Rural clinic

Author: Xie Hongjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The painter depicts the faces twisted by illness, the hands with large joints, and the bent backs in his hometown's rural clinic, experiencing and reflecting on life, aging, sickness, and death. Here, he discovers a profound beauty, captivated by the richness of his inner world and the eccentricity of the characters. He continues to paint one after another, seemingly without end, forgetting the outside world. The works collected in this book not only include his masterpieces but also the extraordinary ideas in his mind; the content expressed goes beyond the small rural clinic and touches upon many fundamental issues of human life. If you don't understand painting, you can still appreciate these sketches; if you don't understand the text, you can still read these words. The biggest takeaway from this Rural Clinic is the seamless integration between text and illustration.
The author is a painter—a painter who, after a period of restless wandering, has found peace and settled down. He lives in the countryside, eating familiar food, speaking a familiar dialect, and a simple but well-known rural clinic has become his daily workplace. Every day, he sees people coming to the clinic suffering from various ailments, their expressions revealing different emotions—some trying to appear calm, others exaggerating their pain. At the intersection of "discomfort" in the human experience, people's experiences more clearly show their attitudes toward life. This deeply moved the young painter Xie Hongjun, and his sensitive nature led him to pick up a brush. On cheap white paper, he quickly recorded fleeting symbols, day after day, year after year. When these sketches became a thick stack, he had created a vivid of the rural streets and alleys. It's not hard to guess that this also includes the painter's own reflections after coming to terms with his pain.
After graduating from art college, the author couldn't find a job he was passionate about and spent some time in his hometown. Every day, he went to a rural clinic to sketch and draw, depicting all kinds of patients. Faced with illness and hardship, he painted while contemplating many life issues and wrote numerous notes. These paintings and writings are a true portrayal of rural China and its farmers, filled with touching moments. The painter depicts the faces twisted by illness, the hands with large joints, and the bent backs in his hometown's rural clinic, experiencing and reflecting on life, aging, sickness, and death. Here, he discovers a profound beauty, captivated by the richness of his inner world and the eccentricity of the characters. He continues to paint one after another, seemingly without end, forgetting the outside world. The works collected in this book not only include his masterpieces but also the extraordinary ideas in his mind; the content expressed goes beyond the small rural clinic and touches upon many fundamental issues of human life.