China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Rural inspiration
Farmer-turned-artist Miao Huixin is urging children to document changes in the countryside through art, Yang Feiyue reports in Jiaxing, Zhejiang.
Miao Huixin couldn’t help but smile as he introduced his artworks to an audience in Xiuzhou district, Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, in June. Miao, a 62-year-old former farmer, is excited to see many visitors are coming to his village to see his works. He has won many awards for his paintings of rural life. He was named one of 10 “outstanding Asian artists” by Time magazine in 1998 and a national “excellent folk painter” at the 7th China Art Festival in Jiaxing in 2004. He has held solo exhibitions overseas such as in the United States and Japan.
“None of that would have been possible without farmers painting,” Miao says.
Farmers painting took roots in rural China in the 1950s, with distinctive historical and social elements in the early days after New China was founded. In 1984, the then Ministry of Culture (now Ministry of Culture and Tourism) and the China Artists Association held the first national exhibition of farmers painting in Beijing, which encouraged the development of this kind of art. Rural artists with different styles emerged from all over the country.
Miao began painting in the early 1980s, when local authorities offered training to him and a few other farmers who had some painting experience.
“I started copying artworks at age 18, and people around me knew it,” Miao says.
It was after China’s reform and opening-up had made its way to rural areas that Miao says he started to document life “before his eyes” in painting. Years of practice qualified him for training, where he got to visit Shanghai to see how some farmers paintings were done.
“I saw many people in their old age painting, which gave me confidence to pick up the art,” he recalls.
The training was for the first national farmers painting competition and exposed Miao to such art and other folk skills as paper-cutting and embroidery. He was then asked to deliver a painting that showed one of the most moving scenes in his life.
“That was when I thought of my grandmother and a view of her back working in the fields,” Miao says.
He created a painting, titled Nostalgia, in which a woman’s bun takes up a big part of the canvas that also shows silkworms, chickens, cows and rice scattered. It won him the first prize at the Zhejiang provincial farmers painting competition in 1983.
“It was beyond my expectations,” Miao says. “I was encouraged to take art up as a hobby from then on.”
He farmed during the day and spent his nights painting.
“After finishing the farm work, I used to sit on the ridge of the field and paint. It was the happiest thing for me.”
Some of his paintings display farmers growing rice, mulberry, fishing and raising silkworm, while some others depict folk activities, including boat rides and temple fairs.
Since the early 1980s, Miao has recorded authentic rural scenes with his brush. In 1987, his works made their way to an exhibition held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. “I had 19 works at the exhibition, and the academy put them in a gallery.”
It was then that one of his friends told him to keep painting and have enough to stage a solo exhibition in Beijing. He pulled it off after three months, during which he created more than 60 paintings in his room at night. The solo exhibition marked the takeoff of Miao’s career as a painter. He stopped farming in the 1990s and focused on developing his art. He held personal exhibitions in Beijing in 1989, 1991 and 1993.
In 1995, Miao took his works abroad for the first time, to France. In 1997, he was invited to hold a personal exhibition in the US. In 1998, Time magazine put him on a par with Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and martial arts star Jackie Chan among its “outstanding Asian artists”.
To date, Miao’s works have been displayed in more than 10 countries, including Germany, Australia and Sweden. More than 100 paintings of his have been collected by the National Art Museum of China, the Portland Art Museum in the US, as well as private collectors at home and abroad.
Miao’s paintings are considered one of the best expressions of rural life in China, according to Xu Jiang, president of Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles. “The most valuable thing is that, although he is no longer a farmer, he has always retained the way a farmer sees the world.”
Since 1983, Miao has created more than 800 paintings.
“If you want to draw well, you should love life and keep in mind what life touches you,” Miao says.
He turned down immigration opportunities years ago and says he could not live outside China.
“Only my homeland can give me my creative inspiration,” he adds.
In 2007, Miao went back to Qizhen village, Youchegang town of Xiuzhou and became the village’s deputy Party secretary. He then advocated building a garden out of a mud pool, and painted about 100 art pieces on the walls of old streets. His ambition didn’t stop at changing one village but continued to have him popularize the art form nearby. He trained other farmers, developed facilities for them to make art and hosted farmers painting festivals.
In 2010, he took the lead in setting up a studio in the village. Miao has regretted not having received academic training in painting, so he urged local children to document changes in the countryside through art. Whenever a school invites him to teach children painting, he readily accepts.
In 2019, Miao sorted out profiles of locals with artistic flair and helped them to tap into their talents. He has also identified and called attention to cultural works of value. Under his influence, Xiuzhou district has set up 26 facilities for farmers painting.
“With good tutors to guide, students can be inspired to describe their inner thoughts, and I think more talent will be drawn to farmers painting in the future,” Miao says.
He lives in the village and paints between 20 and 30 pieces a year.
“With the improvement of living standards, an artist’s situation is much better now,” Miao says.
He says living in the village is not only convenient but inspirational for art.