Liping Zheng is an exceptionally gifted artist specializing in Chinese flower-bird painting. His distinct “sense-writing, flower-bird painting” is simply vibrant. His painting—characterized with the elegant and graceful structure of ink, color, and the use of brush in the Chinese calligraphic method—exhibits an unparalleled accomplishment. What profoundly astonishes me is that his works are simultaneously teeming with both traditional literati character and modern humanistic spirit. While appraising his works or observing as he paints, I am overcome with conflicting emotions: from excited and approving at one moment to elated, or confused in another. I strongly believe that, under no circumstances will any art lover not be touched and greatly impressed by his creations. Painters and art critics tend to evaluate works of art from different perspectives. But no matter how divergent their opinion may be, they will definitely reach the consensus that Liping Zheng is a talented and outstanding artist of contemporary Chinese flower-bird painting.
 
When the Chinese Painting Committee of the China Artist Association participated in art exhibitions and art auctions in Shenzhen in the early 1990’s, Mr. Yao Youduo and I paid Liping a visit in his house. At that time, we only knew he was a government official who loved art and painted. In 2000, when he studied at the Party School of the Communist Party Central Committee, he organized a painting party, or “brush party” as it is called in China, and invited many accomplished painters in Beijing to demonstrate Chinese painting to his classmates (I heard that many of them are now in very important positions). When he was the mayor of Yunfu in Guangdong, I visited him again and had the pleasure to discuss art with him, appreciating his paintings in his house for almost the whole night. I was surprised to learn that he was very passionate about painting and allocated so much time in it. In this respect, he is much like his forefather Zheng Banqiao, the chief of the Wei County of five hundred years ago. Zheng Banqiao is famous for his achievement in painting, calligraphy, and poetry despite being busy handling his boring routine every day as chief of the county. When talking about people’s livelihood, I noticed his great enthusiasm and strong commitment to his constituents. Notwithstanding, to be heavily involved in the arts is to be a misfit among his colleagues in today’s political culture. The fact is Liping is a PhD in economics with many other degrees from Harvard and other famous universities. He has many influential publications and articles in economics and management. He is accomplished in the literature and history of both the East and the West. When I learned about his transfer to Asian Development Bank, I did not necessarily suppose that this meant “loss” though I know little about politics. What happened to him after moving to the international organization proved that I was correct:  he achieved significant progress in his art creation with a more relaxed environment, better atmosphere, greater confidence, and more time and energy.  This is evident in the titles of his new paintings, “Plant is of the soul, painting with a relaxed brush is a great pleasure” and “In the past, immigrating to Southeast Asia is for surviving from famines; today, my transfer to Luzon is for chasing sunshine”…etc. From these, we can see his love for Mother Nature and the folk culture of Southeast Asia as well as his fervent passion for the creation of art.
 
As we know, Chinese painting is an independent art based on the rich soil of oriental culture. It is a special expression of “sense-writing” with its unique medium and skill in the use of ink and brush. The three categories of Chinese painting—landscape painting, figure painting and flower-bird painting—have their own characteristics. Flower-bird painting, in particular, is not only vibrant, but also reflects the spirit of “merging object with subject“, “melting human being into heaven”.  Since the twelfth century, when literati painting began to flourish, painters have been following the tradition as a form of poetry in which the artist expresses himself. It ascribes flowers and birds with human traits. For example, objects like pine tree, plum blossom, bamboo, and chrysanthemum always have the attributes of valor, of not afraid of cold and snow, of nobility, and tenacity, which is representative of a “real gentleman” in the traditional Confucian culture. Under this tradition, painters are actually conveying their own moral character into their flower-bird painting. Generations after generations, combining with its conventional teaching style, the creation and appreciation of Chinese flower-bird painting is formatted, which always label every object with the traditional interpretation. In the last decades, under the influence of western artistic trends, Chinese landscape and figure painting have achieved significant progress, while the flower-bird painting has been relatively behind. Compared to the other two, sense-writing flower-bird painting looks “pure”, or “real Chinese”. “Big-sense-writing flower-bird painting,” for example, is still under the influence of Wu Changsuo, Qi Baishi and Pan Tianshou and “small-sense-writing” under Ren Bonian, Chen Banding, Wang Xuetao and other Shanghai School progenitors. For traditional culture and art to persist, pure blood is necessary. However, remaining pure does not necessarily mean dismissing progress. Continuation, development, and breakthrough of art have, and will always happen in the pace of the development of society, culture, and the evolution of aesthetic taste. The advancement of art always needs individual creativity with great imagination and extraordinary passion. This has been proven in Western art history from Renaissance to the late Impressionism and the Chinese art history since the Tang and Song Dynasty. It’s the great masters who always lead the era and pave the way for their successors. Their creations represent progress and breakthrough (pardon me for saying that it’s funny seeing so many self-appointed fake masters nowadays).
 
