Lily: Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood?

Du: I grew up in a very remote village in Gansu province in Northwest China. It was not very populated because of its harsh weather and inaccessibility. I was the oldest of three children. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. When I was 11 years old, I went to a middle school that was 6 kilometers away. I boarded at school and went home once a week. I have learned to be independent since then.

Lily: What were your interests in school?

Du: I loved music. I learned how to play violin and took vocal lessons. I thought I was going to become a musician of some sort. I also loved to dance and act on stage. I was not really into art until my junior year in high school. I was fascinated when my art teacher did a portrait of me one day. I asked him to teach me to paint. That was the beginning of my interest in art.

Lily: Very interesting. All this time that I have known you, I never knew you were also a singer and dancer. I would have dragged you to a karaoke if I had known this when I was in Shanghai… Do you find any commonalities between visual art and music?

Du: Much indeed. It doesn’t matter what is the art form, the essence of it stays the same. My paintings are much like a symphony. In symphony, the sound, rhythm and melody come together and become one, harmonically. It is the same in my painting. The colors, the light and shade and the composition come together, harmonically.

Lily: That is why when people look at your paintings, they feel a sense of peace and tranquility. It is vibrant but peaceful at the same time. Nothing is out of order or chaotic in your painting. It is soothing to the eyes as well as to the soul. That must be it: harmony. Peace and harmony are things that we can’t fake. We can only express them when we feel them.

Du: I agree.

Lily: I love the energy in your paintings. It depicts the exuberance of life. It is something I do not always see in traditional Chinese paintings. Traditional Chinese paintings often emphasize techniques and pure aesthetics forms, but lack life and energy. But on the other hand, even your more contemporary pieces carry a certain mystique. It is like a fresh young girl in a vintage dress. The new and the antiquity, the young and the old form such contrast but also such harmony. It gives the old form new life and youth depth and mystique. How did you achieve that?

Du: When I was first learning how to paint, I copied a few of the masterpieces from the Tang and Song dynasties. They turned out so well, even my professors were amazed.


Lady Guoguo Spring Ouoting
(imitation of work from the Tang Dynasty)

Lily: When you copy a piece by another artist, especially a master from hundreds of years ago, how is it different from painting on your own? You told me you only paint from live objects. You do not paint from a picture or from memories. How did you deal with this issue when painting something you saw from another painting?

Du: I studied the paintings first. I read the painting. I tried to envision and feel what the artist saw before he put down his first brush stroke. Then I tried to understand how the artist expressed what he saw and felt. I tried to be the artist, going back in time. Then I painted, not from looking at the painting but from seeing and feeling what the artist saw and felt and wanted to express. I also tried to feel and understand what the painting has been through. Those paintings are from hundreds and sometimes thousands of years ago. It ages like a living thing. It develops a soul and an aura. Something that only comes with age.

Lily: Much like a great bottle of wine. The age creates an absence of bluntness, greenness, rawness and vulgarity. Therefore it is more worth savoring. You see the same thing in beautiful old people.

Du: That is right.

Lily: Why do you choose to paint plants and flowers instead of the traditional birds and flowers, mountains and rivers and people?

Du: It is because of my observation of life, the forms of life and my understanding and feelings about it. When we paint a person, scenery, or the traditional flower and bird, we paint a piece of reality. This person, scenery, or flower and bird exists at the axis of a certain time and place. Therefore it is limiting. It leaves little room for imagination. I want to capture the essence of nature. I want to be able to extract the essence of life via elevated vision and put it anywhere I see suitable. Then it becomes universal and eternal. It transcends all boundaries of time and space.

Lily: You told me once that you start every painting by going out in the real world and paint from a real object. But when you showed me the photos that you took, they looked nothing like your finished paintings. How do you see the real world and transcend the most ordinary thing into a vision of magnificence and grandeur?

Du: I guess I see things that some people do not see. When I am in the woods or a garden, I have dialogues with nature. I read the plants and flowers; they speak to me in their own languages - I interpret them with my own thoughts and feelings. I saw a plant on the side of the highway one time, it was so ordinary but extraordinary at the same time. It germinated, grew and died with no outside intentions. Nobody cares whether it lived or died. But nonetheless it strives to grab every ray of sunshine and every drop of rain and thrives, full of life, strengthened by the storm, proud of its existence. I can tell by its posture. Plants have postures and auras. That is how I read them. They inspire me.

Affection	Delicious

Lily: There is such beauty and wonder in things like that. Like the wild flowers. They are not planted, cared for or even noticed. But they share the sun, the rain and all that nature has to offer and thrive the same as other well-deserving things. They do not expect to be admired, but once in a while, they will be discovered by some strolling child or a couple. They then become a delight and a sight to behold. So often we complain and make excuses for our failures and lack of achievements – lack of opportunity, bad timing, and not enough support… The opportunities are always there for us as well as for others. Just like the sunshine and rain in nature. It is totally up to us to decide what to do with it, like the wild flowers.

Du: True. And I see it as my responsibility as an artist to point out things that people are oblivious to.

Spring Bouquet

Red Peony 2

Lily: It is the difference between active appreciation and passive observation. You inject your own interpretations and give it new meaning. You mentioned how your music training affected the way you paint, how about your training as a dancer?

Du: I pay much attention to form, state and aura of things. If you are ever in a garden or woods, it is like the symphony and the ballet. The trees and plant move together and against each other. Each leaf moves and against each other. Nature is the chorographer. But what amazes me most was the power and force within each leaf and petal. It is the power of life.

Lily: You seem to be very in tune with nature and yourself. How did you achieve such a state of awareness?

