LILY:  What inspired you to paint Yi People in the Liang Mountain?

LI:  I was among the generation of youth that were sent to the countryside to be reformed according to Mao during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I lived and worked with the peasants for five years. Being a city boy, I was deeply touched by the lives of those people. Those were the people who lived at the bottom of the society. They were poor beyond imagination. Most Yi People never left the mountains, generation after generation. They lived closely off the land, just like the most primitive tribes did hundreds and thousands of years ago. Life is like what it was since life’s beginning.

LILY: I have never been to Liang Mountain, can you tell me what life is like there?

LI: Life is hard in Liang Mountain. The weather is very harsh. The winters are long, dry and cold. Their whole livelihood is dependent on the land that is barren, arid and only produces certain grains. You can’t live any closer to land and nature than those people. Their humble shelters and inadequate clothing hardly protected them from the harsh environment. A lot of them did not wear shoes even when walking in the snow simply because they couldn't afford them. They rose and retired with the sun, as there was no electricity. Candles and oils for lamps were unnecessary luxuries. Life was the same, day in and day out with very little variation and excitement, except for the rare occasions of birth, death or a wedding. But generation after generation, life went on. LILY: It reminds me of the wild flowers in the field. They germinate from a small seed randomly sowed in the soil by the wind, grow with the gift of sun and rain, bloom and bear fruit. Then they die. But life does not perish - seeds were spread in the wind for next spring. Life sustains with hardly any outside intervention or intention. Nor does it have much significance by our standards. But it never dies off – generation after generation, life passes on. There is something splendid and grand about it – because of its resilience and persistence, because it is life itself in essence.

Mother and Son

LILY: Regardless of their hard life, are Yi People a happy people?

LI: Yi people are mostly happy and content. They have their goals and dreams in life just like we do. Only they differs from ours. Their sense of accomplishment comes from harvesting a few extra ears of corn or carrots; life’s pleasure lies in the most basic forms such as eating and drinking or going to Ji (market place in a small town outside of the mountains) and buying a few things that they see as luxuries or sell what they harvested for a little more money.

But they are the most honest, kind, generous and hospitable people I have ever met. There is simply no incentive to lie or manipulate. To answer your first question, years after I went back to the city and became an art student, I revisited Liang Mountain and decided to depict what I saw in those people. I wanted the whole world to see what their lives were about. I wanted to help them.

LILY: But do you really think they are the ones that need help? We may think their lives are lacking and poor, but if they are happy, content and are in perfect harmony with nature and each other, don’t you think we should just leave them alone? When I visited Tibet and Shangri-La, I witnessed how Tibetan people lived their lives in the most remote mountains and prairies, I realized life is truly very simple and people do not need modern luxuries to be happy. They were the happiest and healthiest people I have ever met. They have the most genuine, radiant and heart-felt smiles – like the smiles you see on a face of a small child. – pure joy from an untainted soul or a heart with no shadows. So who are we to determine whether their lives should be changed?

Plus desire for excesses is like an infectious and incurable disease, once you catch it, you can never rid of it – you can never go back.

LI: That is a deeper question. I do not really have an answer to it. I am an artist not a philosopher or politician. As an artist, I just want to depict their lives and let the world know, with no judgment or opinion.

LILY: I agree. Not every question has an answer. Life still holds its mystery regardless of the fast advancing modern technologies. And hopefully it always will.

It Looks Like Raining Again

LILY: I love "The Family." Can you tell me a little bit about this painting?

LI: As I mentioned, life is very simple in Liang Mountain. There is very little to do for entertainment. One of the biggest events for Yi People is to go to “Ji” – a gathering in town where people buy and sell commodities, a market place. The painting depicted a Yi family on their way to Ji. They got up early in the morning because they had to walk a long way to get there. The mother was carrying the baby on her back and the older kids walked alongside of the mother. They were too poor to afford shoes but they walked fast with a steady pace and anticipation. The kids were excited about going to Ji - with the possibility of getting a new toy or some candies.

LILY: I have noticed the same theme in "Mother and Son."

LI: Yes. It is all about the family with Yi people. The parents take care of the youth and in turn the children take care of their elders.

Cloud in the Distance

LILY: How about "Cloud in The Distance?"

LI: Lives of Yi people in Liang Mountain are unchanging and simple. But even those people have their hopes and dreams. Those two young women stood on top the mountain and looked at the colorful clouds in the distance as the sun set. The small, disappearing clouds represent ed some elusive dreams those young women had, however fleeing and far away they may be.

 

To see the rest of Li Dongming's paintings, please go to: http://www.mandarinfineart.com/dongming.htm

or come to:

Mandarin Fine Art Gallery
1294 C South Coast Hwy.
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

from March 10 – April 30 2007.

The Artist's Reception is on March 10 from 6:00-9:00PM.

For more information, please call (949) 376-9608, email us at info@mandarinfineart.com or visit us on the web: www.mandarinfineart.com.

Lily Pietryka