Hi艺术

On April 29, Running Sunflowers, a solo art exhibition by artist Lu Yun, opened at T Gallery in Changsha.
The exhibition features over 30 new works from Lu Yun’s sunflower series created in recent years, including easel paintings and installation art. It comprehensively presents the complete life cycle of sunflowers, from seed germination to full bloom. 
The exhibition will remain open until July 22.

文/张鉴瑞
By Zhang Jianrui  

2000年代初，卢云离开父母身边来到江西师大学习绘画，我们第一次相遇时她就悄悄告诉我，立志要做一个画家！那一刻，她眼神里透出的坚定自信、干净明亮的光芒让我难忘。

卢云极为珍惜学习时光，她身上的那种自律精神让我们刮目相看：她坚持每天晨起练习儿时学过的武术，认真完成课堂长期的素描和色彩作业，晚上用来听古典音乐和广泛阅读。她深知自己的长处与短板：她不愿追随院校科班千人一面的绘画风格，她需要的是在画布上画出更有个性和创造力的东西。她渐渐与同学的画法及观念拉开了距离，画面常常呈现出奇异的感觉，她大胆的尝试新的构图与造型方式，辅以热情奔放的色彩让人炫目，也让我诧异。她的独特的艺术感觉和创造力让我暗暗为她高兴，决心要全力呵护这颗有希望的艺术种子，她需要更肥沃土地和雨露滋润。离校时我语重心长地对她给予建议：你的天性异于常人，你应该去一个更适合的环境深造而不要轻易放弃你对艺术的追求，去北京是最佳选择，因为那里有最好的艺术氛围和名师。尔后，她带上画具驾车北上，开始了她艺术深造的求学之路。

In the early 2000s, Lu Yun left her family to study painting at Jiangxi Normal University. When we first met, she confided in me privately that she aspired to become a painter. I still remember the resolve, self-assurance, and the pure, bright light shining in her eyes at that moment.

Lu Yun cherished her school days deeply, and her self-discipline impressed all those around her. She stuck to practicing martial arts she had learned in her childhood every early morning, conscientiously finished long-term sketch and color assignments for her courses, and spent her evenings listening to classical music and reading extensively. She had a clear understanding of her strengths and weaknesses. Unwilling to follow the stereotypical painting style prevalent among academic students, she endeavored to create works with greater individuality and creativity on canvas. Gradually, her painting approaches and artistic concepts diverged from those of her peers. Her works often embodied a surreal charm. She boldly experimented with innovative compositions and modeling techniques, complemented by bold, unrestrained colors that were dazzling and even astonishing to me. Delighted by her unique artistic sensibility and creativity, I resolved to fully nurture this promising artistic talent, who deserved richer soil and nourishment to thrive. Upon her graduation, I offered her earnest advice: endowed with an extraordinary innate temperament, she ought to pursue further studies in a more suitable environment and never give up her pursuit of art. Beijing, with its premier artistic atmosphere and renowned masters, would be her optimal choice. Soon after, she packed up her painting tools, drove northward, and embarked on her journey of advanced artistic study.
 

如果说南昌为卢云人生的重要节点上播下了一颗艺术的种子，那么在北京的几年里，便是破土发芽，破土是需要勇气和力量的，这种力量来自于卢云的坚韧不拔的意志。

北京期间卢云她沉下心来，她整整用了十年光阴潜心回归、深耕写实造型，硬是把写实功底打磨到很高的水准。从严谨的纸本素描、精细的木口版画到油画课堂写生；从小幅的木炭涂抹，到巨幅的丙烯、油画创作，数量达到了数千幅，2010年，油画作品《春天的希望》入选“艺术家眼中的当代中国”，在写实绘画高手如林的画家中斩获全国优秀奖，这无疑给了她莫大的鞭策于激励，几年后又多次入选全国青年美展、全国美展等重要学术展览，其中，油画人物画创作《帕米尔草原上的哈丽恰》入选“最绘画”中国青年油画展，成绩十分亮眼。

If Nanchang sowed the seed of art at a pivotal juncture in Lu Yun’s life, her years in Beijing allowed the seed to break through the soil and sprout—a process demanding immense courage and fortitude, drawn from Lu Yun’s unwavering perseverance.

During her time in Beijing, Lu Yun settled into a state of profound concentration. She devoted a full decade to immersing herself in and refining realistic painting techniques, honing her craftsmanship to an exceptional level of proficiency. Her practice spanned meticulous paper sketches, refined woodcut prints, and oil painting life sketches; from small charcoal drafts to large-scale acrylic and oil paintings, she produced thousands of works in total. In 2010, her oil painting Hope of Spring was selected for the exhibition Contemporary China Through Artists’ Eyes and won a National Excellent Award amid numerous masterful realistic painters, serving as tremendous encouragement and motivation for her. In the following years, her works were repeatedly shortlisted for major academic exhibitions including the National Young Artists Exhibition and the National Art Exhibition. Among them, her figure oil painting Halicha on the Pamir Grasslands was selected for The Finest Paintings National Young Oil Painting Exhibition, marking an outstanding artistic achievement.

