Spring Outings, oil on canvas, 200x160cmx2, 2020

At the beginning of 2020, I planned to go back to Chengdu to spend the New Year with my parents, and I even arranged some local travel plans for them. However, they couldn't be realized because of the pandemic. Although my parents’ home is very close to the apartment where I live—about 10 minutes’ walk, we rarely saw each other during the beginning of the pandemic. The alcohol, masks and food passed to each other was all by a family member at the courtyard gate of the textile hall where my parents are living. I drove there and waited for my father to exchange items. Sometimes, my father would bring us the cooked dishes and leave hurriedly after a few words at the door. It was absurd that both of us were wearing masks. The situation made us feel bleak.

After the global spreading of the pandemic, I began to worry about my son far away in Los Angeles. He was taking online classes in his apartment and the graduation ceremony was forced to be cancelled. The flight back to China that had been booked for his vacation was also repeatedly cancelled...In short, many things that happened are difficult to understand and accept and are beyond our knowledge. None of my life experiences allowed me to accumulate the experience of withstanding such emergencies. Truth and lies, freedom and restriction, good and evil, various standards are challenged, which confuses  people.

Spring Outings, Details

For the past 4 months, I have lived in the studio in Chengdu to paint, drawing Spring Outings, painting Flowers Faction and what I experienced in the 1970s. Because of the “Stay-In-Home” order, there is plenty of time for me to paint, listen to books and know all kinds of things happening outside through the Internet. Various emotions have fluctuated my heart. The life is over here while the worry is about the distance, I feel anxious and helpless. Memories are the only way I can block out the absurd world. This spring has become infinitely sad, what about next summer?

Luo Min

April, 2020

Spring Outings, Details

Luo Min (Sichuan, China), graduated from the China Southwest Normal University, and achieved a Master’s degree in the Fine Art Academy of People ‘s Liberation Army. She is currently working in Beijing Academy of Painting. Her solo exhibitions have been held in Today Art Museum, Beijing Academy of Painting Art Museum, Robinson Cultural Center of Alhaurín de la Torre, Malaga, Spain, Miguel Marcos Gallery, Barcelona, Spain, and she participated in Madrid Contemporary Art Exposition on many occasions. Her works have been recognized and collected by European and Chinese individuals and institutions. Luo Min's work is like Juan Carlos Moya Zafra (Spain) who said: it is not figurative art but suggestive. The same with Chinese poetry, traditional painting reflects the painter's experience, his knowledge of society, as well as his ideals and principles. The meanings that are hidden in traditional Chinese painting are deeply emotional. This is Luo Min’s traditionally contemporary painting, using classical parameters to declare herself, through the subtle and expressive movement of painting, so contemporary is reflective of her cultural and social identity, setting all her pictorial mastery into a value at the emotional service, from day to day.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Translated and Edited by Sue and Emily/CAFA ART INFO