Chinese artist Ma Xiguang conveys the spiritual essence of wild western China through his forceful brushwork and his new way of painting.  His  work has won acclaim throughout the country. It shows his enduring love  for traditional art and provides a glimpse into his continuous exploration of the language of ink over the past decades.

Ma has lived in the Qinghai highland for over 40 years and his life experience has helped shape his artistic creation. Much of his life’s work has been devoted to exploring new frontiers for traditional Chinese painting. At the same time, he has worked very hard to explore and create charm in paintings. His works have not only reflect the heavy and vigorous style of the Chinese traditional paintings, but also have the strong flavor of the western highland of China.

His work “Harnessing the Yaks”, for instance, portrays the strength of galloping yaks and the wisdom and bravery of the herdsman, which are strong characteristics of western China.

Ma’s paintings are like music creating a flow of sensations. The colors, shades and forms in his poetic compositions deliver ardent and lyrical rhythms of life’s passion. His works “Winding Mountain Path”, “Melodies of Grassland” and “The Wedding”, depict an aura of calmness and a feeling of leisure, all music to the eyes as they form a symphony of color and lines. His works evoke feelings like listening to a folk song of western ethnic people — lively and full of spirit.

Combining styles from both the East and the West, Ma gets his inspiration from the composition of Chinese traditional ink paintings and Realism, leading to vivid colors presented with lively brush lines. His ink works do not focus on configurations with external details. Configurations are only the emotional symbol for Ma. What he needs is the freedom to move the ink and brush.

The artist is particularly famed for his paintings of yaks, which are known as the “boat of the plateau”, and which are so important to life of western China. The artist says that his works are greatly inspired by ancient rock paintings and sculptures. The artist replaces the traditional delicate style with majestic strength.