The famous Chinese contemporary oil painter Luo Zhongli became
highly acclaimed in the Chinese painting community with his
hyper realistic artwork titled Father during the 1980s of the 20th
century. In fact, Luo Zhongli's artworks provide us with a reference
of survival and a lasting model of social interaction. In this way, the
farmer's life in Daba Mountains transcends regional landscape and
becomes a reflection on ethos and value models during the process
of modernization. Instead of only being a "farmer painter," Luo
Zhongli is a contemporary artist who uses different regional cultural
resources to express an urban intellectual's realistic attitudes and
value concepts on contemporary living.
Luo Zhongli finds wonders in repetitions. Every piece of artwork
on the farmer theme is charmingly appealing. The exaggerated
body posture and facial expression undisguisedly demonstrate
the simplicity and sincerity of a farmer's life. The content of these
"story-like tension" is built on Luo Zhongli's experiences and talents
since teenage years.
During the 1990s, Luo focused on changing and developing his
personal language and artistic style. He also experimented with
artistic languages in exploration of an artistic style that contains
contemporary cultural features and oriental aesthetics at the same
time. His painting style gradually transitioned from realism to
deformation and exaggeration. With his paintbrushes, Luo created
many exaggerated, deformed paintings of Daba Mountains farmers
by freestyle lines and colors. After the 1980s, Lou's painting style
transformed from being realistic to deformed and exaggerated. He
used "simple" and "sincere" styles of expression to call on people
to respect and love this simple, warm-hearted life connotation.
In the "Man Walking Up Stairs", the image captures the feelings,
perceptions, understandings, and sentiments under a specific
lighting, atmosphere, and mood. The character in the painting is
exaggerated by bold styles of drawing. The expression gradually
transitions from realism to expressionism, and Luo used intuitive,
subjective expressions of writing to replace his realistic styles
in the early stages. The simple lines, staggering pen strokes,
and speckled, thick skin texture give the artwork an ancient and
primitive nature. The special processing and force effect also makes
the image simpler and more powerful. The mountaineer's life is
extremely primitive, vivid, and intense. This makes viewers feel
greatly displaced in time and space, in addition to producing a new
perspective on the urban life they are used to having. Luo Zhongli
uses his artwork to express his respect and love for native soil. The
thick and round styles make the character look bold, simple, and
more natural. The back of the artwork is labeled "not for sale,"
with the artist's signature beside it. This is an important piece of
work that Luo Zhongli intended to keep himself until the current
collector coincidentally purchased it from him. Hence, it is indeed
an important rare find.