Born in Beijing, Mao Yigang graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Known for his realistic yet idealized landscape paintings of the panorama in China, Yigang integrates the techniques of the Eastern and Western landscape tradition into his paintings. His objective is to have his paintings exude a sense of beauty, peace, and tranquillity, since he believes that Nature holds the power of healing. More importantly, he paints the gardens of Guilin as they embody the ideal spiritual state that the ancient Chinese literati aspire to. As such, his paintings transcend the mere physical environment, as Mao aspires to express a state of being, that goes beyond the structural and formalist properties of the painting. In doing so, ...