MYSTERIOUS LAND,POETIC PAINTINGS LU TIANNING

Article  by  Yang Cheng

2005.3

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Mysterious hinterland of Tibet, the Potala Palace, devoted pilgrims, long white Hada (made of silk)... the “roof of the world,”Tibet, with its unique views and culture, attracts many people from home and abroad. Painter Lu Tianning is one of them. But his journey in Tibet took as long as eight years and his experience helped to shape his painting style.

In 1987, Lu Tianning left his hometown in southern China, and ventured to Tibet. Arriving in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, he came to see his future artistic life would be inseparable from this mysterious holy land. His eight years in Tibet left him with deep impression and enlightened his artistic spirit. In his paintings, he draws in his innermost feelings for Tibet, and makes it one of his main artistic themes. With a romantic approach, he paints the Tibet series with bright colours and uses bold brushstrokes. These eye-catching works of art are very peaceful and natural. They are filled with LuÕs many memories of his past journey and his own air of quietness and seriousness. Therefore, his works are always certain to attract attention.

Contrast with his passionate Tibet series, Lu Tianning’s other main theme focuses on tranquil landscapes. Different from the Nanzong landscape painters, who are skillful in using lines and depicting water, Lu Tianning’s paintings are vivid, soft, and calm. Surprisingly, he can portray his two main themes in so different ways. His water-ink landscape painting style came to be more skillful and mature after his long-stay in Beijing back from Tibet. His innermost feelings were more accurately and deeply expressed in his paintings from then on. Maybe it is a result of his memories of Jiangsu, the province where he was born and bred, that his landscape paintings boast such a feeling of beauty and tranquility.

His two main themes are different in their appearance, but when you have a detailed look at them, they have something in common Ñ the easy-going and quiet sense of Lu’s artistic spirit. Lu’s Tibet series have their origins in his love for ancient heartland of Buddhism, while the landscape paintings show his dwelling on memories. If his Tibet series can be compared to be a symphony featuring ancient spirits, his landscape series should be a quiet serenade. His unusual experience in Tibet and his deep memories of his hometown have become his major artistic themes, and they have been interpreted in his paintings one after another.