The development of Chinese landscape painting evolves with changes in the course of history, showing different characteristics and styles during different periods. The Tang Dynasty landscape painting featured golden mountains and green waters while the landscape  during the Song Dynasty was painted with ink-wash, as well as green and blue. Paintings by Huang Gongwang of the Yuan Dynasty were in the colors of light and deep crimson. During the Ming Dynasty, Qiu Ying's light green and blue landscape paintings emerged while the Ming and Qing literati artist regarded ink and wash paintings as the norm.  Landscape paintings hanging on the walls of art galleries during the present time are primarily ink and wash, but interspersed with paintings of light-color impression.

　　In contemporary China, we see Mao Xuefeng's Xinjiang heavy-color landscape paintings. This is another landmark in the history of Chinese landscape painting, and should not be taken lightly. As times change, people's tastes in art and their aesthetic values change. In modern society, life is fast-paced. The subjects for artists of the present time are: how to feel the pulse of Nature that seems afar and depict Nature's poetic beauty, vitality, longings, and emotions. Art critics must be aware of the significance of changes in artistic expression during different times. This was the first impression I had when I saw Mao Xuefeng's recent works.

　　A serious artist must pay attention to the impact of real life and improve his abilities and skills to understand and describe the impact of life. The choice of artistic style is, in essence, the choice of life style, and the choice of artistic medium. Life is art. The only way to inspire artistic inspirations and to enjoy the freedom of the universe is to be immersed in the world of real life and to be master of the artist's artistic world. Naturally, this would require the artist to develop his own style and language to embrace everything in the world that belongs only to him.

　　Located in the heart of the Eurasian continent, Xinjiang has its unique geographic climates, which differ from that in China's Central Plain. Weathered by the vicissitudes of life and washed by the sea, miraculous terrains and landforms were formed, constituting four major geomorphological structures: deserts, the Gobi Desert, oases, and the Tian and Kunlun Mountain ranges. Thus, the traditional gentle brushwork and techniques that artists from the inland typically use for landscape painting are inadequate in depicting Xinjiang's landscape. Nature in Xinjiang demands that an artist re-evaluate his artistic objects. Because of the high altitude in Xinjiang, on a summer evening, it is not till 9 or 10 o'clock that the sun slowly descends. At this moment, dusk starts to fall on the horizon, but the mountains are still bathed in the crimson rays of the sun. Such sceneries do not exist in inland. In addition, many parts in Xinjiang are of the Yadan landform. The colors in these areas are grotesque and bizarre. This visual luxury of rich and kaleidoscope of colors in Nature cannot be imagined by inland painters.

　　There is an old saying: "Each place has its own way feeding its own inhabitants." To borrow this saying, we may say "Each place has its own way nurturing its own artists." Immersion in life is not the purpose of an artist. A play wright is evaluated from the standpoint that which drama is produced from what scene. In other words, the value of an artist and his works are determined based on the fact whether the artist has established an artistic stage that belongs only to himself.

　　Mao Xuefeng was born in the Great Northwest of China. He lived in Xinjiang for more than 20 years. Had Mao not lived in Xinjiang, not fallen love with the area, or had special feelings for Xinjiang’s mountains and waters, it is hard to imagine that he could have painted the heavy-color landscapes of Xinjiang. His art is a gift from Nature. It is also the wisdom and talent of the artist. Mao's dramas are the products of this unique scene. The emotional appeals in his paintings differ from the graceful sentiments in the landscape paintings of South Yangtze River. Mao has blazed a new path in Chinese landscape painting. The key of the modernization of Chinese national art and the innovation of an artistic language is the "scene",the environment in which the artist lives. The experience with small bridges and gentle waters cannot cultivate the words and expressions to describe the towering Himalayas. To master a language is to grasp an entire lifestyle and an artistic form. The boundaries of an artist’s expressions are connected to the boundaries of the world that belongs to the artist.  With no such connections, it is in vain to talk about freedom of art creation or an artistic language of its own style. An artistic language is, in essence, a phenotype of subjective emotions, with roots in history and cultural conditions.

　　The success of an artist is conditioned by the artist's life experience and insights to his culture. However, life experience without cultural sensitivity or a language to express such sensitivity will not ensure the artist’s accomplishments. The success of an artist lies in his sensitivity to Nature's uniqueness and proper solutions to the problems he encounters. This is, in fact, an artist's aesthetic judgment and his artistic practices based on his understanding of the cultural insights. The success of a painter at the present time will also demand a clear direction of the artist. Once the direction is defined, the artist must focus on the subject matter and explore ways to best tackle the myth of the subject matter. The artist must also develop an ideal path of growth, be consistent with the tactics of application. He should not be distracted from solving the issues in art, should not succumb to pressures of fashion, should not interfere with other artists, and should not argue or waste time on meaningless issues outside of art itself. An artist must be persistent with and never give up on his direction of artistic growth.

　　I believe this was the reason that Mao Xuefeng was able to establish his own style. Here, I would also like to point out that some landscape paintings "are stereotyped, showing no creation." Mao's paintings are just the opposite. They "are innovative and lively, showing no imitations." This dialectics of "showing" and "not showing" are the fundamental differences in the quality of an artwork. The former are lifeless imitations, while the later demonstrate life's vigor, originated in emotions and discoveries. The originality and pioneering spirit are the core values of Mao Xuefeng's Xinjiang heavy-color landscape painting. Through deep contemplation, the artist carefully penetrates, refines, and finally transforms his primitive passion for Nature's original beauty into an artistic form of emotions and meanings, in which an integration of self and other, natural life and human life is achieved. This is a realm of ultimate supremacy.

