Reflections on the artist

Even with a long, successful and noted career, Yu Jigao 'retains his simple, easy-going style and strong work ethic', Zheng Xin reports.

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Yu Jigao is deputy director of the Academy of Chinese Gong Bi Painting of Flowers and Birds, deputy chairman of the Jiangsu Art Association and a State top-level artist. But he retains his simple, easy-going style and hard work habits.

Many artists and art critics said people see in him the perseverance and personal charm typical of the older generation of artists. A painter that helped traditional Chinese Gong Bi painting of flowers and birds thrive in the middle of the 20th century, Yu has long been held in esteem by peers and critics of Chinese contemporary art.

Sun Ke, art critic:

Apprenticed to the master artist Chen Zhifo, Yu has developed his own style of art well by inheriting the excellent tradition of Gong Bi painting while emulating the concepts of the masters.

Yu's work - delicate and graceful, which values the artistic conception - can cater to both refined and popular tastes. His paintings are as elegant as lively, as beautiful as quiet. Gracefully artistic, it is highbrow art that can be enjoyed by a wide audience.

Yu brought about new possibilities in China's contemporary Gong Bi painting of birds and flowers, which helped the genre prosper in the latter part of the 20th century.

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Zhang Jixin, honorary president of the association on flower and bird painting in Jiangsu province:

Elegant and fresh, Yu's paintings well represents the characteristics and features in southern China. Inheriting the skill of Chen Zhifo, his teacher, Yu has gone on to originally develop the traditional genre of Gong Bi flowers and bird painting with his own artistic sensitivity and spirit.

His efforts and achievements have earned him fame as the leader of Gong Bi painting in the south, a title that he fully deserves.

Zhou Jiyin, China's well-renowned art critic:

Greatly benefiting from the teachings of the master Chen Zhifo, whose deep understanding of traditional Chinese art and persistent innovative spirit influenced Yu profoundly, Yu's painting has always been classic and elegant, perfectly suited to aesthetic modernity.

Yu has combined two different artistic styles together. The uniqueness of his art originates from his talent to combine the essential rich and gaudy features of popular art while creating his own designs.

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In addition to excellence in works of art, Yu has is highly spoken of for his noble character. Being an honest and upright artist, he has donated paintings and money beyond count to his hometown, yet has never made that widely known.

Yu has always kept his simple, easy-going style and a hard-working habits. All in all, his achievements in art have earned him fame as the leader in Chinese paintings of flowers and birds, which he fully merits the reward.

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Zhuang Zuowei, well-known art critic:

Yu's painting wins over people through the selection of subject matter and the art itself. His method of realism forms the essence of his Going Bi paintings of flowers and birds, while fully representing the aesthetic sentiment and life concerns of the public.

Using his extraordinary brushwork and his profound artistic cultivation, Yu has created magnificent and stately paintings of depth and magnitude that well reflect Chinese national aspirations and spirit. These paintings also well demonstrate the artist's well-controlled creative power and his broad vision.

You may contact the writer at zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn