An exhibition of oil paintings featuring Peking opera characters is the highlight of the Third Peking Opera Arts Festival being held in the capital of Jiangsu Province.

While showing his recent works at the Nanjing Museum, Liu Linghua, 38, tells people his interpretation of this marvelous Chinese tradition through the Western vehicle of oil painting.

Liu, who was raised in Xi'an, an ancient city in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, studied woodcutting and later taught at the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts before moving to Shanghai in 1999 to be a full-time artist represented by a company there.

Liu said he meditated about what approach to take for quite some time before finally choosing oil painting as the medium in which to portray the Peking Opera characters. "The impressive make-up, costumes and settings fascinated me, and I told myself that I would capture that with my brush," Liu said.

He said Peking Opera characters best represent the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.

His years of work on this subject has paid off. In 1999, he exhibited his oil paintings of Peking Opera characters at the Shanghai International Art Fair.

In 2000, his "Album of National Treasures," including oil paintings of Peking Opera characters, was published. And in July, 50 of his paintings were exhibited at the China National Art Museum in Beijing. "His paintings are life like and stirring," a Peking Opera performer said after visiting the exhibition.

The exaggerated style, plump colouration, rhythmic movement, subtle expression and background in Peking Opera all can be captured in oil paintings, according to the artist.

When asked why he picked red and yellow as his major colour choices, he said: "Red is the colour of happiness, representing joyous moments, enthusiasm and prosperity, while yellow is another traditionally cherished colour in China."

In his widely praised work, "The Drunken Beauty," red and yellow are used wildly with a hint of black to express dignity and nobility on a beautiful woman's costume, though she is portrayed as angry and sad to learn that another concubine has won the emperor's favour.

Liu said his years in Northwest China helped develop his uninhibited character while his study of woodcutting gave his creation and imagination free rein. "I don't want to confine myself in my artistic creation," Liu said. "And reading benefits me a lot."

Liu's paintings reflect an unusual blend of Western and Chinese skills and styles, experts say. "I hope that my works can let the world know oil painting in China is making great progress and will become a trend," the artist said.

His oil paintings of Peking Opera characters will be included in a group exhibition of Chinese art organized by China's Ministry of Culture to be displayed in France, Britain, Germany and Australia next year.

(China Daily December 19, 2001)