50 years at a stroke of the finger - Mr. Li Keyan, the master of the memory
When I was in middle school, there was a landscape painting "Jinggangshan, the Cradle of Revolution" on the cover of the exercise book, and since then this painting has been deeply imprinted in my mind.
I often draw between classes. One day, Xu Chuanxin, a student at the same table (now the secretary general of the Li Keyan Foundation), quietly said to me, "This painting was painted by my second uncle, and now he lives in Beijing."
Since then, I have had more admiration for Mr. Li Keyan in my heart: it is amazing to be able to enter Beijing, which is the capital, where Chairman Mao lives! So I secretly decided in my heart that I must seriously learn to paint, and in the future, I can learn to paint with Li Keyan as a teacher, and I can also go to Beijing to see how good it is. That is, since I was in middle school in 1972, I have wanted to paint landscapes well. Since then, I have been copying Mr. Li Keyan's landscape paintings continuously, and every day when I come home from school, I paint them in the middle of the night.
In 1973, I began to formally learn landscape painting with Teacher Lü Jingzhi of the Sixth Middle School, which was brought by my eldest brother, because the eldest brother was also a student that Teacher Lü had taught in the Sixth Middle School. Teacher Lü Jingzhi was a student of Wang Zizhen in the late Qing Dynasty and had deep roots in traditional painting. I began to gain an initial understanding of traditional painting.
In 1977, I joined the work force, doing stage art, painting sets, and also doing performance props in the Xuzhou Repertory Theatre, until I was transferred out of the repertory theatre in 1984, and I practiced painting landscape painting after several years of work. Whenever the troupe performs in one place, I am fine during the day, so I often go to the field to sketch and sometimes visit local painters.
Xiao County is a place where the repertory theater often performs, and often visits Mr. Ouyang Nansun, who was the director of the Xiao County Museum at the time. I went to visit Li Keyan as a teacher and mr. Ouyang Nansun wrote a letter of recommendation, because they are friends in the same window of Hangzhou Art College, so I have this fate, deeply grateful.
Author: Sun Maoxiang - Contributor Tian Chuanying
Sun Maoxiang, born in Xuzhou in 1957, graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Jiangsu Normal University. In 1996, he studied landscape painting with Mr. Li Keyan. In 1996, he was hired by the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Painting as one of the first batch of special painters and specially invited participating painters. He is currently a national first-class artist (zhenggao level three), the president of Xuzhou Literary and Art Association Calligraphy and Painting Research Institute, a director of Jiangsu Provincial Artists Association, a director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts of the China Democratic League, and the vice president of the Jiangsu Guofeng Calligraphy and Painting Institute of the China Democratic League. He has successively served as the vice chairman of Xuzhou Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature, an expert in the qualification evaluation of senior professional titles in Jiangsu Province, a member of the 13th and 14th Standing Committee of Xuzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an executive vice president of Xuzhou Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, and a vice chairman of the Artists Association.
In 2007, 12 landscape painters were selected by the Jiangsu Provincial Government and the Provincial Department of Culture to participate in the "Wanli Sketching" boutique creation group in Jiangsu Province. At the invitation of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, he painted a huge landscape painting "Purple Qi Coming East" for the hall of the State Guesthouse in Jiangsu Province.
He has held exhibitions at Xuzhou Exhibition Hall, Heilongjiang Provincial Art Museum, and National Art Museum of China. Published: "Baijie Painting a Sun Maoxiang", "Everyone's Road: Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Academic Research A Sun Maoxiang" volume hardcover large painting collection and more than ten special collections.