A forest of overlapping trees, branches, and leaves decorate a rounded mountain at the base of which appears an architectural complex visually emphasized by red-colored base and light path giving access from below. Primary emphasis is given to the picture plane, which is visually and strongly activated by the patterns created by the very active brush of the artist. Related closely in some ways to Western paintings by the Impressionists, the work relies on abstract patterns of line, dottings, and color to create an image that is realistic yet abstract, a picture yet also a painting.
Zhu Daoping was born in 1949 in Huanyan, Zhejiang province. He graduated in 1977 from the Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts, and is currently Director of the Nanjing Painting and Calligraphy Academy and Deputy Director of the Art Association of Jiangsu province. Among the many publications featuring Zhu’s paintings is Zhu Daoping Huaji, Beijing, 2003, which illustrates 113 of his paintings as well as a number of his seals.