The emergence of new styles and forms keep artistic circles in constant reform both at home and abroad, paving the way for the rise of modern elites such as Lou Zhenggang

1.

Of the world’s artistic forms, elegant Chinese calligraphy is unparalleled. Its origins lie close to paintings, requiring only an artists inspiration once ink and brush evolved, and the invention of the ancient Chinese ink brush proved it to be a key element in the development of Chinese art. The unique individuality and dynamic nature of brush lines allow artists to express their passion and make full use of their talents, making its art an indispensable piece of Chinese culture.

Lou Zhenggang began to practice calligraphy and paintings at the age of three. By age 13, she gained notoriety and began holding personal exhibitions both in china and abroad within two years. She visited japan, Europe and America, where she developed techniques from the study of western art in comparison to traditional Chinese art forms .Lou devotes herself to seeking a blend of the essence of traditional Chinese and modern western art as modern art continuously evolves.

Her determination as an artist has bestowed on her with the power and courage to expand her artistic style while perpetuating the traditional. Through her groundbreaking work in calligraphy , she succeeded integrating Chinese calligraphy with her newfound western influence to express her profound understanding of fine arts and human qualities. Throughout her career, she has integrated calligraphy into paintings. While honoring her skill, she grew her calligraphic works by penning famous quotes and epigrams. Her works complement each other to form a completely original style , as seen in her “of the heart “of the series. The series is said to display lyric qualities while maintaining a free cursive style. She seamlessly broke from traditional calligraphy to employing modern image and traditional splas-ink, and created new standard for black and while calligraphy . She pioneered the ideal combination of calligraphy and paintings. In her works , the static is set into motion and the figurative becomes abstract in a unification of ideologies to reflect her emotions . Her efforts have won praise from the art circles both at home and abroad.

2.

Its no secret that color is the most active and emotional element of fine arts. However ,traditional Chinse painting has been dominated by the use of the same 5 tone color scale for the past 1000 years ,Since Mr Lou’s combination of the traditional with the modern ,more and more Chinese painters are finding inspiration in untraditional ways and even featuring splashes of bold colors.

For years, Lou researched and absorbed coloring theory and techniques from all styles native to all continents around the world and assimilated them into her bold choices into a blend of calligraphy and painting.

During the course of her exploration, she focused on using the western oil painting style of color as a primary focus . She conducted researched extensively to understand and employ colors in various western art techniques and genres to partnership with the laws of coloring in Chinese painting. Ultimately , she broke the pattern of traditional Chinese painting dominated by solid color and infused splashes of rebrand color . In contrast, she has balanced the use of color with rules of traditional Chinese painting. She enhances the power of composition and visual impact with color changes along with intensification of texture , light sensation, space, and tonal contrast. She also broadened her selection of color by tweaking the raw materials used in watercolor, gowash, and oil painting ,even employing alternative chemical dyes like propylene to enrich her painting. In Her Life and Love series features her style unrestrained use of colors and sharp contrast of tone, filling the frame with vigor , vitality , and brightness. Experts agreed this was her breakthrough in coloring that as accelerated her step forward in her artistic creation.

3.

For next two decades , Lou has continued her artistic exploration and creation , merging further art of the East and of the West into an era of renaissance and rejuvenation of Oriental fine arts. In her eyes , every modern Chinese painter is part of a metamorphosis quest to seize the opportunity to inherit , absorb , reconstruct, and recreate Chinese painting.

To this end , Lou has spend the last few years concentrating on painstaking efforts to make Sun Moon & Sprit, while broadening her mind, vision, and spirit to find the greatest flexibility and capability. She devoted great endeavors to evolving while maintaining her respect for the origins of traditional Chinese painting and culture ,laying a solid cultural cornerstone to position herself properly for artistic creation. After years of practice, she discovered an intersection between Chinese and western fine arts. And established a brand -new aesthetic that values the crossing of cultures and painting schools. She has made notable achievements after extraordinary persistence and painstaking efforts to break visual schematics in the creation of form, structure, and composition.

Her notable techniques include expressive line of Oriental painting with western compositions , giving new prominence to cubes, fine lines, and dotting , while restructuring the whole picture and developing a well composed body of work that is to evoke emotional responses in audience.

Secondary, she applied western techniques to manage and treat her composition to a base in traditional Chinese ink and wash. In recent years, she made rectangles and complemented them with massive splashes of ink, dots, lines and balance between brightness and darkness, coldness and warmth for the greatest impact.

As the over the past few years , she has shifted focus from the outer from of subjects to internal concepts. She endeavors to express her true feelings with touches of joy and impressionism, keeping a balance realism and abstract for a harmonious , unified beauty of both form and soul. Lou is constantly experimenting and finding a wide range of results using various Media and tools from Xuan paper to various materials capable of adding vigor and vitality to her works, she also employs several tools and brushes to make her works mote expressive. She received practice for breaking the boundaries of different forms of art and utilizing elements from diversified realms of art into for her own work. In 2015, Lou made her first attempt to collaborate with musicians , designers, architects, entrepreneurs ,and businessmen in Japan to create a huge dynamic , successful work.

Fourthly she made a complete change in color use by bringing back ink-and -wash , but with brand new ideas.

Her natural series Harmony & Integration, Sun & Moon, Right & Wrong, and Sun,Moon&Spirit, ideally showcase her latest results in research and innovation. These works mark the first step towards combining a nation with the world, the traditional with the modern and the present with the future . Her works have already sparked dramatic change in art from the Orient to the West and finally back to East again , blazing a new trial for her art.

4.

After knowing Ms Lou for many years, I am most impressed with her solid character and pure artist’s bearing. She has persisted and only tightened her grasp on the art. While integrating many forms over the years, she melded art with her own life. For art’s sake, she explored extensively and devoted everything to the art. She completely immersed herself in her work whenever passion and inspirations strunk She has solid personal integrity , a pleasant personality , and strong moral values. She demonstrates her devotion to her work through simple living and to her artistic creation. She is a true artist in that she is dedicated to the craft instead of praise and accolades from others . Ancient Chinese thinkers asserted,” the style of one’s penmanship is just as the style of the man.” For Ms Lou , it was her qualities , personality ,and statures that set her apart from other artists and helped her achieve remarkable results in her calligraphy and painting.

Also Ms Lou attains her artistic purity because she refused to forget the historic mission of Chinese artists to revive and advance the brilliance of Chinese painting. She has devoted over fourty years to the arts without complains or regrets. She has been driven by her sense of mission, which has opened her eyes to a boundless , warm world of artistic expression. Years of artistic practice have bestowed her with a fair, wise, and clear vision of Chinese and foreign arts and molded her into an artist with broad, great love. Lou loves art as she loves her life, her friends, her county, and the world. She is brave and determined to embrace what she loves.

At this point, a poem by a master painter occurs to me, which would be an ideal gift to Ms Lou Zhenggang

The rise of apexes leads to broader vision
Study in school creates innovation
In the visual art of China and abroad
A pioneer never ceases to advance

I’m honored to write this forward.

12.2009