By Diana Karen Babayan
Fiery red and orange tones merge softly into deep blue and black background creating an effect of scorching lava stream over the rocky slopes of a newly erupted volcano. This mystic play of darkness and light, intenseness and softness, movement and stillness dominates in a series of paintings titled "Spirit of the Sublime", an exhibition currently on display in the gallery of the Boone County National Bank in Columbia running through November 27. The author of the paintings is Lampo Leong, an internationally renowned painter and calligrapher. He is currently an art professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Sublime is the name given to the artists' desire to express a sense of the awe and majesty evoked by the overwhelming power of nature.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." This statement by Laozi has guided Lampo Leong in his artistic creativity and desire to synthesize the elements of traditionally opposed aesthetic values.
Born in Guangzhou, China, in 1961, Lampo Leong grew up during one of the hardest periods in the history of the country - The Great Cultural Revolution. It was a time of severe depression and political upheaval. The country faced great economic and cultural crisis. Most of the schools were partially closed, leaving students with no chance to study. Instead they had to work on farms or in factories. Many intellectuals were sent to rural countryside for physical labor in order to be re-educated according to Chairman Mao's idea. Leong's father, a medical doctor at the city hospital was one of them who had to leave his job and go to the countryside.Like all children, Leong liked to paint and many of his paintings were selected to the city and provincial children and youth art exhibitions. While attending the 29th High School, Leong started doing propaganda painting and calligraphy for the school and in exchange gained some opportunities to study art in the evenings there. As he grew older his affection for art grew into a strong desire to become an artist.
In 1977, the Revolution was over. China started to open up to the world. The universities re-opened as well. However, the chances of getting accepted into the universities were very slim with less than 1% of high school graduates being admitted. Art school admission was even tougher, thousands of students applied to study at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, one of the eight best art academies in China. Lampo Leong who got very high score on the entrance exam was one of the 32 students admitted to the academy in 1979. There he mastered the techniques of Chinese brush painting and calligraphy. At the same time he developed a particular interest in Western art, philosophy, and culture. "I wanted to go out to see the world, to discover new ideas in art after I graduated from the University," said Leong.
He wanted to go to America, to a country that might provide a wide range of opportunities for him. It was rather difficult to get a visa at that time because a great number of people wanted to leave the country after the Great Cultural Revolution. When Leong went to the United States Consulate he showed the consul some photographs of his paintings and explained that he wanted to go to graduate school in the United States. The consul looked at his portfolio and said, "You are a great artist, I want to buy some of your paintings." The next day Leong went to pick up his visa, he brought her two of his works as a gift, but she insisted on paying. "I sold two paintings and got my visa. My art opened me a way to America," Leong said.
In 1985, Leong was admitted to the graduate program at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco/Oakland. Here a whole new world of art opened up for him. Having lived in a country of prohibitions and having been educated on the principles of classical realism, Leong was now exposed to a new trend in art called abstract expressionism, modernism and postmodernism. It was full of new ideas, conceptions and techniques. It was also free from any restrictions and prejudices and provided great freedom of imagination and self-expression. "I liked the idea of postmodern art in which a variety of cultures and traditions could be synthesized," Leong said. "In my recent work, the Eastern and Western art traditions are distilled into elements, synthesized and transformed into a new universal language."
While at graduate school, Leong took part in a number of solo and group exhibitions. He was gradually gaining more and more public recognition. His unique style attracted a large number of art critics. "I started getting invitations from different universities to teach in the San Francisco area" said Leong. Besides having a tenure-track teaching job in the bay area, Leong was also a visiting assistant professor at San Francisco State University since 1996. Alongside teaching he never stopped painting. His works were exhibited in many countries. He was constantly invited to symposiums, conferences, museums and universities as a guest speaker and presenter. He was commissioned by The San Francisco Arts Commission to create a 26-foot-diameter granite inset calligraphic medallion for a city park. In 1999 the Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, proclaimed November 19th to be Lampo Leong Day.
In 2001 Leong accepted an offer from the University of Missouri-Columbia to work as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fine Arts. "I was ready for a change. I needed a quite place to paint more. But now I see that I have a lot to do here too," Leong said. He was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. His work has now been featured in more than 55 solo and 250 group exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide. His paintings and calligraphy are widely collected by museums and corporations internationally, including The Cantor Center for the Visual Arts at Stanford University, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Guangdong Museum of Art in China, as well as Disney World in Florida, The Westin Surabaya in Indonesia and The Tokyo Westin in Japan.
Having settled in Columbia, Leong is as busy as ever. In the past years he has made many trips to China and other countries for different exhibitions and lectures. He is now a Ph.D.-ABD in Art Theory from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. "I love teaching and I love the interaction with the students," Leong said. "A new world could be created through these kind of dialogues."Lampo Leong wants his students to be able to understand and appreciate art first of all. He wants to stimulate them intellectually and help them develop an eye for art. "Painting is not just a physical exercise, it's very much a mental exercise and commitment as well."Leong took his first crucial step long ago and he is halfway through his artistic journey of a thousand miles. Now he tries to pass on his experience and the traditions that he learned to future generations by helping students make their first steps. "My ultimate wish is to open a door for students that will lead them to discover and actualize their own values." |
