Kai Lun Qu - Always Try and Think Outside the Box When It Comes to Educating Yourself (Artist from China)

I am very interested in the theme of painting from life and documenting the beauty of nature from one's eye. I feel that there are so many paintings that explore overly complex concepts and themes in the contemporary art world that my aim is to go the complete opposite route, which is to depict the simplistic beauty that life and nature present at face value.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I was born in Tianjin, China, and came to the US when I was 2. I grew up in California for the entirety of my childhood. I’ve always loved drawing anime as a kid but was never truly serious about it until high school. I started my art journey actually due to having bad grades in middle school.

I barely graduated and my parents made the decision to send me back to my hometown in China to study at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts high school due to my father’s position as an art professor in the college division of the Academy. For my sophomore year, I transferred to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing to study for another half year before finally returning to the states.

I was able to pick up enough bits and pieces of the techniques shown by the teachers and my fellow classmates in China that had allowed me to stand out in the art classes back in the states where I went to attend the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in SF. It was there that I finished my high school education.

When I started learning how to paint there were no teachers I could turn to that would teach me the techniques I was seeking. The college I attended was a modern art school that did not have many resources for these types of techniques.

I seek out many scholarships and free workshops aimed at students in my age range, the first being Daniel Key’s Palette Project, where I was able to study with him for free for one weekend once a year at the Scottsdale Artist School.

When these free workshops were unavailable a majority of the time, I traveled to open model sessions hosted by many ateliers around the east and west coast during my breaks and always made an effort to sit next to or behind the best artist in the room. I soaked up everything I saw from those artists and learned visually to the best of my ability.

2. When and how did you develop an interest in art?

Upon arriving at College at the Maryland Institute College of Arts, I enrolled as an undecided major, since I was reluctant to pursue the path of the fine arts since I found no interest in it initially. I was actually an animation major for the first year at MICA but quickly fell out of its interests as soon as computers were introduced.

Up to this point, I did not know how to paint nor have I ever attempted it seriously. I truly fell in love with the subject of painting during my second year of college, when we took a trip to the National Portrait Gallery in DC where I laid eyes on my first John Singer Sargent painting, “The Spanish Dancer”.

It was during that moment I realized how beautiful painting could be and I instantly made the decision to drop animation and pursue painting full time. I thought to myself “If I could recreate even 10% of the beauty that this Sargent painting possesses, I feel that it would be worth it”.

3. Your artworks are very realistic, so what kind of themes inspires you?

My paintings are actually not realistic in the sense that they depict photographic details, but in fact, are just shapes of abstractions that I see and register through my own eyes.

The imperfections and lack of details are what I believe creates that look of “realism” that allows my viewers to connect with me. I always look to both the old masters and living masters to continue to inspire my craft and further contribute to the dialogue that of which is representational realism.

4. How do you overcome creative block?

Anytime I am facing a block of any kind, I seek inspiration from those I admire. Whether it be going down the rabbit hole of searching up past workshops, demos, events in the form of blogs and videos of the artists I look up to, or just going on social media to see what those artists are up to. I find it especially helpful not only to look at the artist's final work but pictures of them at work, in the studio, or talking about art and life.

There is a video on youtube featuring one of my favorite artists, Richard Schmid that I go to often and watch whenever I need a jolt of inspiration. The video doesn't only showcase Richard's painting, in fact, it barely does.

It shows clips of his life in the studio, talking to his friends, setting up his painting, and even dancing with his wife, Nancy Guzik (who is also an extraordinary artist) in the studio of his Putney Barn.

That video inspires me not because of the techniques shown but because of how much joy Richard has for his life and art in his charismatic personality. That philosophical lifestyle, the joy of painting and living inspires me much more than any technical art videos.

5. What tips would you like to share with aspiring artists?

Be a sponge, get rid of your ego, assume you know nothing until proven otherwise, and most importantly of all, stop locking yourself into a certain “Style”. We are all still students within this lifelong journey of art and it is important for us to continue to grow and learn as much as we can from those who inspire us.

Always try and think outside the box when it comes to educating yourself. My final tip is to always strive for quality over quantity. I’d rather spend 30 minutes painting in deep concentration and investigation as opposed to mindlessly painting for 3 hours. Practice doesn't make perfect, it merely makes permanence, so make sure you’re practicing the right things.

6. Who is your favorite artist and why?

I have many favorite artists for a variety of reasons. The most notable one who made a huge impact on my career as an artist is John Singer Sargent, who opened my eyes up to the beauty of oil painting. Richard Schmid, for inspiring me through his many pearls of wisdom from his Alla Prima book, from which I learned most of everything I know from.

Finally, to my first real Alla prima teacher Daniel Keys, who gave me my first opportunity to step into the world of representational realism through his free workshop program, Palette Project, that allowed young artists like me to study with a master like him free of charge, that of which also opened up many doors for me in terms of meeting my other mentors like Timothy Rees and Michelle Dunaway as well as many of my good fellow painter friends.