A Tranquil Soul

Zhang Jianqiang is a diligent and unique painter. In this current hectic social environment, he has been devoting himself to what he wishes, with a tranquil and peaceful attitude.

He lives in a farmhouse without any commercial environment in the Tongxian County, a satellite city of Beijing. In front of the rooms are fences, in the yard vegetables and fruit trees abound,and the two hens are his "pets". The smell of turpentine penetrates his room. Besides the finished and unfinished works on the walls, you can not find anything redundant there. Several vases with dry flowers bring some romanticism and warmth into the room. What he does everyday is only painting and reading. His life is as simple as his art, peaceful and tranquil, free from the clamour of the outside world.

Zhang Jianqiang, who is from the northwest region of China, has affection for the mountainous landscape there. The desert, the Yellow River, the loess plateau, the tall poplar, and remote towns are all very attractive to him. Although he loves to paint the rugged landscape with unrestrained and passionate touches, his feelings are deep and sensitive, revealing the inner world of the artist.

He has finished a series of still life recently. The subjects are merely asimple juxtaposition of vases and flowers. Some vases are upside down and some flowers are withered. The vases are quite ordinary ceramics wares and the flowers always remain the same, just like wild flowers collected from the farmland. Everything is very casual and they are just ordinary things and their beauty is also unremarkable. He treated the works in brown tone and everything is blurry,making those paintings more meaningful and attractive.

Jianqiang is a typical Chinese man, with the typical complexion and characteristic a northern Chinese man, but a promising and talented artist. He was brought up with a good education of Chinese culture. Although his technique comes from the West, he uses it well to express Chinese style and his personal taste. The vogues in society have nothing to do with him. Compared with the commercial contemporary society, his studio is dust-free and his works appear peaceful and tranquil,allowing the viewer feel easy and relaxed.

The tranquility emanating from his works is disappearing from his reality,thus Jianqiang's works seem more outstanding.

From Jiangsu Pictorial, May 2000.

dd