Pan Yikui’s oil painting exhibition opens in Beijing

Poster of the Pan Yikui's oil painting exhibition Photo: Courtesy of China National Academy of Painting

An oil painting exhibition featuring Chinese color master Pan Yikui's works is currently being held at the China National Academy of Painting in Beijing. A representative painter of the second generation of Chinese students who studied in Russia after the launch of China's reform and opening-up, Pan studied from 2008 to 2013 under Russian artist Valery Lednev. Pan's creations are reflections of the influence that the Peredvizhniki movement and impressionist plein-air painting had on him. 

Pan is also good at creating artistic conflict through color, composition, rhythm and other means. A large number of his portraits and ethnic-themed creations are accurate, intuitive and infectious, full of romance, passion and poetry. His landscape sketches are mainly based on locations in Russia and western China. He is good at managing composition and capturing the light and color of the moment, highlighting oil painting that combines Russian oil painting techniques with China's freehand brushwork. 

"Pan has mastered the traditional impressionist's light and color and realistic reproduction skills. His expressive characteristics comes from his understanding of Chinese culture and his perception of Chinese calligraphy and painting," said Shang Hui, director of the Theory Committee of the Chinese Artists Association as well as the China Oil Painting Society. 

Ding Yilin, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said in a video message on Tuesday that Pan advocates realism and follows the principle of life being the source of creation. 

"He loves his homeland and always insists on expressing China's northwestern customs, bringing real life scenes into his paintings."

The exhibition will run until October 1.