As a matter of fact, an original artistic concept, if it is to bring the happiness of creation, has to be in line with the artist's disposition, character, and artistic taste. According to Han, after deciding on maternal love as the connotation behind the Five Friendlies, he considered how to blend the excellent elements of Chinese culture and arts into these images.

He thought of the big-head dolls meant to create a festive atmosphere on traditional festivals, and the tiger hats worn by the children. He went through the costumes of China's 55 ethnic groups, and saw that 28 of those ethnic groups' costumes have the three-tile shaped hats. Besides, the combination of dots and lines also provided inspiration for Han.

Concerning the selection of colors, Han employed bright primitive colors and contrast colors, which, as he later said, comply with Chinese people's traditional aesthetic customs, exhibiting their extreme hospitality and a festive atmosphere while also retaining a relationship with the Five Olympic Rings.

It's always been Han's goal to assimilate nutrients from the folk arts and to find the way to mutually blend traditional and modern arts. For him, the national style, sensibility, and character are the spiritual foundation for his creation.

A Brief Introduction of Han Meilin

Born in Jinan of Shandong Province in 1936, Han Meilin graduated from the Central Academy of Arts & Design in 1960 and was elected director of the Chinese Artists Association in 1979. In 1980, Han went to 21 US cities including New York and Boston, to hold personal painting exhibitions.

Han's paintings and sculptures, mainly themed on animals and figures, represent a subtle combination of Eastern and Western arts. The Han Meilin Studio of the Chinese Artists Association is China's first studio to be named after an artist as well as the first of the association to be headed by a single artist.

Han's most famous works include the Phoenix logo of China International Airlines, the Year of the Pig stamps, and so on. One of his sculptures - Five-Dragon Bell Tower -- was listed as a symbolic sculpture of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Han was also one of the designers of the Beijing Olympic Emblem.

Author: Jessie

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