Artist: Lu Ping (b. 1957)

Whenever Ms Lu Ping paints, she wields her brush with verve and power to reveal her passionate responses to the beauties of Mother Nature and our world. Her paintings balance the need to be realistic while retaining poetic elements. While abiding by the rules of art, she flexibly mixes straight lines with geometric shapes to enhance the composing meaning of forms. The textured surfaces and gamut of colours in her compositions are a quest for visual and colour impact, giving them a contemporary feel. She occasionally uses strong brushstrokes and a pallet knife to depict momentum and dynamism. 

Ms Lu Ping studied at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. One of her teachers, oil painter Professor Zhou Benyi, was a homecoming artist and a graduate from the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts in the former Soviet Union. This explains why Ms Lu Ping’s paintings carry the realistic style iconic of the former Soviet Union. In recent years, Ms Lu Ping has been pursuing Post-Impressionist art. Within the limited space of her canvas, she amalgamates lines, shapes, colours and composition to depict the zest in her heart and her ambitious artistic aspirations. In 1993, she moved to Singapore but continues to commute between the US and China for creative work and lectures.

Anchor

With graduated tones of cool colours, Ms Lu Ping creates a relaxed atmosphere and a distinct orderly style of overlapping boats floating atop flowing cobalt blue waters. The semi-abstract art of Anchor shows boats decked at a harbour, their mast still erect from the recent sail. Primarily using blue and white hues with minimal orange tones, Ms Lu Ping mirrors the colours of the sea with the sky. 

 “Hope holds you fast like an anchor, so you don't give way.” (Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass) 

The tile may be a literal reference to the anchors that hold the drifting boats down, or it may contain multiple metaphorical meanings that are up to the audience to decipher. The steadfast viewer may interpret the piece as a reminder to stay grounded amid the chaos of life that presents multiple temptations, like the boat that is kept safe away from the drifting sea. A freedom-loving spirit may nervously read the painting as a deterrent to commitment, as the anchor prevents the boat from fulfilling its destiny of sailing. 

Sheep in the Wilderness

Using oil paint, Ms Lu Ping’s creates a “field of gold” with roaming sheep basking in the warmth of the sun with yellow, orange, and red tones in Sheep in the Wilderness. In person, this fine composition  is even more stunning with its raised texture with visible brush marks that mimics the coarse wild grass and the wooly fur of the sheep. The meek creatures look around placidly, and surrounded by the buttery landscape, the painting is a delight to the eyes of art goers. As the blazing sun sets, its rays wash over the hills and grass to create a gilded landscape. In many cultures, the colour gold is associated with prosperity and wealth, which makes this painting a fine present for a friend or relative especially during the New Year celebration. 

As symbols of peace, community, and servitude, the docile sheep also has a strong cultural and religious presence. Sheeps in the Wilderness shows Nature in its pristine form and the harmony that coexists between non-human living organisms. Homo sapiens could be compatible with this equation, as the artist herself would hope.  

In all, Ms Lu Ping engages diverse subject matters and each time, her familiarity with the nature of oil paint and techniques to best exhibit its depth and colour. Her lush paintings rich with meaning appeal to all audiences, and makes Ms Lu Ping an artist of international calibre.