Gu Zhinong's oil painting | Serenity, purity, with a touch of religion and dreams

Born in the 70s

Naughty as a child

In junior high school, he was obsessed with martial arts dramas

Practicing martial arts day and night

But there was a lack of information and materials at that time

You can only learn by copying the kung fu diagrams in the book

By accident, he began the path of painting

That's it

Unconsciously and painting, I have been attached to painting for decades

From the original classical figuration

to the present day's modern art creation

The simpler the merrier."

—Gu Zhinong

Painting is born from the heart, and the simpler it is, the happier it is

When we were young, we learned to draw, and we were full of imagination and innocence, and adults would always ask us to draw more carefully and resemble. Therefore, in accordance with the requirements of parents and teachers and the rules of the exam, we carefully compose the picture one stroke at a time, pay attention to various details, how to draw light and shadow to be more real and three-dimensional, how to grasp the lines to be more vivid, and how to refine the eyes to be more charming. This is probably something that every child who learns to draw has experienced since he was a child. In the world of painting, in the public's perception and the limitations of the times, it seems that the more similar the painting, the more real it is the last word, and Gu Zhinong, who has been painting since elementary school, has also encountered the same problem.

After graduating from university, Gu Zhinong, who majored in oil painting, did not want to paint stereotypical works without his own thoughts, but such paintings were not suitable in the art market at that time, so in order to survive, he set up a painting class. He taught children to paint every day, and still insisted on creating in his spare time, and his painting "Traces" won the gold medal of the Zhejiang Art Exhibition, which inspired Gu Zhinong's persistence on the road of painting and evoked the original intention of loving painting since childhood.

He decided to return to artistic creation and make the road of painting more pure, so he closed the study class and began to create some paintings that were more acceptable to the market and understood by the common people.

Gu Zhinong's oil painting world is greeted by a quiet, pure, religious and dreamy atmosphere, from the choice of subject matter and picture composition to find a new way, and other people's paintings to form a personal oil painting appearance.

Gu Zhinong's perspective is unique, integrating real life and traditional culture in his heart, forming an open space for exploration, to find out whether people can have another state of existence and integrate with traditional culture. The second is that his passion for creation has reached the point of forgetting to sleep and eating, and he has a meticulous and meticulous attitude towards excellence, so we can see pleasing works.

For example, the works "The World of the Tang and Song Dynasties" and "The Dream of Music" skillfully organize ancient Chinese figure paintings and modern characters together, and use realistic and realistic expressions to make this fictional space real and believable.

His image seems to ask, can we go back to the past? Can we communicate with the hearts of the ancients? What are our cultural values today? His thinking and exploration are profound, and he is an imaginative and creative painter who can find a new way in the selection of subject matter and picture composition, distance himself from other people's paintings, and form a unique oil painting appearance.

Gu Zhinong's oil painting appreciation

(Source: China Artists Network)

Artist Profile

Gu Zhinong

Born in 1971 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang

In 1990, he graduated from the High School Affiliated to Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art).

In 1994, he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of China Academy of Art with a bachelor's degree

He received a master's degree from Hangzhou Normal University in 1996

He is currently an associate professor and master's tutor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Hangzhou Normal University

In 2015, he was hired as a painter of Hangzhou Oil Painting Institute

Main Exhibitions:

In 1989, "Still Life" was selected for the "First Oil Painting Exhibition"

In 1993, "Shooting" was selected for the "Zhejiang Sports Art Exhibition"

In 1994, "Tree" was selected for the "9th Zhejiang Art Exhibition"

In 1994, "Classmates" was selected for the "8th National Art Exhibition"

In 1996, "Land" was selected for the "First Man and Nature Painting Exhibition"

In 1999, "Marionette" was selected for the "10th Zhejiang Art Exhibition"

In 2004, "Traces" won the gold medal of the "11th Zhejiang Art Exhibition" and was selected for the "10th National Art Exhibition"

In 2007, "Hongyi" was selected for the "Spirit of the Times-" National Portrait Oil Painting Exhibition

In 2009, "Rehearsal" participated in the "11th National Art Exhibition"

In 2009, "Old Artist" participated in the "Bright Mountains and Rivers" Zhejiang Oil Painting Exhibition and won the Excellence Award (the highest award)

In 2012, he held a solo exhibition "Nostalgia Gu Zhi Agricultural Oil Painting Exhibition" (Shandong Museum)

In 2014, "The Long River of Years" was selected for the "12th Zhejiang Art Exhibition"

September 2018, Shandong Art Museum "Gu Zhinong Oil Painting Exhibition"

In May 2019, "Rotation - Gu Zhinong Oil Painting Exhibition", Hangzhou Ram Art Museum, etc