Weeding it out

Inevitability, Li Heng's solo show, displays his latest oil creations, with weeds as the major subject.[Photo provided to China Daily]

An artist's ongoing Beijing show reveals both his global vision and rich experience, Lin Qi reports.

Li Heng has been painting weeds for the past eight years. His obsession is reflected in his many pieces, where a vast variety of weeds appears sometimes against a dull sky or rain clouds.

But the 39-year-old artist, who now lives and works in Munich, doesn't consider himself to be a landscape painter. He revisits the subject time and again as he seeks to communicate with viewers his struggles in the art world, his perceptions of sufferings in society and the hope he holds for the future.

Born and raised in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Li started to learn Chinese calligraphy at the age of 6. The training helped him develop a calligraphic style in his paintings later and guided his work on the lines of ancient Chinese philosophy.

He attended the I. Repin State Academy of Paintings, Sculpture and Architecture in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, Germany. The studies consolidated his techniques and enabled him to paint thoughtfully.

"Fate chose Li to be a gifted painter, being overwhelmed in the world of classical painting traditions of the East and West as well as modern art," says Zheng Wen, chief curator of the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts. He is also the curator for Li's ongoing exhibition, Inevitability, at Beijing's Parkview Green Art gallery.