LU Guanyu (Artistic Name: Muran Gong) is a pioneering contemporary painter, renowned for founding the distinctive “Fantasy-Color Freehand” style. His practice is a spiritual exploration deeply rooted in Eastern philosophy while actively engaging in a dialogue with the global contemporary visual language.
Muran Gong: The Promise of a Name
“Muran Gong” is more than an artistic pseudonym; it is a clear lineage of artistic and intellectual inheritance. The characters “Mu” (木) and “Gong” (公) are derived from the “Song” (松) in his birth name, “LU Jinsong.” The central and revered character “Ran” (然) pays direct homage to his intellectual source—the late artist-philosopher Master Ran (Cui Qiyuan), professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. This meticulously crafted name symbolizes an artistic life akin to an ancient pine tree: its roots delve deep into the soil of tradition, while its branches strive upward toward the contemporary sky, aiming to continue and revitalize the master’s transcultural vision.
From Foundation to Germination
LU Guanyu received rigorous early training in both Chinese and Western painting techniques. The profound teachings of Master Ran, especially the principle of “taking creation as the teacher,” became a pivotal turn in his path, guiding him from depicting external forms to exploring internal mindscapes and cosmic order. He immersed himself in studying the essence of great traditions, such as the brushwork of Huang Binhong and the composition of Li Keran, not to replicate but to comprehend their core. After mastering traditional artistry and philosophy, he resolved to “paint his own self, standing tall,” thereby founding the new aesthetic system of “Fantasy-Color Freehand.”
Fantasy-Color Freehand: A Contemporary Translation
“Fantasy-Color Freehand” seeks to answer a fundamental question: How can the spirit of ink painting be reborn in the contemporary era? His solution is a translation at the level of “grammar.” He preserves the freehand core and spatial philosophy of ink art while boldly introducing intense subjective color and light-shadow structures, creating a unique technical language of “Three Inks, Five Colors, Two Lights.” This gives his works a visually international quality of abstraction and elusiveness, yet their underlying structure, breath, and power undoubtedly stem from the lineage of Chinese landscape art spanning millennia. His paintings thus become bridges connecting classical artistic conception with contemporary perception.
Today, as the founder of the Muran Gong Fantasy-Color Freehand Research Institute, he continues to advance this system through creation, research, and education. His works are not only expressions of a personal journey but also a dedicated effort to allow aesthetic wisdom originating from the East to contribute a unique and irreplaceable perspective to the world’s contemporary art landscape.