　　China is a country with a civilization of thousands of years. As a national treasure, Chinese landscape painting is a quaintessential cultural manifestation and spiritual wealth we inherited from our ancestors. But the life of art lies in creation. We must respect and carry on traditions and, in the meantime, break away from old traditions and trailblaze   new traditions. We should view art from a new perspective and place art in contemporary life and cultural environment. We borrow from the resources and tactics of all times, but, with the freedom on the new horizon, give full play of our own talent in our own  artistic language. An artist must be avant-garde in his own time and be the voice of the new era.

　　In the early 1980s, I traveled over 30,000 kilometers along the upper regions of the Yellow River regions, in search for the origin of the Great River. The search for the origin of the River was, in reality, a spiritual journey seeking the truth of the Tao. I also ventured a thousand li of glaciers at the head of the Yangtze River, climbed the Himalayas at 6,000 meters above the sea level, set foot on the Karakoram and Pamir plateaus, the Bayan Har and the Tian mountains, and crossed Junggar and the Tarim deserts. These excursions covered tens and thousands of kilometers, and I experienced China's five thousand years of civilization, being one with the Universe, probing the Tao, and feeling the qi of the Nature. My goal was to be able to embrace the grandeur of the past and the present, and profoundness of Chinese culture in my contemporary landscape painting. I strove to form a brand-new style that would transcend the sentiments of life seclusion depicted in classical Chinese landscape painting. Despite the hardships, the most significant accomplishment of my journey to the West Frontier was to construct my own artistic arena and establish my own style.

　　About ten years ago, I went back to Xinjiang and saw Mao Xuefeng's artworks. His paintings at that time, though passionate and powerful, revealed a sign of hastiness. The objects in his paintings were refreshing and lively, but less refined. That might be partly due to the fact of his initial excitement on the subject of Xinjiang. After a decade of exploration, Mao gradually has formed his Xinjiang heavy-color landscape painting that demonstrate both the spirit of the time and the cultural characteristics of the region. It is obvious that Mao’s art is matured, showing more sophisticated cognition of the essence of art. His brushwork is prudent and refined. The usage of colors is particularly shrewd. His artistic accomplishments are the results of his continuous explorations and bold creation.

　　Late Tang poet-painter Wang Wei promoted the idea of ink and wash and rejected the tradition of bright-colored landscape painting. Thus, for a period of time, ink-wash painting was highly regarded. But ink-and-wash slights colors, pays no attention to the form, to real-life situation, or to the connections with the masses. Mao's artwork has shown bold breakthrough of this tradition. His artwork is firmly positioned in depicting colors, using heavy colors and dark ink to replace ink and wash, and has formed a sharp contrast to ink-wash painting. Mao's paintings emphasize the visual effectiveness and the nuanced emotional changes, and have seamlessly integrated the grandeur and grotesque colors of the Xinjinag landscape and the ink-and-wash technique in classical Chinese painting. Mao has created a unique artistic language for the geographic landform and indigenous culture of Xinjiang, revealing an ideal aesthetic harmony.

　　Mao Xuefeng also borrows from techniques in Western painting, combining the dot-and-line technique in traditional Chinese painting with the block-and-plain technique in Western painting to create a spectacular three-D view of the unparalleled power and charms of the boundless land in Xinjiang, a land that is enchanted by the mystic effects of sandiness and erosions of wind, rain, and waters. Mao's recent works, such as "The Heaven," "The Autumn of Altai," "Silent Plain," "Mountain Rhythm," "The Leisure of Heaven and Earth," "Bent on Memorial Ceremony," "Purple Clouds of Kunlun Mountain," "Sprinkling of the Sound of Mountains," and "Pouring from Heaven," are flawless with inner strength. The brushworks are simple and consistent; the colors are elegant and opulent; the layout is luxuriant. The sophisticated strikes vividly capture a mystic beauty in the tranquil and desolate Nature. I marveled at Mao Xuefeng's much improved artistic skills that have gorgeously transformed Nature’s beauty into the spiritual beauty of art. Should Mao’s art works re-evoke the almost unrestrained emotions that were available in his early works, instead of the current pure rational thoughts, should his style be a little more relaxed, his paintings would be even more spectacular. All in all, this album is a collection of Mao Xuefeng's superior works that have showcased youthfulness of art, have revealed the artist's passionate and genuine love of Xinjiang, and have voiced the artist's innermost feelings. They are a combination of rational thinking and emotions. I am satisfied by the invaluable and unusual creativity in Mao's works.

　　The pursuit of art is not a one-time designation. It is progressive, with a semicolon, rather than a full-stop after each step. Mao Xuefeng is an artist with creative spirit. I have no doubt that he will unavoidably encounter more challenges in his career path as an artist. For example, how to make his art more cutting-edge? how to adjust to the changes in style and language? Some of the challenges would require a life-time effort before one reaches the summit. Mao Xuefeng is making such an effort, searching for solutions and methods from the traditions of our nation and of all mankind. Mao Xuefeng’s artistic career can be characterized as a late bloomer. I wonder if Xuefeng would agree with me on my assessment?