This group exhibition brings together three scholar-artists who are not only art theorists and professors but also active creators. Their works are inspired by personal life experiences, and through relentless reading and exploration, they skillfully weave grand themes of nature, humanity, history, and culture into their artistic creations. For them, artistic techniques and experimentation are merely tools of expression, while understanding the world and oneself forms the core of their creative process. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty once said: “Only by being immersed in the world can the painter transform the world into painting.”

Professor Ding Fang’s Sacred Landscape series is a result of the collision between culture and the soul. He insists on painting landscapes that he has personally experienced, with mountains and rivers that he has physically climbed. These sacred peaks are often over 5,000 meters above sea level, and each of his works, from research to creation, is an extreme experience of walking the earth. This experience is both creation and the awakening of thought, a revival of ancient myths and the landscapes of the Sui and Tang dynasties. This process of experience and contemplation has led him to transcend the limitations of both national and modernist art. Ding Fang’s works, using a combination of mixed media and images, convey a tactile sense guided by visual perception. Ancient rock formations, snow-like textures, and the interplay of light and shadow create scenes from mountain peaks, speaking of Ding Fang’s extreme pursuit of the relationship between humanity and nature. Ding Fang says, "In art, we must pursue transcendence and beyond. The profound relationship between humans and the land makes me feel the beating and breathing of countless souls whenever I sit quietly on the earth."

Professor Weng Jianqing, both a creator and art historian, boldly breaks the constraints of artistic forms. His work emphasizes the freedom of painting as its purpose and enjoys the process of painting itself. Much of Weng Jianqing’s work is created in the intervals between lectures, academic exchanges, and research trips. He is accustomed to carrying art materials with him to record the emotional responses evoked by natural scenery. His spontaneous, simple style reflects a deep contemplation of the relationship between humans and nature. Weng Jianqing says, “Painting is the free spirit’s wandering and galloping, a constant questioning, exploring, and presenting the essence of individual life.”

Professor Li Lixin has spent many years traveling to human civilization archaeological sites worldwide, exploring and examining the commonality of world cultural thought from a contemporary perspective. He combines the traditional Chinese ink painting technique of ‘baimiao’ with Western modernist painting characteristics, creating cross-cultural and cross-thought art that transcends artistic forms. His works are both innovative and free, and through the detached and peaceful perspective of an observer, he reflects on and records the cultural changes of contemporary society. Li Lixin says, "I paint Europe in the Chinese way, and I paint China in the European way. I believe that art is not divided into East and West, but lies in the embodiment of humanistic spirit and personal cultivation."

The works of these three artists not only emphasize the technical practice of painting but also focus on the inner meaning of life and its connections to the world. As a result, the audience is able to experience the “hands-on” creative methodology of early creators, where these works combine field research, cultural exploration, academic inquiry, and personal insight. These professors have taught aesthetic education in major art academies, and today they not only have many disciples but continue to inspire contemporary artists.

Text: Ruoheng Li