Comment by Zhao Shaoyan, a guest to “Image Of Soul” Painting Exhibition

Ba Qiu and I were neighbors when we stayed in Rong Bao Zhai Academy of Painting. We often visited each other. Thus, we know each other very well.  Baskets are often seen in Ba Qiu’s works. His depiction of these baskets actually reveals his strong personal style, looking careless but rather serious and delicate in effect. Facing intricate real objects, Ba Qiu can always sit at the table in a down-to-earth manner and get down to painting and telling the art language in his heart. Especially when he is no longer young, he still can break through himself and even outstand himself. That’s rarely seen.  In art style, apart from traditional fine brushwork techniques, he also absorbs black, white and grey Western languages . His brushwork is never stiff or incongruent, but natural and elegant and conveys a strong scholarly flavor.