Artist's landscape paintings celebrate nature's rhythms

Artist Fan Yifu's landscape painting exhibition, Following the Way of Nature, at the Parnassus Museum in Beijing will open to the public on Tuesday. Featuring 43 of his newest works, the exhibition offers a comprehensive look at the ink painter's artistic journey and exploration during his years traveling across the world.

The exhibition's theme is derived from the works of Laozi, a philosopher from the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), specifically his seminal Tao Te Ching. This theme conveys an abstract cosmology that infuses Fan's landscape paintings with fresh perspectives and creative approaches.

From the snowy expanses of the Himalayas and the cliffs of the Alps to the traditional architecture in East China's Anhui province, the artist transforms the landscapes he encounters into art through ink and water. His work explores the rhythms underlying nature, the tranquility found in the depths of time, and the intrinsic order of interdependence among all things.

Born in Beijing in 1963, Fan learned traditional Chinese painting under the discipline of noted painter Liu Jilu, who specialized in portraying figures and animals. He went to Japan to study art history in 1988, then relocated to Paris in the 1990s, where he further studied and practiced Chinese ink painting while searching for inspiration in Western art.

In the foreword to the exhibition, Fan's good friend Dong Hao writes that Fan's works offer a tranquil spiritual haven for people amid their busy lives.

The exhibition runs until Oct 28.