Cai Yushui seems too thin to be the artist who created the giant painting epic, "In Memory of China's One Hundred Years." In fact, the latter is a series of ink paintings so epic that their combined length is equal to two basketball courts, the largest Chinese painting ever made.

Still in his early forties, Cai Yushui has already established himself in China's art scene. Considering this fame, his artistic background is surprisingly blurred, with his name appearing in the field of traditional Chinese paintings as well as oil paintings. Cai Yushui may have his own ideas concerning his paintings, but he doesn't seem to mind the blurred picture that others have created.

"I believe my works can still be classified within Chinese painting as a broad category. For example, westerners need only a glance to identify my paintings as being very oriental, no matter how great we Chinese find the differences between my paintings and classical works. Actually, none of this really matters. As long as I can express my feelings and discoveries about life with my painting brush, and as long as people love my paintings, that's enough."

Looking back on Cai Yushui's career, this difficultly in pinning down his style is quite understandable. Cai Yushui originally made his mark as a young artist in 1995 with his work "In Memory of China's One Hundred Years." It was a huge work, which covers the eventful century from the Opium War in 1840 to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1945, a period when the Chinese nation suffered untold tribulations and continued to rise in revolt.

Despite its unorthodox, unprecedented size, this painting was largely interpreted as a Chinese painting, with its use of ink and traditional Xuan paper.

Talking about size, Cai Yushui says that he became determined to make a large piece with a great theme after seeing an exhibition in the Central Round Exhibition Hall of the China Arts Museum.

"When I saw those small traditional paintings hanging on the walls, in unharmonious contradiction with the huge hall, I feel a deep sadness. Traditional Chinese paintings are a treasure of Chinese culture owing to their unique style and deep cultural background. A nation needs a language like this with which to express itself. Yet a nation also needs great works to mark its great social-political changes and history, and most classical paintings are small pieces expressing personal ideas. Therefore, right then and there, I made a secret oath to myself that one day I would come back to display a grand piece of my own, which had been painted with both my blood and soul."

Back then this young artist was only in his twenties, and was learning traditional painting at college. In 1995, after ten years of artistic labor, Cai Yushui's painting finally made it into the Central Round Exhibition Hall of the China Arts Museum. Although he followed the likes of Picasso and Qi Baishi, at 32 Cai Yushui had surpassed them all, as the youngest artist to exhibit his works in this esteemed place.

After finishing the hellish tragic themes of "In Memory of China's One Hundred Years," Cai Yushui took on paradise and he took his brush to Indonesia's Bali Island. What's more, after moving from hell to paradise, Cai embarked upon a third major artistic change.

"There are three milestones in my life. One was when I was a college student, and I decided to paint historical themes, rather than focusing on the narrow world of the self. Secondly, when I came to study in the Central Academy of Arts, I rediscovered the expressionistic ability of tradition ink painting when it came to tragic themes. Then, when I came to Bali Island, I began to use blending pigments and diversified materials in my paintings, including traditional ink and water color, advertising paint, alkaline dye, oil paint and various other materials."

With these new techniques on board, Cai Yushui began to paint his paradise series with greater artistic freedom. His resulting work "Paradise—Bali Island," turned out to be another huge success.

Indeed, both of his major works have been well acclaimed by both the Chinese and other nationalities. Perhaps the comments of Stephane Le Pelletier, General Manager of the famous Opera Gallery, most reflect Cai's works. He says Cai Yushui's works may be different from modern western paintings, but neither are they the same as classical Chinese paintings. They are modern but with a mysterious ancient oriental spirit.

(CRI June 10, 2005)