 

卢云自年少便笃志从艺，天资才情与沉静定力兼具，是当下少见的综合素质全面、跨界多维发展的艺术家。她不囿于单一画科，深耕之余兼修钢琴、习武修身，心性与艺理同进，格局自是与众不同。离南昌赴京深造后，卢云入中央美术学院系统研学，先在版画系第三工作室受教于王华祥、康剑飞名师门下，积淀扎实造型功底，后进入油画系第三工作室，追随谢东明、刘小东、喻红诸位先生深造，博采各家之长，不断拓宽自身的艺术认知与创作边界。她向来珍视每一次学术交流与向名师求教的机缘。2011年，享誉国际的美国新表现主义画家、雕塑家艾瑞克·费舍尔（Eric Fischl,1948——)来华开展学术讲座，卢云全程陪同交流，费舍尔先生更是亲临她的创作工作室，面对面为其创作思路与作品方向悉心点拨指导，2012年6月，中央美院油画系特邀纽约艺术学院罗拉·菲卓尔（Laura Frazure)教授前来讲学，专攻艺用解剖与写实雕塑研究，卢云潜心跟随研修，精研人体骨骼与造型结构，夯实写实根基。

Lu Yun had aspired to an artistic career from an early age, blessed with innate talent as well as calm resolve. She is a rare contemporary artist with comprehensive artistic attainments and interdisciplinary development. Beyond focusing on painting, she also studies piano and practices martial arts to cultivate her mind, achieving harmony between spiritual cultivation and artistic philosophy, which sets her apart with a distinctive artistic vision. After leaving Nanchang for further studies in Beijing, Lu Yun pursued systematic training at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She first studied under renowned masters Wang Huaxiang and Kang Jianfei in the Third Studio of the Printmaking Department, laying a solid foundation in plastic arts. Later, she entered the Third Studio of the Oil Painting Department to further her studies under Xie Dongming, Liu Xiaodong, Yu Hong and other distinguished professors. Drawing on the strengths of each master, she continuously broadened her artistic cognition and creative boundaries. She has always valued every opportunity for academic exchange and guidance from celebrated artists.

In 2011, Eric Fischl (1948– ), an internationally acclaimed American Neo-Expressionist painter and sculptor, delivered an academic lecture in China. Lu Yun accompanied him throughout the event and engaged in in-depth exchanges. Mr. Fischl even visited her personal studio, offering thoughtful guidance on her creative ideas and artistic direction face to face. In June 2012, the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts invited Professor Laura Frazure from the New York Academy of Art to give lectures focused on artistic anatomy and realistic sculpture. Lu Yun studied under her devotedly, delving into human skeletal structures and plastic modeling to further consolidate her realistic painting fundamentals.
 

同年，卢云远赴美国纽约，专程前往大卫·萨利先生（David Salle  1952——)的工作室登门求教，沉浸式感受国际艺术大家的创作理念与工作室创作氛围，2013年，世界知名摄影大师拉夫·吉普森（Ralph Gibson  1939——)到访美院讲学，卢云全程追随聆听、深度交流。为精进艺道、开阔国际视野，卢云又多次往返美国，持续登门拜访这些当代国际艺术大家。诸位大师从创作观念、语言表达到艺术思考，都给予她宝贵的启发与指引。一路师承名家、跨界研学、跨越国界求教，让卢云的艺术学习之路层次丰盈，也渐渐形成了她独立、多元且极具个人思考的艺术面貌。

In the same year, Lu Yun traveled all the way to New York, USA, to pay a personal visit to David Salle (1952– ) at his studio. She immersed herself in the creative concepts and working atmosphere of this contemporary art master. In 2013, world-renowned photography master Ralph Gibson (1939– ) visited the Central Academy of Fine Arts for lectures, and Lu Yun attended all sessions and engaged in profound dialogue with him. To refine her artistic pursuit and broaden her international perspective, Lu Yun traveled back and forth to the United States on multiple occasions to continue seeking advice from these leading contemporary artists. These masters offered her invaluable inspiration and guidance in creative concepts, expressive language and artistic thinking. Her artistic journey, shaped by mentorship from celebrated artists, interdisciplinary learning, and cross-border artistic exchanges, has become rich and layered, gradually fostering her independent, diverse, and thoughtfully unique artistic style.

