Artist invokes a sense of the spiritual in his latest series of landscapes, Deng Zhangyu reports.

Since the end of last year until October, oil painter Ye Jianqing has devoted himself to depicting a world covered by mist, a spiritual shelter for people to seek respite from life's chores.

His solo show at the Tokyo Gallery + Beijing Tokyo Art Projects in Beijing presents the artist's latest series of 12 large-scale oil paintings, The Wonderland. Mist and hazy outlines of rocks, trees and mountains dominate Ye's paintings, making them look like Chinese ink paintings before the blue tone reminds viewers that they're actually looking at oil paintings.

The works on display are a production of Ye's reflection on his own life, influenced by both the cultures of the East and West.

Ye was born in 1972 in Ningbo, a coastal city in Zhejiang province. When he was a little boy, he started learning traditional Chinese ink painting. After 1978, when China announced its opening-up to the world, his life was greatly influenced by books, movies, music and clothes, among other things introduced from the West. He learned oil painting before going to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

"Chinese artists of my generation all experienced a similar cultural impact. For me, my paintings are a compromise with myself, struggling to find a balance between the two cultures," says the 48-year-old.

Ye's works employ oil and water-the Western medium-to depict landscape paintings, a common genre in Chinese ink painting. They have no vivid images, only vague, natural outlines shrouded in mist.

Growing up in Ningbo-a city with a rich variety of flora-he is inspired by nature, as well as the rainy and foggy days in his hometown.

Ye has done a lot of research on paintings from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a peak period for Chinese landscape painting. Similar to painters of that time, who tried to build a spiritual world via landscape painting, Ye says he also wants to create a utopia to escape the urban lifestyle in which we are bombarded by videos, pictures and information from numerous sources in all directions.

Keeping a close eye on Chinese contemporary art since the 1980s, organizer of Ye's solo show, Yukihito Tabata, says that the landscapes painted by Eastern artists never replicate the physical subject as perceived by the eyes, but interpret the spiritual meaning.

"Ye successfully delineated a spiritual homeland in accordance with the Eastern ideal," he adds.

Ye is an associate professor at the mural department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His studies on ancient frescos also affect his creations. For instance, his works are always done on a large scale.

Every year, he goes to visit caves in China which house large amounts of murals dating back thousands of years and spanning many dynasties. He keeps practicing the powerful lines used in the murals and implementing them in his own works.

When the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic forced people to stay at home earlier this year, Ye made the best of the situation, devoting himself to reflecting on Chinese culture.

"Our culture stresses the harmonious relationship between nature and people. We are just a part of nature. It's also what we practice in Chinese landscape painting. Human figures are usually painted in a very small size," Ye says.

Speaking about his works that depict natural landscapes devoid of people, the artist says there is a spiritual coexistence between people and the natural world.

In a global context, the impact on artists who are faced with various cultures other than their own can result in them easily feeling lost. These days, Ye does more research and reading on traditional Chinese culture, while in his youth he spent more time studying Western art through books and visiting museums.

"When I get lost, I find the power from our original culture," says Ye.