FIRST Place Award Winner:
Richard Barber/ UK

Richard Barber is a painter who now lives in Anshan City in the Province of Liaoning, Northern China. He moved to China in 2004 and has now made his home there. He is currently a member of the Shenyang & Liaoning Institute of Fine Art.

"My art is what I describe as realistic but not photographic, with varied subject matter; some landscape, cityscape, seascape, figurative, still life and portraits, a bit of a mixture, like they say variety is the spice of life." Richard works mainly in oils, but enjoys experimenting in other mediums such as watercolour and acrylic.

He feels priviledged living in China, where he finds a wealth of traditional Chinese art to learn."I feel that art brings out the best in people and that we can learn a lot from the Chinese regarding art. In my art I try to make it a pleasant and enjoyable journey in to the inner mind for the viewer, leaving them in a pleasant and tranquil mood, as all art should be viewed and absorbed like a good book, one that makes the mind wander through it's pages, far away from the trials and tribulations of everyday life, into another world.

GALLERY COMMENT::

Richard Barber is inspired by the beauty and majesty of China - the old and the new. Realistic oil paintings which examine a quiet China, and explore the rhythms of Nature with great sensitivity. He paints the big landscape, creating a "full" scene, from foreground to infinite background and the details in between, much in keeping with traditional Chinese landscape.