Lu Hui, "Liana 19-7," 2019

After years spent exploring techniques of ink and landscape painting, Beijing-based artist Lu Hui has found his focus in what he calls the “micro-landscape.” His works pay special attention to the subtle and exquisite details found in the natural world - a withered tree, a falling leaf, or a piece of duckweed floating in the pond. In portraying these subjects, Lu imagines himself as the telephoto lens of a camera. His compositions begin with meticulous observations of nature, then delicately rendered as ink on paper.

Entitled "Liana 19-7" (蔓 19-7) this painting depicts the vines beneath the Ming City Wall of Nanjing, China. If you walk beneath the wall, you can see networks of withered vines tracing the underside. Looking closely, you'll find they've been rooted inside the brick wall for hundreds of years, withstanding the elements and even outliving passerbys. They reveal trace of time and tenacity of life. Together with the old city wall, these vines have recorded the evolution of human civilization.

Ink on paper. Framed.