Seeking the artistic high ground
Painter's love and admiration evident in his work on the plateau, Lin Qi reports.
Pride and pressure were what Li Xiaoke (1944-2021) lived with as a second-generation artist in his family — his father was Li Keran (1907-89), one of the country's most prominent ink artists in the 20th century.
For years, Li Xiaoke observed his father at work, assisted him to exhibit, and accompanied him to social activities.
He saw how much his father was admired, for the creativity and reforms he injected in the field of Chinese painting. He wanted to find his own path to art which would free him from the influence of his father.
It was in the expansiveness and divinity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that he felt empowered. The distinctive views of nature and the Tibetan culture motivated him to create.
Since the late 1980s until he died, Li Xiaoke traveled frequently to the areas inhabited by the Tibetan ethnic group, such as the Xizang autonomous region and Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.
He photographed, sketched, painted and made prints, in which "he celebrated his deep love and admiration of nature, the culture and people of the land", says Liu Ying, wife of Li Xiaoke and chairperson of the Li Keran Art Foundation.