The hot topic of Chinese painting nowadays is how to get nutrition from predecessors and then explore new areas of creation based on traditional frameworks. Liping Zheng got into the realm of Chinese painting from studying Zhu Da, Xu Wei, Wu Changsuo, Huang Binhong and Pan Tianshou, etc. The traces of his progenitors are evident in his early works. In the mid-1990’s, Lin Yong, who highly appreciated Liping’s artistic achievement, mentioned that “…though not yet clear of the influences from those historic masters,” in his article (Foreword of LipingZheng Collected Paintings, Ling Nan Fine Art Publishing House, 1995). Later on, with Liping’s unique vision of beauty; the mastery of both western and oriental culture; his proper absorption of the nourishment from predecessors; and his tireless creative exploration, the “influences from those historic masters” have disappeared completely in his works of the last ten years. We have the consensus that he is talented and bold enough to avoid simply following the steps of our predecessors. Since the dynasties, the basic technique of flower-bird painting, including subjects and methodology, has been under the shadow of those historic masters, with differences among schools. There is a saying, “Studying flower-bird painting is easy at the beginning, but difficult afterwards”. “Easy at the beginning” means that there is a complete set of methodology to follow, which is not difficult to master in order to get into the domain. However, to be a good flower-bird painter, one has to have outstanding expertise on the cultural background, a sharp vision of beauty, and a complete mastery of ink and brush. Something even more critical is one’s imagination and creativity. This is why it is “difficult afterwards.” At first glance, nowadays, there is no clear track of which school Liping follows in painting as well as in the methodology he applies. However, when you study his paintings closely, behind his careless-looking, flying, and graceful strokes, you will definitely find that he has an amazing command of traditional methodology of ink and brush, the overall arrangement, the density distribution, the combination and contrast of colors, and the artistic conception. When he paints, he does not have a fixed procedure in his creation. But he moves his brush swiftly with great determination and strength to make strokes extremely vivid and always vigorous. Because each of his strokes is based on the needs of the painting and does not follow the methodology doctrine, his work is always unpredictable and unconventional. Liping succeeded in absorbing nutrition from tradition then got rid of the doctrine of the traditional methodology. He has roamed from the “realm of necessity” into the “kingdom of freedom.” That is to say, his success in studying the predecessors provided him with an overwhelming mastery of the brush and ink. Combining his great vision of beauty and multi-cultural background, he has succeeded in his art exploration. Liping’s success is properly illustrated by Shi Tao’s famous saying, “A methodology yet unprecedented is the finest.” This also explains why his works are so graceful and refined, which is always a big surprise to people in the circle.
 
We always remark that it would make no sense to study art for those with not enough talent. Liping Zheng is from Jieyang of the Chaozhou-shantou area, the eastern coastal area of Guangdong province. This area is particularly rich in art and culture. Since Ming and Qing dynasties, art creation and collection have been in great fashion.  In the early 20^th century, many Chaozhounese artists taught and learned in Shanghai, where the modern fine art education of China was initiated during the time. Hence, there have been many famous artists in the country who are originally from Chaozhou-shantou area. This area has been influenced greatly by the Shanghai School. Liping is extremely gifted in art and his achievement is highly recognized by Lin Yong, Lin Fensu, Li Zhaodong and other great artists. Particularly, Jao Tsung-I, the greatest master of Chinese study scholar in the 20^th century, highly appreciates the achievement and talent of his townsman Liping. In his foreword for Liping’s painting publication in 2000, he wrote: “The fact that he is able to give up something in figuration and successfully sticks in big-sense-writing is because of his extensive background of Chinese culture. There are few nowadays who have achieved as much as Liping in Chinese painting.”
 
