Dou Liangyu 窦良羽

Born in Leling, Shandong Province in 1976, Dou Liangyu studied with Li Xiaoxuan, and obtained his M.F.A. degree from the Chinese Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. Currently living in Tianjin and working at the academy with a number of "New Literati" artists, Dou Liangyu belongs to a group of artists who use a vivid style to depict the often unglamorous and mundane life of common people. There are two major topics in Dou's paintings—childhood in the countryside and city life. Growing up in the countryside, Dou is nostalgic of his carefree childhood and in contrast he depicts contemporary city life as amusing or absurd and teeming with people, symbolic of the over-population of China's urban centers.