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A dream fulfilled with a painting brush
By Liu Jing and Wang Jie |
June 28, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IF you take a walk along Anting Old Street at nightfall, you will see a group of people clustered in a small area opposite the Yong'an Pagoda. And peering inside the group, you will find a folk artist at the center painting a portrait for a tourist.
The artist is Li Aijun. Now 30, he has been sketching portraits for tourists here for more than a month. He is working in a studio walled with planks. Covering the walls are the portraits of Jackie Chan, Jay Chou, Zhao Benshan and entertainment celebrities.
True to life, these portraits are like posters. Inside the studio, Li Aijun is wielding his paint brush before a firmly fixed easel. In less than half an hour, he finished a portrait, excited when he applied the last touch.
"Does it look like me?" asks the tourist anxiously. "Wow, so true to life - one for me too, please," said the onlookers standing around.
Li began painting in 2000 when he was 20. He left his home in Henan Province and went to Beijing alone to learn painting while working. Later, he fell in love with a girl. Every now and then, he would automatically sketch her face on a piece of paper.
Whenever he painted, he would try to accurately catch the facial features and eyes of the subject, and reproduce them vividly.
Later he moved from Beijing to Shanghai. He painted near the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong and along the Bund in Puxi. He once painted as many as 300 portraits a month.
In November 2007, he set a goal for himself: to paint 10,000 portraits in five years. Half that time has passed and he has painted 5,290, as recorded in his name list.
He still remembers his first portrait. "It was for a small girl from Anhui," Li recalled with a shy grin. "I spent nearly one hour on her. Still, it did not look like her. I asked for nothing from her, as a result."
In April this year, Li Aijun came to Anting as a member of China Folk Art Performance Group. He starts work at 8am and finishes at 9pm. In just one month, he has already painted more than 200 people.
He keeps three rabbits in his studio to tease children who will not sit still long enough for their portraits. He believes the expressions captured when someone is relaxed or laughing is the most vivid and true to life.
"The most difficult to portray are not children, but babies and seniors," he added. "The former are too naive to portray, while the latter wear complicated wrinkles that call for too much work to reproduce."
The artist is Li Aijun. Now 30, he has been sketching portraits for tourists here for more than a month. He is working in a studio walled with planks. Covering the walls are the portraits of Jackie Chan, Jay Chou, Zhao Benshan and entertainment celebrities.
True to life, these portraits are like posters. Inside the studio, Li Aijun is wielding his paint brush before a firmly fixed easel. In less than half an hour, he finished a portrait, excited when he applied the last touch.
"Does it look like me?" asks the tourist anxiously. "Wow, so true to life - one for me too, please," said the onlookers standing around.
Li began painting in 2000 when he was 20. He left his home in Henan Province and went to Beijing alone to learn painting while working. Later, he fell in love with a girl. Every now and then, he would automatically sketch her face on a piece of paper.
Whenever he painted, he would try to accurately catch the facial features and eyes of the subject, and reproduce them vividly.
Later he moved from Beijing to Shanghai. He painted near the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong and along the Bund in Puxi. He once painted as many as 300 portraits a month.
In November 2007, he set a goal for himself: to paint 10,000 portraits in five years. Half that time has passed and he has painted 5,290, as recorded in his name list.
He still remembers his first portrait. "It was for a small girl from Anhui," Li recalled with a shy grin. "I spent nearly one hour on her. Still, it did not look like her. I asked for nothing from her, as a result."
In April this year, Li Aijun came to Anting as a member of China Folk Art Performance Group. He starts work at 8am and finishes at 9pm. In just one month, he has already painted more than 200 people.
He keeps three rabbits in his studio to tease children who will not sit still long enough for their portraits. He believes the expressions captured when someone is relaxed or laughing is the most vivid and true to life.
"The most difficult to portray are not children, but babies and seniors," he added. "The former are too naive to portray, while the latter wear complicated wrinkles that call for too much work to reproduce."
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