There are at least two criteria for an accomplished flower-bird painter. The first is the love towards the world of flower and bird, which makes it possible to communicate with this fascinating silent realm. The second is the possession of a impeccable skill. In the creation of a flower-bird painting, the use of brush and ink should have a strong power of expression. However, it is not desired that a painter is either “over skilled” or “under skilled”: the former will definitely make the strokes “too accurate” while the latter will make it, “too inaccurate”. This also matches the famous words of Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong “Sense-writing means drawing between ‘precision’ and ‘imprecision.’” Managing the right degree between “accuracy” and “inaccuracy” is the key to the success of an artist in sense-writing Chinese painting. Over-accuracy will end up with vulgarity, which is far from the sense of literati painting. Too much inaccuracy due to the untrained capacity of expression will be too “plain”, which has been criticized by Lu Xun in the early 20^th century as “conveying nothing.” This is also why we mentioned earlier that Chinese flower-bird painting is difficult. After so many years of creation, Liping has had the privilege of seeing at first hand those beautiful tropical flowers and plants when he moved to Southeast Asia.  He does not necessarily know the name of every flower and plant he paints but all the new beauties provides him with a fresh visual experience and inspires him to create.  Since then, his paintings cover more themes and objects with more sophisticated structures. The amalgamation of object and color is much more chromatic and splendid with its three-dimensional richness. In fact, for sensitive artists, new experience will certainly be of help in shifting to the new theme and upgrading one’s capacity of expression. Another example is the late artist Wang Jinyuan, who came from northern China, graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and assigned to the southwestern province of Yunan. Inspired by tropical plants, he not only broadened his theme, but also made a breakthrough in capturing a more fresh, rich, and magnificent style. Like other highly accomplished painters in history who did not make their living through painting, Liping has greatly devoted all his talents and energy with an extremely high standard to pursuing excellence in Chinese painting. In particular, he explored the philosophy of the art and the technique of expression with brush, ink, color and other elements, despite the fact that he only paints for leisure. In exploring his sense-writing art, Liping has made a significant and highly unexpected achievement.
 
Liping has created many exquisite works. I would like to comment on several paintings here. Among his works, there is one category which focuses on a piece of scene consisting of several flowers and plants. This kind of work is always big-size and featured with the vibrancy, opulence, and richness of three-dimension. The skill applied here is an elegant and graceful combination with a clear themed object. The color and ink are always bright, strong, and overflowing with distinctive tropical vitality. This is a delightful and sharp contrast to the classical style. The Blossoming to the Sky (2011) and the Interlude of Memory (2010) are very majestic while the Romantic Scenery in Luzon (2013) is soulful, casual, relaxed, and even more refreshing. The Enjoying Every Wonderful Moment (2012) belongs to the category of “red flower with ink leaf.” The expression of ink and brush is fantastic with both a sense of weight and dexterity. The casual dark ink with dry strokes demonstrates the proper accuracy in the use of ink and brush. The Dancing Beauties (2012) is very dexterous, with casual strokes. The flower, the leaves, and the ivy dance together elegantly. It is bright but far from vulgar and conventional. The other attraction is the Returning Spring (2012). The movement of his stroke is extremely vigorous and spirited with “vertical brush”, which is reflected in the sense of weight of the brush and ink penetrating the painting paper. When I appraised his works, I felt the vigorous spurt of the artist’s passion with the ink from the depth of his heart. The move of his brush is as fervent and powerful as thundering. The Cherry Blossom-Romantic March (2012) and the Above the Entrance (2012) are among those which are relaxed and confident. The colors are applied in a tasteful and placid manner. This is a special way to express the artist’s emotion.  His works of the last ten years enjoy a great diversity of new ways of expression, which generate different art trajectories.  This demonstrates his style of being able to reconcile his expression in different circumstances with his brush. His style is without its predecessor and proves to be an essential path for the creation and exploration of art. I have always been against the trend mistakenly considering a personal style of an artist as a fixed technique and formatted expression, which has been in fashion for many decades. It’s in this point that Liping is totally different from that vulgar fashion, which makes his art full of zest and overflow with the spirit of creation.
 
I also noticed the wonderful work April Shower (2013) in which the light yellow flower and the fresh green leaves accommodate each other. The method of using water and ink is perfect, and color, ink, and water merge and complement each other seamlessly. The stroke of brush is lyrical with a proper sense of weight. Therefore, the painting is stimulating and gentle with the opulence of three-dimension. Liping described the process of his creation to me: “The moment I was about to complete this piece, I felt it lacked of some elements. I applied some dots of ink, and still felt it was not enough. I made the dots bigger and heavier, which finally led to a painting like this.” This is a really interesting creation. It’s very casual and relaxed. It does not follow any existing style. Nevertheless, it is a romantic song with a magic ink and brush rhythm. His works are permeated with the charm of the modern sense of beauty. In fact, the modern sense of beauty exists almost everywhere in his works.  This is his breakthrough in the art of flower-bird painting. Therefore, we are sure that classic Chinese flower-bird painting will progress with time endlessly with the creation and exploration of artists like Liping.
 
(The author is one of the most famous art critics in China, the deputy chairman and secretary general of the Chinese Painting Institute; the secretary general of the Chinese Painting Committee of the China Artist Association)