A snapshot of the artist

Liu Linghua is one of the most famous artists in the Chinese mainland today who specializes in oil paintings. In 1984, he studied in the engraving department at Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts and he has focused his study on oil painting since 1998.

The integration of both contents and techniques from traditional Chinese painting, engraving arts and oil painting make his artistic style distinctive and which helped develop his own art style.

His works have been exhibited in the National Museum of Fine Arts, at the China Peking Opera Art Festivals and various art fairs at home and abroad, winning wide appreciation. The market prices of his oil painting works rose steadily as single pieces were priced at 5 to 30 million yuan respectively with a strong trend towards further price hikes.

At the luxury summits and exhibitions in 2006 and 2007 and the First National Cultural Industry Fair, Liu's works were the focus of media reports and attracted magnates and collectors.

In 1999, Liu held a solo exhibition in Singapore;

In 2001, 26 paintings by Liu, including "Century Rose," were selected as the only art pieces for exhibition during the APEC Shanghai Summit;

In 2002, 18 oil painting masterpieces by Liu, featuring characters from Peking Operas, were shown at the Shanghai Art Fair. Mei Baojiu, son of Mei Lanfang, who is also a prominent Peking Opera actor famous for his exquisite performance of female characters, wrote an inscription for the paintings as "Chinese Quintessence Paintings";

In 2003, Liu Linghua's solo exhibition "The World of Colors" was held in Tokyo, Japan;

In 2004, Liu Linghua Chinese Quintessence Oil Painting Exhibition was held in Paris as one of the major projects of the Chinese Culture Year in France.

(China Daily 11/28/2007 page18)