Art Trace

Paint rural life with hands both take sickles and brushes

        During our interview in Pingluo Town , we were aroused by courisity after hearing that a farmer painter , Wang Hongxi in group 4 in Touzha Village , Pingluo Town , won 24 internatinal and national prizes . We finally met Wang Hongxi who is a swarthy man and was working in the field with sweats on his face led by a villager . He was quite different with what I had thought.

      When we entered into his simple art room , we were amazed at this two unfinished works , including a 50 meters majestic and unconstrained picture scroll Pingluo song and pure water for the Seventh National Ethnic Groups Sports Meeting which reflected the life of ethnic people and showed the modern feeling .

      Wang Hongxi who is 44 now , was full of emotions when he talked about his painting history . Under the influence of painting arts , he loved arts since his childhood but he could not realize it as the consequence of his poor family . He became a decorator after graduating from high school in 1978 . One day , he heard the news from radio about the exhibition of painting of Shanxi farmer in National Art Gallery which changed his lifetime . After figuring out that he could also do what others had achieved , he bought tools for painting such as brushes and papers with his income and began his journey to be a farmer painter . He finally improved his skills after innumerable paintings that he had drawn at nights as he had to work in daytime . What was more , his work shovel repairment created on a construction site was selected to be exhibited in the Pingluo Arts Exhibition out of his surprizse . This seemed to be a horizon lights which opend his door toward artistic palace on his painting road . What he learnt from his hardships toward success was that farmer painters should unswerningly paint lile of rural farmers .

       In 1983 when Cultural Department and China Artists Association held Firsh Natioal Farmer Paintings Contest jointly , Wang Hongxi selected 20 his satisfied works to sigh up for it with Chicken Farmer being selected to be exhibited in National Farmer Painting Exhibition and winning souvenir prize chosen by Cultural Department and China National Artists Associaiton . Wang Hongxi who was only 24 years old was so excited standing in the hall of National Art Gallery .

       After he had returened from Beijing , Wang Hongxi entered into his creation peak period with more than 20 works such as ging to a fair , spring nap , rural eulogy and autumn songs winning prizes in various painting contests . Among them , picking calabash won the bronze in the International Female Art Exhibition in 1995 . rooster singing won the international reputation gole award in the second World Chinese Art Exhibition in 1999. On the way to school won the silver in the International Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition in 1999 .

      Wang Hongxi not only loved painting himself , he also orgnized a team of farmer painters . In Pingluo Farmer Paintings Exhibition host by the Ningxia Exhibition Center in 2001 , Zhang Fengxi , Ren Junxia , An Zihua , Wang Xuegang and more showed their talents both in or out of the town . Meanwhile , the level of farmer painting of Wang Hongxi was also elevated to a higher stage . He said : I love rural areas and paint rural areas to show the great changes that has happened in our hometown .