During Chinese New Year vacation, crew members of the Shenzhou-15 flight held the second “Tiangong Space Station Art Exhibition” in their space trip. A painting namedOur Quest is the Sea of Stars, portraying taikonauts swimming with a whale was selected, which was drawn by Liu Xinrong, a student of Shenzhen University’s College of Management. “My painting was displayed by a taikonaut in a ‘cosmic level’ art exhibition. I believe there are no other New Year gifts better than this!” Liu said.
Liu Xinrong and his paintingOur Quest is the Sea of Stars/Source: Xinrong
InAugust 2022, around his 18 years birthday, Liu saw the news that the “Tiangong Space Station Art Exhibition” is collecting artworks, hereupon he began to draw. Liu’s painting, entitledOur Quest is the Sea of Stars, portrayed the magical scene of taikonauts swimming with a whale. He introduced that, the painting’s name was inspired by the slogan of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which he felt very romantic when he first saw it. Liu spent ten days finishing this black-and-white decorative painting, an unusual path as he described, “I considered that many colorful artworks will be on show (in the exhibition), hence I wanted to draw something different. I follow the relatively ‘abstract’ print style, which enables the audience to imagine extensively.”
Liu’s painting depicts the operating China’s space station in the boundless universe, where a taikonaut is working, while the other one is roaming outside. Underneath the space station, a big whale emerges, which is Liu’s favorite originality. By this imaginative picture of taikonauts swimming with a whale, Liu wanted to demonstrate the peaceful co-existence between man and nature, in which the whale represented the image of “sea”.
Taikonaut Zhang Lu introduces Liu’s painting in “Tiangong Space Station Art Exhibition” / Source: video screenshot
Liu recorded his reaction in a video during the exhibition. When Liu found that the taikonaut Zhang Lu introduced “this painting was drawn by Liu Xinrong, from Shenzhen (University)”, he was so shocked that he opened his eyes and mouth widely, and stretched his body forward to the computer screen to gaze closely. The moment he confirmed that the painting was his work, Liu waved his arms and shouted “My painting ‘rose up to the sky’, this is beyond my wildest dream!” “Wow! Great! I can’t believe my eyes, this is true!”. “I was so excited at that time! Although I don’t major in art, my painting can still compete with other artworks of nationwide outstanding contestants, and then be selected to show in such a high-level art exhibition.” Liu said.
