Painting a hopeful picture

Face masks, social distancing, these are tough times amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, but art student Liu Zhiwen has found a way to bring some color, literally, into our lives.

In the past four months, he has recreated more than 150 famous portraits on a wall in his hometown Daowu village, Central China's Hunan province.

From French expressionist Henri Matisse's Young Woman in a Blue Blouse and Dutch master Vincent van Gogh's post-impressionist Portrait of Armand Roulin, to Spaniard Pablo Picasso's primitivist Portrait of D. M. and Girl with a Pearl Earring by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, the wall has become a local tourism draw, attracting travelers to take photos in front of it.

"I have reproduced these famous portraits and organized them together on the wall, breaking the barriers in time and genre, which is my way of expression and my understanding of deconstructionism," says Liu, a senior student, majoring in oil painting at the Qingdao University of Science and Technology's College of Art in Shandong province.

For Liu, Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani's paintings look especially good on the concrete wall, where the portraits are characterized with long necks and noses and oval faces.

The topic, "Student turns wall into oil painting canvas within four months", has become popular, and has been viewed about 30 million times as of Tuesday.

Many internet users were amazed by the makeover of the wall, saying that "it is a joy for passers-by", and it is also "a good way to beautify streets in the countryside".

One user commented: "Who said a village cannot have some style? With creativity, anywhere can be a gallery."

On the other hand, his project has forced many to reflect on their own outbreak productivity, like another user who posted: "Shame on me. I, being a college student too, have only gained weight and tendinitis during my extended vacation, because the only company I've got is my smartphone."

Facing the sudden attention on social media, Liu remains modest. "I am just self-disciplined," Liu says. "There are tens of thousands of art students who are better than me."

With the wall's sudden fame online, Liu decided to name it "wanghong (internet star) wall", which will be "a special gift to mark his graduation" during the recent challenges.

Painting skills need daily practice, but due to the school's closure as a social distancing measure to curb the spread of the pandemic, Liu came up with this way of practicing painting after he returned home.

To fill the day, when passing the wall in January, the 22-year-old found that "the wall's rough and bumpy feel might be OK for oil painting".

Then came his first copy－The Fifer by Edouard Manet from 1866, "a salute to the French painter", according to the student.

"I have been deeply influenced by Manet's art style. Among his paintings, my favorite is The Fifer, which is brightly lit from the front with almost no shadow making it a flat painting," Liu says. "It can be seen as an expression of artistic innovation in impressionism."

Every sunny day Liu has brought paints, palette and brushes to the wall and finished three or four copies, each of which took about 40 to 50 minutes.

To make the wall easier to paint, he adds turpentine and megilp to oil paint to add more thickness and richness to its pigment. He even spent two days smoothing the wall.

Liu says he hopes that he can complete painting the entire wall before the school reopens.

A stepping-up

Although most locals do not know what impressionism or post-impressionism is, the vibrantly painted wall has seen a huge increase in visitor numbers, which has made a splash in the town.

"For me, art should not be framed and stationed far from the public. It should be everywhere in daily life, staying as a delightful scene," Liu says.

When he was a freshman in college, he joined a painting campaign organized by his school to paint distribution boards and manhole covers that helped to brighten up the streets in Qingdao, Shandong province.

"Using my brushes to contribute to urban construction by adding beautiful elements means a lot to me," Liu says, pointing out that art can also make a difference to the countryside.

Liu says he'd be happy if the wall becomes an inspiration for the local city planners. If more art lovers can exhibit their skills and talent in specially set spaces or zones, cities will become more colorful and beautiful.

In fact, many cities across the globe have commissioned hand-painted and carefully designed murals.

One of the latest was unveiled in Changning district, Shanghai, in January, with a huge mural painted on the exterior walls of two six-story residential buildings.

Lasting more than six months, 14 artists participated in the painting named Flowers and Doves.

"The mural has helped to realize the fusion of the surrounding residential space, business architecture and public transportation, and it brings joy to the public," Xu Jing, deputy chief of Changning district, told local media at the launch ceremony, adding that she hoped to see more art projects like this one in the future.

The appearance of street art, including graffiti, has exploded over the last four decades, but the medium can be traced back to ancient Roman times and also to Mayan architecture.

Modern graffiti, usually associated with hip-hop culture, boomed in the late 1960s and '70s when urban youths began tagging the sides of subway carriages and buildings.

To deal with the impact of the ongoing pandemic, graffiti and mural artists have been busy painting incredible coronavirus-inspired works on walls and buildings across the globe.

The art form－still new in China－has grown with increasing popularity over the years, since a number of local artists began to gain international recognition.

In 2010, New York graffiti artist Chris Ellis－who goes by the street name Daze－had a graffiti exhibition in Beijing.

The authentic Bronx flavor－on subways and alley walls for decades－appeared on the walls of Beijing's Chang Art Gallery.

Over the years, graffiti has become a recognized art form. Many street artists' works have been showcased around the world, as well as being purchased by established art museums and galleries.