Modern artist captures lives of nation's Muslims

Not fully satisfied with his life at the TV station, Luo kept on painting over the years in spare time.

"Only when painting in my studio did I secure a sense of fulfillment," Luo says.

However, after attending several exhibitions in Ningxia, he was quickly drawn to xylographic printmaking, which was a fad among local artists in the late 1980s.

"Why not try to grasp more artistic techniques to enrich my own language?" Luo told himself.

So he put all his spare time into learning the new skill, which he found "both challenging and intriguing".

Chinese avant-garde art had its first boom from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, when Western artwork and ideas were first introduced to Chinese artist community on a massive scale in the form of catalogs, translated books and exhibitions.

After exposing himself to a wide range of genres and cutting-edge art trends, Luo realized that "it is crucial for an artist to keep cool and not to be overwhelmed or distracted in face of changing trends".

In late 1990, Luo was encouraged by veteran artists to compete in the first nationwide printmaking contest for young artists organized by Chinese Artists Association.

After he took an Outstanding Young Artist Award with a print titled A Sunlit Porch, his desire to forge his own style became even stronger.