Post-80s Artist Hand-paints Shenyang’s Landmarks
He is not local, but sparks people’s interest and love in this ancient and modern city with his hand-paintings of Shenyang’s landmarks.
As a post-80s, he considers cultural creativity as a lifetime pursuit, and his hand-painted works have been made into postcards to spread the culture of Liaoning.
He is Li Hu, a Chinese young artist and interior design engineer.
Born in Jianping County, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province in 1988, Li Hu started learning painting at a very young age. In 2007, Li enrolled in the environmental art and design major at a university in Shenyang. During his four university years, Li had made great progress in painting, especially in hand painting. Also, he had fallen in love with Shenyang, this beautiful and culturally rich city with an ancient and modern atmosphere.
After graduation in 2011, Li Hu settled down in Shenyang and became a new citizen here. A new and daring idea occurred to him. He wanted to walk across Shenyang’s streets and lanes and hand-paint landmarks to record and promote Shenyang.
That summer, Li began to paint every corner of this city with his pen. With an eye for beauty, he found many scenic spots and landmarks to paint. Based on the skills he acquired at university and his understanding of architecture and humanities, he showed the world a different Shenyang by his hand-paintings.
The first hand-painted work Li Hu made was the Grand Administration Hall of the Shenyang Imperial Palace. He said that the Imperial Palace is the landmark of Shenyang and the Grand Administration Hall is its most representative and well-known building, so the Grand Administration Hall became his first choice to start his hand-painting journey in Shenyang.
The first step is always the hardest. In order to paint the Grand Administration Hall, Li Hu brought with his drawing board and camera and went to the Shenyang Imperial Palace for field observation for several times. He observed the overall structure and specific details of the hall from different angles and took pictures from different sides for further study. Li Hu said that he had altogether made about seven drafts but none of them was satisfying, so he kept revising and improving them. It took two to three years to reach the current level.
For nearly 10 years, Li Hu sought inspiration both online and offline to record places people are familiar with, drawing the portrait of the Shenyang city. In order to do his best, every time after choosing places online, Li would go offline for detailed field observation. He often sat on the spot and painted. Sometimes, he would also take photos from different angles, then go home to draw and colour the painting. Li said that it took him three or four hours to design and complete a simple painting, and more than 70 hours for a complex one.
Li Hu enjoys painting architecture. Recent years, Li Hu has painted more than 300 hand-painted works of Shenyang, from the World Cultural Heritage sites such as the Shenyang Imperial Palace, the North Tomb and the East Tomb, to modern buildings such as the Shengjing Grand Theater, the Shenyang North Railway Station and the Shenyang Museum, as well as schools, shopping malls, streets and alleys.“At first, I don’t think there are so many places to paint, but later, I found even a small alley has its own ‘story’,” Li said. Each time he paints, he experiences a different feeling, and his understanding to Shenyang’s culture gets deeper.
Although hand-painting has made Li Hu a “celebrity” in Shenyang, he wanted to do more to better spread the culture of Shenyang City and Liaoning Province. So he turned his hand-painted works into postcards. The postcards became very popular when they went on sale. They not only attract local people to buy as gifts for distant relatives and friends, but also draw purchasing agents to buy for people who are not in Shenyang. In addition to the postcards, Li Hu also made his hand-painted works into calendars, which became very popular on the social media.
Speaking of his wish, Li Hu hopes that he can keep the trust and recognition from people. Through painting, he hopes to share the touching moments he experienced with everyone, and record the warm Shenyang with his hands and heart.
Li Hu, a Chinese young artist and interior design engineer.He is not local, but sparks people’s interest and love in this ancient and modern city with his hand-paintings of Shenyang’s landmarks. As a post-80s, he considers cultural creativity as a lifetime pursuit, and his hand-painted works have been made into postcards to spread the culture of Liaoning.
