Category: Chinese Bamboo Artwork

Charcoal Bamboo Portrait

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Charcoal Bamboo Portrait line
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43"
(109cm)
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arrow 15½"
(39.5cm)		 arrow




Typical Gallery Price: $90.00

Your Price:
US$39.95U.S. Dollars

GBP £24.25British Pounds
Euro €26.97Euro
Canadian $42.81Canadian Dollars
Australian $43.95Australian Dollars

See how "Charcoal Bamboo Portrait" would look after being professionally framed

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Approximate Measurements:
15½" x 43"   (39.5cm x 109cm)


Charcoal Bamboo Portrait

This work was done in Beijing by Mr. Wang (as told in the story below). It is done on special white art paper. It's a very nice black and white image created by his skilled hand with just a few tiny pieces of charcoal.

The result is a simply elegant bamboo portrait.

Bamboo has a deeper meaning in Chinese culture.
Bamboo represents the aspects to a true noble gentleman.
Bamboo is straight (honest), and Chinese people also believe that bamboo represents the modesty, strength, and never gives up because it continues to grow taller and taller.
All of the traits of a good man.

This is the story of the first time I stumbled across Mr. Wang in his obscure art studio just outside Beijing, China during the Winter of 2002...

I walk in without saying a word, he just looks up for a second and nods at me which lets me know it's okay to be there.
He's working on the bamboo picture that you see in the picture below. I snap a few pictures and wait silently.

Mr. Wang, some called him a peasant, as if it's an insult. I call him an artist of hidden talents.

The temperature is below freezing, but somehow his ungloved agile hand smoothly creates the stock and leaves of a beautiful bamboo.

He finally finishes and looks at me with a puzzled face.
I ask (in Chinese) how much he wants for his beautiful charcoals...
...I see a look of relief on his face when he hears me speak and he laughs out loud.

He tells me that he was worried about how he was going to talk to me, because he thought that no foreigners could speak Chinese.
He says that he can't speak a single word of English except for "hello" (which he practices for me several times with lots of laughter).

He tells me that he's from the countryside and had come to Beijing to sell his artwork and find a better life.
Looking around his studio, I begin to wonder if it's also where he lives. The cold winter breezes blow straight through the place. To keep warm his little stove in the corner does the best it can. However, the poor stove is looking rather defeated as the chill sets in.
As I began to wonder, he answers my question before I ask it. He tells me that life is a lot better since he came to Beijing to sell his artwork.

His wife arrives and pours some tea for us...

I pick out a few of his charcoals and don't bother to bargain too much - I know he needs the money (if you don't bargain at all, you lose face in Chinese culture and are seen as a fool - so I have to bargain to a little).

After that, we sit around and talk about Mr. Wang and his wife's family and what kind of Chinese tea is best...

2005 Update: Mr. Wang has found himself a nice place to live in a village not too far from Beijing. He is in his element where he feels that he belongs, a small farming village. He likes the simple life and he is really enjoying his retirement now. He doesn't need to be in the big city very often as I buy most of the art that he creates. And, since I have exposed his artwork to the world, other sellers of Asian folk art now seek him out to buy his beautiful drawings. Sometimes he comes to Beijing to drop off some of his new charcoal art to me, and sell some of his artwork at a local arts and antiques market in Beijing. When he comes to the city, I know he can't wait to get back to the country. When I am in the country picking up art from Mr. Wang or another artist, I often wonder which life is better.
I have yet to draw any conclusions...

I guess there is more to the story that you should know. You see, Mr. Wang had to keep his talents hidden for many years. Chairman Mao - Responsible for the deaths of up to 10 million people in China while trying to destroy the true culture and future of China
It all started when China was thrown into turmoil after the Japanese invaded and WWII took it's toll on the country.
After Chairman Mao took power in 1949, China's fate was sealed, and the country was changed forever.
After a few of Mao's plans went disastrously wrong, a new plan called "The Cultural Revolution" was implemented throughout China.
At first, it seemed like a good idea to many Chinese people, but spiraled into a catastrophe that set China back 20 years and cost millions of people their lives.
(This is a much deeper topic that you can Google later)

The Cultural Revolution eventually caused intellectuals, educators, and artists to be persecuted and either killed or forced to become peasants in the farmlands of China. The only way to escape this fate was to flee the country.

