Artist gives new life to flowers, birds

Flowers and birds are common subjects under the brush of Chinese painters. Fuzhou-based artist Zhu Weixin is trying to inject new life into his own paintings of this genre, and his efforts were well-presented in his just-concluded solo show in Beijing.

The exhibition, which displayed 60 selected paintings of the artist, evoked the spirit and imagery of traditional Chinese brush painting, but with a contemporary twist. Here flowers and birds dominated, in a bold but delicate hand.

Fragrant Chrysanthemum, a painting hung closest to the entrance of the gallery, was reminiscent of works by the freehand master Wu Changshuo (1844-1927).