When Xu Zhiguang approached me for an opinion on his soon-to-be published art album, it did not take me more than a moment’s thought to remark ‘this is landscape of harvests’. In his studio where he had laid out all his works, I felt that this was the fruit of a long season of careful tilling and nurturing. Over the past few years, Xu Zhiguang has been on the road – often in bitter winter – to distant out of the way locations, sketching and painting. Each trip has won him a few of the paintings for this collection. The publication of this album is a heartening event for the artist. Although his nature study paintings are of different locations, the vibrant optimistic energy and festive joy of the paintings give them a feel of a country harvest in progress.

　　Harvest scenes are actually a well-established landscape motif in art. Having picked landscape painting as his primary focus has been a choice of both great joy as well as hardship. Xu Zhiguang has spent many years painting landscapes and he is well accustomed to not only having to seek out the right scenery but finding the right composition to express the scenery. Establishing a dialogue with nature has become second nature to him.

　　People who know him well will tell you that he is a simple and guileless character. Coupled with his introverted personality, it is no surprise that he does not associate his art with contemporary fads. He is in search of something concrete and meaningful that withstands the test of time. He knows very well that the chief difficulty of landscape oil painting is not the technical challenge of drawing and painting, but the deeper narrative expressing his thoughts and feelings through the subject. Viewing Xu’s landscape paintings, one can feel his affinity and genuine love for the countryside, woods and flowers. His unorthodox brush strokes, thick with colour vividly potrays his attitude towards nature.

　　The most outstanding of Xu’s work is the Apple Tree series. He has put his heart into this subject matter. It is the result of years of research and study on his part. In the image of the apple tree, he has found his sweet intertwined destiny. He has found a kindred totem of an unyielding and aspirational spirit. The seasonal changes are the many manifestations and moods of life – from the tenacious and fierce grasp on life that is winter to the bloom of early spring, to the sumptuous fruit laden branches of autumn. To quote the artist, ‘apple trees are a rather mundane subject, yet I am eager to portray the uncommon aspects of these trees, using the visual art form to express an indelible sense of freedom and independence.’ Thematically, the apple trees have taken on a very different aspect for the artist. These apple trees have motivated him to explores far and wide in search of apple orchards and these increasingly rare wild growing apple trees. His travels have taken him to distant corners of the country including the westernmost parts of Xinjiang province.

　　Xu’s apple trees are often composed as part of a large landscape in which the trees are a linked as part of the entire landscape but stand out as the main attraction and seemingly in a world of their own. The artist portrays the apple trees with infinite graceful twists and shaping of branches, highlights and colours. Having seen so many different apple trees, I have yet to find them monotonous. Employing a realism based approach, he highlights the loftiness and ruggedness of the apple trees. The expansive vista of the entire painting is achieved through luxurious and rich scenes as well as the modeling of movement, creating an image permeating with life. Xu’s fruit laden apple trees are an integrated ecosystem of branches, leaves and fruits painted with powerful strokes and strong colours to create a rich, textured result. They are like a high spirited symphony of nature.

　　Xu Zhiguang is an artist with a special affinity for colour, an important quality that supports his painting style. He pays special attention to the colour tones. His paintings start with a clarity of tone and on this foundation he develops rich expressive colours. In his large paintings, this approach is very obvious and consistent. He never loses sight of the effect of light on colour, taking particular care of the delicate changes of contrast and shading. At the same time, he has been trying hard to incorporate the poetic expressiveness of Chinese ink-wash painting to his oil paintings. He has united the structure of the two different types of painting by combining the free expression of ink-wash painting with the deliberate modeling of oil painting. He has used this to great effect in the both the Apple Tree and the Peach Blossom series.

　　Oil painting has developed in popularity in China over the years. The holy grail for artists is to be able to use this medium to freely express their feelings. Xu Zhiguang is one of the younger generation of artists who has taken this to heart. His passion for oil painting and his fervent love for nature has been a driving force for his ongoing exploration and I wish him all the best as he strives to attain new levels in his art.

　　Fan Di’an

　　Director, National Arts Museum of china, Beijing

作者：Fan,Di’an