见多识广的卢云渐渐在青年一代画家中小有名气，引得国内油画界的关注。

在北京离中央美院最近的地方，卢云有了一间偌大的艺术工作室和一个美丽的大花园， 阳光从北窗均匀洒落，让满目鲜花工作室里倍感艺术的温馨，这空间本身就是一座温房，让卢云这颗不安分的种子自由、安心地发芽。

2016年我专程去看望她，见面交流之后，内心满是惊喜与感慨。回想早年在校时的卢云，性格叛逆，画风独特，显露出极强的个性，如今卢云虽然取得了令人瞩目的成就，距她做最好艺术家的美梦越来越近，但从不满足自己，在赞誉加身之后，她又放下一切，用六七年时间静心沉淀、放眼世界，不断寻找属于自己的艺术语言表达，实属难能可贵。她不仅从中国传统文化和少数民族以及民间刺绣色彩系统中汲取营养，她还游历世界各地写生，将天地草木之心的热爱贯穿在多个系列的创作中：美洲的斑马、肯尼亚的猛兽、坦桑尼亚的长颈鹿、西藏的羚羊，热带海洋生物、人物花卉，甚至风雨雷电都成为她描绘的题材，不断有大幅丙烯和油画创作出现，所有的画面笔触奔放，色彩强烈，使得无论在什么展地场合，卢云作品的辨识度极高。

近年，她最爱画的是向日葵，当然不只是因为梵高的原因。为了追寻生命寓意的密码，她亲手把热爱的葵花籽种在工作室的户外，每天为它浇培，静待它破土发芽、就像回看自己的艺术道路一般，待到向日葵热情的绽放的时刻，她支起画布对在葵园里写生，黄色的葵瓣光芒四射，它的花杆直挺支撑葵盘向阳而生，衬以淡紫色的背景，足以让观众炫目，这是卢云的绽放。 

2026年4月在长沙T画廊的“世界第三极·奔跑的向日葵”个展上，我欣喜的看到了她艺术上的成熟与蜕变。向日葵系列已经形成高度个人化的的卢云式艺术符号。在T画廊的展览中，她不只是单纯架上绘画，还融入立体装置艺术，创作“籽生山山”装置作品，又以近十年绘画历程为蓝本拍摄艺术短片，以绘画、雕塑、装置、影像多维形式，立体完整地呈现了卢云自己的艺术世界。

With broad knowledge and profound insight into art, Lu Yun gradually gained fame among young painters and drew widespread attention from China’s oil painting circle.

Near the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Lu Yun owns a spacious art studio accompanied by a large beautiful garden. Sunlight streams evenly through the north windows, filling the studio adorned with blooming flowers with artistic warmth. This space itself is like a greenhouse, allowing this restless artistic seed to germinate freely and peacefully.

In 2016, I paid her a special visit. Our conversation left me filled with pleasant surprise and heartfelt reflection. Recalling the younger Lu Yun in college—rebellious in temperament and unique in painting style with striking individuality—today, though she has attained remarkable accomplishments and draws ever closer to her dream of becoming a top-tier artist, she never rests on her laurels. Amid widespread acclaim, she stepped back from worldly fame and spent six to seven years in quiet introspection and global exploration, persistently searching for her own unique artistic language—a truly admirable spiritual pursuit.

She draws nourishment not only from traditional Chinese culture, ethnic minority arts and the color systems of folk embroidery, but also travels around the world for sketching, embedding her profound love for nature, plants and all living creatures into her creative series. Her subject matters cover zebras in America, wild beasts in Kenya, giraffes in Tanzania, antelopes in Tibet, tropical marine life, figures, flowers, and even wind, rain, thunder and lightning. She has created numerous large-scale acrylic and oil paintings with unrestrained brushstrokes and intense colors, making her works highly recognizable at any exhibition venue.

In recent years, sunflowers have become her favorite theme of creation, not merely because of Van Gogh. In pursuit of the symbolic code of life, she planted sunflower seeds herself in the outdoor area of her studio, watering and nurturing them every day, watching them break through the soil and grow—just as she looks back on her own artistic journey. When the sunflowers burst into brilliant bloom, she set up her canvas to paint en plein air in the sunflower garden. The golden petals radiate dazzling light, their straight stems standing tall to hold the sunward flower discs, set against soft lavender backgrounds. This is the blooming of Lu Yun herself.

At her solo exhibition The Third Pole of the World · Running Sunflowers held at T Gallery in Changsha in April 2026, I witnessed the maturity and transformation of her art. The sunflower series has evolved into a highly personalized artistic symbol exclusive to Lu Yun. Beyond traditional easel paintings, the exhibition integrated three-dimensional installation art with her installation work Seed Breeds Mountains. She also produced an art short film based on her decade-long painting journey. Through the multidimensional forms of painting, sculpture, installation and video, she presented her inner artistic world in a comprehensive and three-dimensional manner.