This painting was created in 2022. This year, the painting style changed sharply, from the usual low and harmonious gray colors to conflicting bright colors. At the same time, it raised a big question mark about life.
The birds lead the fishermen out to sea and then bring them back. One trip back and forth is a year of the seabirds.
Inches: 38.6 x 38.6 in
Size without the frame: 98 x 98 cm
Country: China
Date: 2022
Materials: Oil paint on linen
Condition: well preserved
Creative themes and style | My works revolve around the creative concept of "The land of humanity, People on the land". The people in the painting are people in nature, and the lines, shapes, and colors are close to nature. The nature in the painting is nature in the eyes of humans, existing in interaction with humans.I don’t pursue a series of works with a fixed and continuous style. I hope that the style of the pictures will synchronize with the changes in my life and always remain oscillating. The performance of the work must be in sync with the development of one's own life in order to be Sincere and powerful. Ideas are later.
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"Year of the Seabirds" brings the daily life of the fishing port onto the canvas. Fishing boats are the absolute protagonists, of various shapes, huddled on the mudflat. Some have peeling paint, with red and blue patches “nibbled” by the sea breeze, full of traces of time; some are steady, as if they’ve just finished fishing and are waiting for the next trip. They gather together like old buddies chatting, hiding the fireworks, meaning earthly stories of the fishing village.
The composition doesn’t follow the routine path; it’s more interesting to look at it in a scattered way — the eyes can wander along the boats, seabirds, and mudflats. The wet texture of the mudflat is like “spreading” the sea surface onto the shore. The shadows of the boats wobble in it. The collision of nature and man - made looks quite harmonious, a bit like the “emptiness and solidness” in traditional landscape paintings, yet with the earthly charm of the fishing port.
The colors are gentle. The red and blue of the boats aren’t dazzling, softened by the sun, mixing with the brown - yellow of the mudflat and the gray - blue of the sea, like wrapping the picture in an old filter. Some paints are thin, some are thick. Light and shadow just drill through the gaps of the brushstrokes. It’s both like the Impressionists capturing the instant feeling and painting the boats and birds solidly, very vivid.
Seabirds are the “vitality representatives” in the painting, flapping their wings and flying, competing with the steady fishing boats. One moving and one still, they turn the fishing port story into a yearning for freedom and hope. Looking at the water marks on the boat sides and the feather patterns of the birds, you can feel the artist is focusing on the “divine bits” in daily life — the fishing boats going out to sea and coming back, the seabirds migrating and staying. In the painting, it becomes “forever now”, making people feel that the ordinary fishing port also hides freedom and hope, with lively energy year after year.
Claude Monet, The Gare Saint-Lazare：Light - shadow capture and color blending depict the era’s atmosphere with steam symbols.
Wu Guanzhong, Boat Group：Ink - wash freehand and lively lines show the water - town rhythm with boat symbols.
John Constable, The Hay Wain：Realistic brushwork and natural colors convey quiet poetry with pastoral symbols.
Lin Fengmian, Fishing Village：Chinese - Western integration and simple color blocks express life charm with harbor symbols.
Willem de Kooning, Woman with Bicycle：Twisted lines and intense colors express female tension through abstract symbols.
Fu Baoshi, Lady of Xiang：Freehand brushwork and light color rendering convey classical mood with mythological symbols.
Yves Klein, Blue Monochrome：Pure color blocks and minimalist forms explore spiritual dimensions via color symbols.
Liu Xiaodong, Three Gorges Migrants：Realistic brushwork and documentary colors reflect era changes through group symbols.
This deliberate contrast between stillness and movement suggests that the harbor is both a place of pause before departure and a moment of life’s cyclical rhythm. The ships symbolize human modes of survival, while the seabirds embody the freedom of nature’s spirit.
The water reflects layers of gold, blue, and brown, echoing the shifting tides of time. This chromatic interplay highlights the mutual dependency between ships and the sea. Rather than opposing forces, they exist in reciprocal completion.
The presence of many birds establishes a sense of community and migration, evoking the seasonal rhythms of departure and return. The title phrase “of the year” subtly introduces a cyclical dimension of time, suggesting that this is the year marked by the seabirds’ flight and return.
The distant vessels appear softened and faded, resembling memories or echoes of the past, while the foreground ship is clear and present. This layering guides the viewer to contemplate the relationship between near and far, present and past.
The title draws attention to the seabirds as both motif and temporal marker. The moored ships suggest a period of rest or waiting, while the ever-flying seabirds embody nature’s enduring rhythm, transcending human cycles of pause and departure.
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