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Explorations Through Birds and Landscapes

A Preface to Aiguo Yuan's Oil Painting Collection

Artists pursue paintings with distinctive ideas, thus presenting various painting styles and diversified artistic phenomena. Despite its
complexity, ideas within paintings can be summarized into two categories. One is to exploit the expressive capability of painting materials
and the innate features of painting styles,conveying the painter's sentiment and understanding of the perceived objectsin their paintings.
The other takes painting materials as a medium to convey painter's ideas and reflections derived from "meaning". The former indicatesa
painter's self-discipline competence, while the latter shows the painter's mind and knowledge in using the self-discipline competence.
Both two categories are manifested in Mr Aiguo Yuan's oil paintingsin recent years. In my opinion, his landscape series belong to the
former category, while the bird series emphasizes the latter category. In Mr Aiguo Yuan's exploration of oil paintings, he had ever faced
puzzlement, confusion, hesitation and choice over the years. The exploration sharpened his mind, and ultimately "solidified" the "fullness"
of his works.
By exploring with the two categories, Aiguo has naturally formed two different ways of painting. Aiguo has been sketching at scenic
spots, both in China and in the UK. When immersingin the scene, he illustrated his perception in a unique expression way - square-shaped
gamut construction, concise images, solid brushwork and tool marks. When returning to the studio for further processing, he combined
expression elements inspired by his exploration of artistic conception, and further improved poetic images, such as "hazy urban", "desolate
streets", "orderly staggered jungle", and "idyllic courtyards". The audience can be moved by his painting realm, and appreciate his skills
in the color subjective expression and capability in modeling forms. But the birds painting differ from the landscape paintings. Conveying
Aiguo's thoughts and ideas, the birds with various expressions, together with the background textures, are metaphors for the social living
environment of the human being, humanities and even human nature. Consequently, the audience cannot help but think over the loneliness,
alertness, roar, laziness, and more. The vivid expression may be related to "totems" that our country once worshipped in ancient times. How
surprising it is to combine birds with the meaning of modern society? Indicating the reality through birds in his paintings indeed represents Mr
Aiguo Yuan's deep thinking and exploration as an artist. In other words, as an ambitious artist, he has changed from personal catharsis to a
contemplative painter undertaking social responsibility and humanitarian mission.
All the friends who had the experience to Aiguo's studio would share the same feeling — the spacious and bright studio possesses both
the unique messiness of an art studio and the completely home - like atmosphere, bring much comfort to a painter. In fact, Aiguo's personal
life has been inseparable from painting. He places almost all his soul in art creation. The pursuit itself reflects the reality of life, which can be
proved by his paintings and life status.
Mr Aiguo Yuan worked in the business of decoration and construction for many years. Although he had never left art, he was living
a relatively material-centered life. After obtained better living conditions, he has returned to aspiritual life with pure art in the past years,
devoting himself to art, initially as a job, an enchantment, an exploration and a dream, then gradually as morality and knowledge, which has
also been a spiritual experience. Under current creative state, he will eventually see art as a way of perfecting his life, and a partner who can
redeem him from any frustrations.
Therefore, I am looking forward to more achievements of Mr Aiguo Yuan's art in the future.
I am glad to learn that Mr Aiguo Yuan's paintings have been published in a collection. Many congratulations!

December 20, 2018
Dr Qingyan Liu

Collection of Aiguo Yuan's Paintings 袁爱国作品集 009