Today was "art discovery day"!

I went to Liu Li Chang St. which is a very well known area in Beijing for art galleries and calligraphy shops, there are a lot of Beijing hotels around here.

Good luck to me, I found one very interesting gallery which carries a peculiar form of art called "farmers' painting". 

What's a farmer's painting? Farmers' paintings originated in the 50s, when the government encouraged rural communities to engage in art.  

Beijing Hotels: Nearby Beiping Huadian Shop

So this style of paintings was created by common people expressing their emotional world. It survived the Cultural Revolution in the 70s, and has flourished ever since China opened its doors to the west in the 80s. 

There aren't many galleries and shops that sell this form of art in Beijing. BeiPing HuaYuan is one of them, and it is situated in the west side of Liu Li Chang St. The owner is Ms. Zhang, she is from the western province of XinJiang. 

I took a few photos which I'll comment here:

This painting is about happiness brought about by a good harvest. Farmers often paint what they wish for, or what they are thankful for: warm home, healthy children, dreams of a happy life.  

This painting is about a good harvest as you can see from the corn cobs. You may wonder why the corn is red rather than yellow. The reason is because red is a symbol of happiness and celebration in China. The painter used the red color to express his thankfulness for the good harvest.

This painting is called ‘Cutting Wheat'. It's about an educated urban youth working on a farm. It depicts one of millions of Chinese urban teenagers who were required to learn farming during the Cultural Revolution. Ms. Zhang the owner told me several of her customers had confided that this painting reminded them of their youth days during these chaotic times.

I also noticed a few unusual paintings in the shop. One is called ‘Eight Strange Things about Northeast China' depicts how women like to smoke pipe tobacco there. In the picture, the grandmother is smoking with an extra long tobacco pipe. A common scene in Northeastern China.

The BeiPing HuaYuan shop displays about 50 framed farmers' paintings. There are well over 200 in the back of the place though.

Ms. Zhang also offers something different to her customers - a form of art called "Iron Painting". Iron painting is an ancient form of art dating back over 400 years. The artist used metal in place of paint, and a hammer in place of a brush. The works displayed in the gallery are all from WuHu, the capital of iron painting in China.

This painting is about several reclusive men enjoying their retreating life and internal peace

Most of the works are inspired by the two main themes of Confucianism and Taoism: harmony and virtue.

I liked this particular painting which shows two reclusive men in the wild. You can see the mountains, trees, rivers, and meditating scholars. They are all typical subjects of Taoist art, and depict harmony between man and nature.