Ma Kelu first rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a member of a circle of largely self-taught, underground artists based in Beijing, who worked in direct contravention of the Chinese government's official sponsorship of Socialist Realism.
24 Facts About Ma Kelu
1.
2.
Ma Kelu is an artist who "has always kept away from the mainstream and has never compromised, whether at home or abroad," said painter and critic Chen Danqing.
3.
Ma Kelu moved to Beijing with his father in 1960 and entered primary school in 1961.
4.
Ma Kelu returned to Beijing in 1972 and worked in the Chaoyangmennei Restaurant, managed by the Food and Drinks Company of the Eastern District.
5.
Ma Kelu participated in an underground art exhibition of what was to become the Wuming Painters Group.
6.
Ma Kelu then participated in the first and second public exhibitions of the Wuming Painters Group in Beijing in 1979 and 1981 respectively.
7.
Ma Kelu resigned from his work to become a freelance artist in September 1984.
8.
Ma Kelu moved back to Beijing in 2006 and set up a studio in Beigao, the rural part of Beijing.
9.
Ma Kelu enjoys painting because it has brought him an immense amount of joy.
10.
Between 1970 and 1972, Ma Kelu was sent to the countryside to do manual labor along with many of his peers.
11.
Ma Kelu did not paint much outdoors and worked almost exclusively in a studio.
12.
Ma Kelu was not able to find huge success by selling his abstract art and so he relied on some old paintings of his that he had brought along with him during his travel to the States.
13.
Ma Kelu made photographic prints and sold them on the streets of New York.
14.
However, Ma Kelu rejected any requests for the originals as those paintings were precious memories of the past, the jewels he keeps for himself.
15.
Ma Kelu did not want to part ways with his paintings until one day when an elderly American couple insisted on buying his original works.
16.
Ma Kelu understood that with his old paintings, he was able to bring about an emotion that was peaceful and calming for his clients.
17.
In 2006, Ma Kelu moved back to China to provide a better living environment for his son, a young artist, and musician who was suffering from depression.
18.
Yet, in 2007, only two weeks after Ma Kelu's father died, his son committed suicide.
19.
Ma Kelu's artwork has been exhibited in Asia, Canada, Europe, and the United States.
20.
Ma Kelu has exhibited in galleries at the 798 Art Zone, and Beijing's Yuan Center.
21.
Ma Kelu has painted a recent series of large-scale landscapes in the classical Chinese style, which is then glazed over with a thick layer of wax to create an ethereal and distorted effect.
22.
Since a lot of work was created outdoors, Ma Kelu became extremely sensitive to the divisions of day and night and the changing season.
23.
Many of Ma Kelu's paintings have been paintings of bell towers, drum towers, Shishahai, or the Yinding Bridge because his home was close to these places.
24.
Ma Kelu experienced some struggles as he and his groups were working on en Plein air paintings.