The Spirit of the Mountain — Zhuo Hejun Solo Exhibition opens in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Jan 18. [Photo provided to ezhejiang.gov.cn]

An exhibition focusing on the works of renowned Zhejiang artist Zhuo Hejun opened in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Jan 18.

The ongoing exhibition, held at the Art Museum of the China Academy of Art and titled Spirit of the Mountain — Zhuo Hejun Solo Exhibition, showcases over 180 landscape paintings by Zhuo, who is also a professor at the academy.

A member of the Chinese Artists Association, Zhuo Hejun was born in 1943 in Hangzhou. He was enrolled in the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, one of the predecessors of CAA, and graduated with a master's degree in Chinese landscape painting.

He traveled to the United States twice between 1987 and 1989, delivering lectures and holding solo exhibitions.

It is this experience that got him immersed in the contemporary art scene in the West and caused him to reflect on the nature of traditional Chinese painting.

Since then, he has been fascinated with expressionism in Western art and combined it with the unique artistic techniques of traditional painting, giving rise to a broad visual language in which the abstraction of the Western world and the charm of Eastern landscapes, or shan shui, interweave and advance together, according to the organizers of the exhibition.

"Landscape painting requires a broad and deep mindset, an expansive vision to fully capture and interpret the world," said Zhuo. "The visual perspective in Chinese painting embodies this philosophy."

Divided into five sections, the exhibition systematically traces the development of Zhuo's paintings from his younger years to his more recent works.

The exhibition will run until Feb 23.

The Spirit of the Mountain — Zhuo Hejun Solo Exhibition opens in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Jan 18. [Photo provided to ezhejiang.gov.cn]

The Spirit of the Mountain — Zhuo Hejun Solo Exhibition opens in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Jan 18. [Photo provided to ezhejiang.gov.cn]