PureInsight | August 16, 2004
[PureInsight.org]
[Editor's Note: On July 15, 16, 2004 the art exhibit entitled, "The Spirit of Perseverance," sponsored by Washington, D.C. Falun Dafa Association, formally took place at the United States House of Representative Raven Building, in the U.S. Capital City of Washington, D.C.. The art works in the exhibit are all by Falun Gong practitioners and some of them are still illegally detained in the Chinese jails. After the last five years of cruel persecution, these artist Falun Gong practitioners hoped to use their artistry to show the world their happiness due to their righteous heart through the practice of Falun Gong, their indestructible righteous thought even under cruel punishment and bloody persecution, their unyielding pursue of the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, and to show their firm believe that righteousness will eventually win over evilness. Each of these artists has his own specialty. They attempted to use the traditional painting technique to accomplish their purpose. We will introduce to you in next few days the artwork of each of the painters, the meaning of their work, the process of their creating, and their painting technique.]
Interview with Mr. Wang Zhiping
Reporter: Zhu Qing-ming, a reporter for Zhengjian Net/PureInsight Org
Wang: Mr. Wang, Zhiping, painter
Reporter: Mr. Wang Zhiping, could you please talk about your artistic/creative experiences in the past?
Wang: I have been fond of art since my childhood.
Reporter: How old were you when you started painting?
Wang: I liked art when I was in primary school. I always felt especially happy and excited whenever we had an art class. During the third year of my middle schooling, that is when I was sixteen or seventeen, I started my basic training.
Reporter: In art class or under a tutor?
Wang: It was in an art training class held by the city. After one or two years of training, I yearned toward an art college and later passed my entrance exam into Luxun Art College, taking sculpture as my major. I studied there for five years, and was appointed to art teacher's position in a university after my graduation.
Reporter: Did you do any work you're proud of during this period of time?
Wang: No. I have been sticking to art and am very fond of it, but ignorant of the variations in the art world. For example, I regarded paintings by Picasso and impressionists as high-level works, following other people to praise them. However, I was not yet able to produce that kind of stuff. As far as the classic paintings are concerned, such as those European masterpieces presented in the Louvre, I felt I was too far behind to reach them. This put me into a mental conflict that lasted for about twenty years since I have always been very fond of art.
Reporter: How did you obtain Falun Dafa?
Wang: I came to United States in 1996 and my wife came ten months later. Upon arriving in the U.S., I encountered some unhappy events, feeling much pressure and depressed, and not thinking about my future. My wife brought me Zhuan Falun, a gift from a practitioner in China, and she had not yet read it. She knew that I was very interested in Qigong. As soon as my wife stepped down from the airplane, she told me that a great person had come to the public in China. I answered, "Then I will read it". As a result, I read the book and was very excited and happy, felt it was written well. However, I felt then the moral standards in the book were too high for me to reach them. Over the past twenty years, I had been seriously mentally polluted by this corrupt society and experienced much depravity. Therefore, I felt that I could not behave according to the high standards in the book. However, I started changing my behavior and the way I speak because I spoke rudely before then. Later, I knew Teacher started taking care of me and I had made much improvement. But I was still unable to do everything according to what Teacher told us. All the famous masters in western art have works with subjects taken from the Bible since that time was a time of belief in God. Then, there were some people spreading Christianity around me. Motivated to know more, I picked up some books from the Bible since many European famous paintings depicted stories in the Bible. The time I really obtained the Fa was in 1999 when Teacher gave a lecture to teach the Fa in New York. I attended the conference and was touched deeply in my heart, vowing to start my cultivation.
Reporter: Have you done any creative work after practicing Dafa?
Wang: In 1998 I had drawn a series of draft drawings for sculptures. After obtaining the Fa, I decided they were not good enough to be in accord with the principles of the Fa, and, I had not done any more until my creation of paintings for this exhibition.
Reporter: Is this your first time to create a series of works for exhibition since you started your cultivation?
Wang: Yes, this is the first time for a series of creative works. It can be said that this is a relatively systematic creation of works since I graduated from art college.
Reporter: Could you please talk about the original thinking of the creative composition of this series?
Wang: I practice Dafa and the first thing is to become a good person, throwing away all of those dirty things formed before in my heart. From Teacher's Fa-lectures, I have learned what should be the right principles for human being's art. I have absorbed much nourishment from some famous masters' classical paintings and experienced their reverence for God. In doing any piece of painting, they devoted their whole minds to it, without material desire or desire for strong passion, like people in modern society do. I think this is a lofty realm that human beings should seek. Why did I depict the persecution? Since I had practiced Dafa for five or six years, I know well about "truthfulness, compassion and forbearance" leading people back to their true origins. Nowadays everybody is complaining about and cursing society, without knowing that everybody is promoting bad things. It is now very clear to me what I should do. These good people have suffered such a persecution. I feel duty-bound to depict this persecution using the feeling from the bottom of my heart. This is also a part of my cultivation.
Reporter: Among painters who contributed to this exhibition, some others also depicted the persecution. However, you are the only one to create a series of paintings to depict the various cruel tortures. How did the idea arise in your mind?
Wang: I have seen some photos posted on the net, and read through the accompanying stories of cruel persecution of Dafa practitioners. Then I wanted to describe the facts using artistic language. This description should not be superficial, but, rather, should make a telling exposure of the evil persecution. These practitioners fear no death. They have got the truth, will not go against their own conscience, nor betray their own belief. This was the feeling in my heart when I created those paintings.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/8/1/28465.html