During this time, Mr. Wang would not even dare to decorate his own home with his artwork, much less try to sell it. He just lived as a peasant farmer for many years, and occasionally, he would scribble a drawing on an old newspaper or even a leaf with bits of charcoal from his cooking stove.

Finally, after Chairman Mao's death, things have been getting better. China now has a virtually free-market economy, and capitalism is everywhere. Artists are now free to sell their wares from their homes, studios and markets. Techniques for creating art that date back thousands of years are alive and well as the artistic community is once again flourishing in China.

And finally, Mr. Wang has been able to trade in his plow for some paper and pieces of charcoal. And now he can express all of the beautiful images that were held captive in his mind for so many years.

The image above shows a slightly cropped view of this work.
The measurements shown reflect the overall size.
I think you will want to crop this horizontally by an inch or so and of course when you get this framed, your matting will cover any slightly rough edges of the paper.


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Typical Gallery Price: $90.00

Your Price:
US$39.95U.S. Dollars

GBP £24.25British Pounds
Euro €26.97Euro
Canadian $42.81Canadian Dollars
Australian $43.95Australian Dollars

All orders billed in U.S. Dollars.
Other currencies shown for reference at approximate exchange rates.


Item Location: USA
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Gary's random little facts about China:

Vehicular and Pedestrian Yielding Quotient
When crossing a street, or merely making your way down the road, there is a certain law of physics that comes into play: When two forces meet, one must yield.

Here is the general yielding scheme in China:

Cars yield to big buses and trucks.

Bicycles and cars mingle and narrowly avoid each other. When push comes to shove, the bicyclist knows he will lose the fight. But the car driver knows that the bicycle will scratch his car when he runs it over, and will only yield on that premise.

Cars will not yield to, but are required to avoid pedestrians. When you hit a pedestrian at low speed, it does very little damage, and unlike a bicycle, will almost never scratch your car. Therefore pedestrians are given a smaller margin.
Note: Regardless of green or red stop lights, it is against the law to come to a complete stop when making a right hand turn in China (no matter how many pedestrians are in the way). The rule is "honk and avoid, then continue on your way".

Motor scooters yield to no one, not even when they are being driven on a pedestrian-filled sidewalk. Motor scooters zip around like they have nothing to lose - this may be true, as smaller motor scooters require no license of any kind and are very cheap.

If you are driving on the wrong side of the road, or going the wrong way on a one-way street, you do not have to yield to anyone, no matter what kind of vehicle you are operating.

Cars will yield (not by choice) to pedestrians crossing the street in numbers greater than 10 (it is best in China to invite 9 of your friends for an outing if you plan to cross a lot of streets).

In lieu of yielding, drivers are required to honk at pedestrians. I swear to God, this is the law! It's a safety issue: If you are passing a pedestrian that is walking on the side of the road, you are required by law to honk at them to let them know you are there.
Note: All streets in Chinese cities, sound like a New York traffic jam 24 hours per day with all this "safety honking".

I have not been able to find a traffic law that states you must yield to ambulances. And in practice, very few drivers do.

When two large vehicles come face to face on a narrow roadway, and neither can pass, neither will yield. They will sit there, honking at each other for a while. After several cars are lined up behind them, they will decide that they should have yielded earlier, and start to back up. This is to the great dismay of all the cars behind them who will honk in unison. This could go on for an hour or more. It ends when a police officer arrives, tells both drivers what idiots they are, issues tickets to both of them, and then systematically makes the situation worse by insisting that all the smaller cars turn around (rather than back up) by making 162-point turns in the small roadway. Eventually, two of the cars will hit each other, for which both drivers will be cited and fined on the spot.

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