"This face can be every father in the era. Whoever sees it will think of their father." At 10:30 p.m. on May 10, a full-length documentary, Fine Arts in China, was aired on China Central Television Channel One. Among the works is an oil painting titled Father, created by Luo Zhongli, former president of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SCFAI). The stories behind the creation and the author's experiences in the Daba Mountains unfolded through the narration.
After the program, Luo Zhongli spoke, "There are so many things worth painting about the Daba Mountains that I can never paint them all even for my lifetime. The mountain is like my spiritual mother and never stops to inspire me."
Luo Zhongli and the painting Father (Photo provided to iChongqing)
Contributing to local rural tourism
In the oil painting, an old man is looking ahead, his well-tanned face marked by deep lines and beads of sweat on his forehead running down the corners of his eyes. So moving, this work has amazed all audiences.
In 1980, 32-year-old Luo Zhongli finished the painting. He was a junior student at the SCFAI and the oldest student in his class.
On January 17, 1981, Father won the first prize at the Second National Fine Arts Exhibition for Young Artists, causing a sensation throughout the country. Now, Father is housed in the National Art Museum of China and included in national textbooks. Moreover, it is hailed as "a milestone in China's contemporary history of fine arts."
Luo Zhongli was working outdoors (Photo provided to iChongqing)
In fact, the character is based on Deng Kaixuan, a villager of Shuangcheng Village, Sima Town, Pingchang County, Bazhong City. When Luo was young, he lived in Shuangcheng Village for some time to experience life and seek inspiration, and the house he lived in was Deng Kaixuan's.
Though the old man passed away many years ago, Luo's connection with Sima Town and Shuangcheng Village has continued until today. How can Shuangcheng Village utilize its advantages as the place where the famous painting Father was created to develop? A few years ago, Pingchang County and Sima Town decided to use "nostalgia" as the selling point to take better advantage of the cultural influence of Father and promote the integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism. Many parties, including Luo Zhongli, supported this decision.
At the end of last year, Pingchang County officially launched the project "A Beautiful Village in Daba Mountains · Where Father Was Created." While keeping the original appearance unchanged, a rural tourism hub centered around the "Village of Father" and integrates accommodation, art, folk customs, food, and entertainment is planned.
"As the building of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle offers great opportunities, I hope Sima Town and Shuangcheng Village can develop 'China Father's Day into a permanent IP activity." According to Luo Zhongli, people who love painting from all over the country can come here to create satisfying work for their fathers. Besides, he also hoped that people could bring their fathers here to celebrate Father's Day in a meaningful way.
Ba Mountains with Thousands of Miles
When he served as president of the SCFAI, Luo Zhongli was asked about what he wanted to do after retirement. He gave a humorous answer, "Go to the mountain. I haven't retired yet now, but what I love most is to go to the mountain."
The mountain Luo said is Daba Mountains. All the mountainous regions where Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, and Chongqing meet are called the Daba Mountains collectively. Therefore, it is also nicknamed "Ba Mountains with Thousands of Miles."
Every successful artist has their own spiritual origin, which may be a mountain, a land, a river, or a hometown, nourishing people who love art from generation to generation with their broad minds. For Luo, the Daba Mountains never ceases to inspire him in the past decades.
Daba Mountains in Chongqing (Photo provided to iChongqing)
"Many people know the Mount Tai and the Yellow Mountain. I hope my paintings can make more people know the Daba Mountains." Besides, Father also symbolizes a change in Luo's art creation. Since then, farmers have become the only character in his works. Scenes describing rural life and works under the "Daba Mountains" motif have featured prominently nearly throughout his creative career.
From the past to the present, the Daba Mountains, with fertile land and good people, have cultivated a variety of folk arts. There are New Year paintings, paper-cutting, embroidery, shadow play, wood carving, stone carving, clay sculpture, and plenty more. Created by local craftsmen, they have been passed down from generation to generation like those colorful and rustic flowers thriving in the mountains. All of them have inspired Luo to create works with pure and bright colors, striking and figurative characters, and simple and sincere language. It can be seen from the plain, eclectic, and carefree aesthetics in Luo's paintings which is right rooted in the raw, interesting, and free folk art of the Daba Mountains.
"In the past years, I have been painting the Daba Mountains and the farmers living here. There are so many things worth painting about the Daba Mountains, and I can never paint them all even for my lifetime." More than forty years have passed, and Luo Zhongli has been retired for seven years. But his affinity for people living in the Daba Mountains and his eagerness to paint things there will continue. "Only art that is rooted in people and answers the call of the times can maintain vitality. I enjoy the process very much, and rural life is a motif that is worth exploration for my whole life."
The phenomenon of the SCFAI
Over the past forty years or so of China's contemporary art development, the SCFAI has trained a galaxy of influential painters, called the "phenomenon of the SCFAI." As a representative of the first ones, Luo's focus on rural society and reality has made his works enjoy modern relevance on a broader level.
Over forty years have gone by, and today's art market has gradually flourished. When asked about how he sees art and the market, Luo shared his views and offered his advice for students as the former president of the SCFAI.
"Real art has a real market. Good art surely has a good market, but not vice versa." Noting that it is a society full of temptations, Luo encouraged students to adhere to their dreams and beliefs while working hard. In this way, they can dominate the market, and not vice versa.
Though he is not the president of the SCFAI anymore, he is willing to make further contributions to the training of young artists. "The institute invited me back as a doctoral supervisor from this autumn semester. So in the future, I will spend more time in the SCFAI and Chongqing." Luo said he felt duty-bound to train more art talents with the potential to create more classic paintings characterized by new China realism.