals together. Two days later, I drove him to the Taoyuan International Airport. We chatted during the drive and then we exchanged goodbyes at the airport entrance.
On the way, I asked him jokingly: "Why did you suddenly decide to come and visit me after thirty years?" Hui said that a while ago he looked up and saw my painting San Fracisco and asked himself: How come Yim Mau-kun was already creating such lively and exceptional paintings thirty years ago? That was when he decided to make a quick trip to Taipei and visit his old friend.
Thirty years ago I had just arrived in Hong Kong from China. My mother, younger brother and fellow student Li Chang-Bo 李昌柏 had arrived in Hong Kong a few months before me and we were all crammed into an old and dilapidated high-rise unit in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. I was quite literally penniless! Li had me reproduce a classical oil painting (24″ x 36″) showing an old, fat bishop flirting with a painted lady wearing a long skirt. The two were seated on a chaise lounge in an opulently appointed lounge room covered with carpet. In the background, a young nobleman poked his head through a door with a look of surprise… The painting took me a few days to finish and once it dried I went with Li to see a gallery owner. After looking over the other delivered paintings (for export), I unrolled my painting for the gallery owner to inspect. The gallery owner was Mr. Hui and at the time, he was in his twenties, fair-skinned, somewhat chubby and wore gold-rimmed spectacles. Hui asked me how long had I been in Hong Kong and when I answered two weeks, he couldn’t believe it. He said that academy painters from China all tended to "paint by the numbers" even after several years so he couldn’t believe that I managed to be so good on the details right off the bat. I told him that this was nothing unusual for me. When I was in the theater troupe, I had to paint the projector slides for the backdrop. I even had to give Chairman Mao’s eyelids depth even if the portrait was just the size of an egg! Hui smiled and paid for the painting in cash. This became the start of our business arrangement and personal friendship.
In the beginning, Hui gave me the prints of some European classical paintings and 19th Century Impressionist paintings to use as a template for making larger oil painting reproductions. Sometimes, I also made large oil painting versions of American personal or group family photos. Payment was always on a case-by-case basis. After about three months, Hui recommended me to the Simic Gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, a famous gallery town, while he was on a business trip to the U.S. Hui would be my agent as he felt my creative talents were wasted on reproductions. From then on, I delivered two original oil paintings to Hui every month. There was no size requirement though these were generally between 20″x24″ and 24″x36″.
I was also free to paint anything that caught my fancy. So what could I paint? Chairman Mao, farmers, factory workers and soldiers were obviously out of the question so I painted nudes and Jesus Christ. The nudes I painted completely from imagination with no models. The only reference I used was old copies of the Playboy magazine for the anatomical relationship of joints and muscles. I eventually created more than twenty paintings until the arrangement came to an end due to other commitments.
I felt very nostalgic when I received the photo of my old panting My San Francisco today from Hui. The painting was inspired by a book of satellite photos published in the U.S. and while the painting was proof of my vivid imagination, it also showed what a rosy-colored view of America I held at the time.
After thirty years, a friend flew all the way to visit me and told me two things that I found very heart-warming: 1. "Your colors are the best out of the countless artists I have seen, "; 2. "I can tell from your painting that you have a beautiful soul".
For the sake of our friendship from thirty years ago, for the sake of him making a special trip to visit me, and for the sake of his two words of praise, I must say this out loud: "Fei Lo Hui, thank you so much for everything!"

Taipei, July 20, 2011

(Note: "Fei Lo", or "Fatso", is a Cantonese term of affection for fat people)

Eternal Devotion, oil painting, 1980, Hong Kong