Du: Starting in 1997, I practiced qigong for seven years. Most people practice qigong for health reasons. For me, it was philosophical. I was looking for the truth of life through the practice of qigong. I was seeking answers to basic questions like: who am I? What are we here for? What is the latent energy that we possess but do not know how to tap into? It elevated me to a higher platform from which I view the world. My views became somewhat detached but more objective.

Lily: I can relate to that from my practice of yoga. We have five senses but seldom utilize them fully. We are often oblivious not only to our surroundings but also to our own senses, therefore ourselves. We are too distracted by what is going on around us and our own preoccupied mind. It is like we are constantly in motion but not going anywhere. That is when we need a moment of stillness. When I meditate, I truly open up my senses and focus on my body and how I feel in a more concentrated way. I truly feel. All the clutters seem to fade away – I gain a better and clearer vision, of myself and as a result of it, everything around me as well.

Du: I know what you are talking about. When I practiced qigong, before I sat down to meditate, my body was like a swirling barrelful of muddy water. But the moment I sat down to meditate and look inside, all my pores opened up. Every pore seemed to take in more air and energy. The muddy water stopped swirling and the mud started to settle. I then saw clear water and still water. I saw everything I needed to see.

When that happened, it felt like that was all I needed to sustain myself. I fasted and drank water occasionally for days. I felt so energized! It is like after I opened up my pores, all I needed to sustain myself was to breathe! Not just through my mouth and nose, but through my whole body. I was in a state of transparency, clarity, peace and acceptance.

Lily: It is truly amazing, isn’t it? I am not often there, but when I was, it felt like Nirvana. Too bad we (I) can’t achieve a constant state of that. That is the only hope for world peace. We have too many earthly desires to be there all the time I guess. But remember one thing, though: in confusion, sit down and breathe.

I had a discussion with a friend who is a medical student and also a philosophy major about body and mind. We talked about how our physical desires hinder our pursuit of spirituality. As human beings one of the most fundamental questions we constantly seek answers for is the nature of the relationship between body and mind. What is your take on this from an eastern philosophical standpoint?

Du: The most important concept in Chinese philosophy is Ying and Yang. It can be translated into female and male; moon and sun, soft and hard. Or any opposing sides of two forces. One can’t exist without the other. My interpretation on this is that our body is Yang and our spirit is Ying. There is no body without mind, and no mind without body. The key is balance. Eastern philosophy, especially Taoism, acknowledges and honors every thing that is natural – our bodily desires are natural. But it discourages excesses. It is considered harmful.

Lily: Good point. I believe true happiness and peace rest somewhere in the middle of the spectrum in our quest for spirituality and earthly pleasure. Balance is key.

Du: I agree.

Lily: What do you think of the difference between Chinese paintings and Western oil paintings?

Du: Different ways of viewing and interpreting the world. The Western way of thinking is more objective, scientific and exact; the Eastern way of thinking is more subjective, philosophical and introspective. But however scientific and exact we try to be, we can never capture all of reality. We often get lost because we are too fixated on the details. Chinese painting does not strive to be exact, therefore it is liberating. The artists are freer to explore meanings beyond forms. Therefore more true to the subject as the result of it.

Lily: It is paradoxical like many others things in life. The more we seek out something, the further away we get; the moment we stop seeking and just be, we achieve the state of peace and tranquility, our object appears on its own. It is Tao in a nutshell. Of course between reality and our reality, there is always the wall of perception and interpretation.

Du: I agree.

Spring and Fall

Lily: Can you talk a little bit about your natural mineral paintings? What is the difference between natural mineral paintings and traditional Chinese paintings and watercolors?

Du: A different tool. So the significant difference is in style vs. meaning. The natural minerals have vibrant yet subtle colors because they come from nature. They do not have the ostentatious and exaggerated effect of some man-made paint. And they never fade. Those qualities dictate the tone and mood of a natural mineral painting. It is easily detected to a savvy eye. It is like the distinction between a real sapphire and lab-created piece.

Lily: What do you think is the most important quality of a great artist?

Du: He or she has to desire to create something that is unique and venture into new territory. They should portray something other than what meets the eye. He or she also has to keep innovating and keep breaking through his own mold.

Lily: That makes a lot of sense as we grow as a person. If what we think, feel and love changes, why not our paintings? An artist who capitalizes too much on his own glories and unable to have new breakthroughs is like an old woman who still tries to dress the same way as when she was in her twenties. It will not fit and inevitably creates a feeling of contrivance and artificiality, therefore not pleasing to the senses.

Du: That is a good analogy. I like how you compare things. I do as well. When I am faced with something that is puzzling, instead of fixating on it, I look elsewhere for answers. I almost always can. There is an underlying truth to most every thing and situation, and common sense never fails.

Lily: What are your aspirations– other than fame and fortune, which you already have?

Du: My deepest desire is to express and translate what I see and feel about nature and life into a painting language. So viewers of my paintings can read them and understand. I want to inspire people to see what I see or at least pique their interest to look deeper. I want to use my painting as a stage to show people the beauty of nature, power of truth and the grandeur of the human mind and spirit.

This is a very interesting interview. I am glad you took an angle different from most of my interviewers.

Lily: Thank you. I enjoyed our discussion. A painting is never just a painting. It should not be if it is anything worthwhile. It should reflect who the artist is and not only what he sees, but also what he thinks, feels and believes.

Du: I agree.

(end of interview)

Mandarin Fine Art Gallery is the worldwide representative for Mr. Du outside of China. Please check out his paintings at: http://www.mandarinfineart.com/pingranggd.htm.

We are planning to do a show for him in April 2007.

Lily Pietryka