“The Moment of Sunset”
Oil
30 x 44 in.
$16,000
www.ruoli.net
www.oilpaintersofamerica.org
“’The Moment of Sunset’ is one of my most recent seascape paintings. It does not have big waves or huge rocks. Everything looks so common, and nothing is so dramatic. But it was at this moment of sunset, all the colors and structures formed a perfect picture for art. ‘The Moment of Sunset’ shows viewers the beauty of an ordinary place.
Painting is an art of time and space. It shows a special moment of a subject. In our real life everything is constantly moving and changing. How to capture the most beautiful moment of a subject is a lifelong challenge and goal for an artist. From this point of view, when you paint something which cannot stand still, such as the sea, using camera to capture the moment of beauty is the first and most important step for a good painting.
A good photo reference is just like an attractive still life. It shows the beauty of an subject in front of you. The key point is how to show the beauty through your painting. No matter plein air painting in front of a real subject or studio painting with a photo reference, an artist can only give some idea from what they see. These information cannot replace the perfect picture inside the mind of an artist. The outside information is only a cause not a result. ‘The Moment of Sunset’ is the result of my excitement.
The reality, many beautiful things shows and disappears in a short moment. But the beautiful moment and the feeling of an artist towards it will exist in the form of art for a long time.”
Ruo Li was born in 1954, in Hunan Province, China. His lifelong journey of art started from home. When he was about ten years old, his elder brother, who loved painting as well, noticed Ruo Li had the talent of drawing. So his brother started to teach him some basic drawing skills. When Ruo Li entered middle school, he was chosen to be a member of the school art club and received further training from a very strict but well-known teacher. After graduating from high school, Ruo Li was matriculated into the Light Industry Arts and Crafts School with the highest test score. Five years later, Ruo Li, as one of only three students in Hunan Province, was accepted by the prestigious Guangzhou Academy of fine Art and received four-year formal training of oil painting.
Before Ruo Li went to America to attend a personal art show in 1989, he taught for eight years in the Fine Art Department of Henan University. He was the Vice Director of the Teaching and Researching Committee of the Art Department and was in the process of becoming a professor. His trip to the United States has changed the direction of his life. Ruo Li loves the free atmosphere of art creation in America and eventually settled down in California. Five years after he arrived in the United States, Ruo Li was chosen by U.S. Art Magazine as one of the top ten artists to watch in the country. Ruo Li is now a Master Signature Member of Oil Painters of America and a Signature Member of California Art Club.
