Birds, Butterfly, Morning Glory Flowers, Bamboo
Chinese Scroll

Soar Into the Sky

Close up view of the flower artwork mounted to this silk brocade wall scroll

This artwork features two birds and a butterfly among palm leaves, morning glory flowers, and bamboo.

The title is 直上雲霄 (Zhí shàng yún xiāo) which literally means "Straight up [to the] clouds and heavens" but is a colloquial way to say, "Soar up into the sky" in Chinese. This is a sign of true accomplishment and success. The title does not directly relate to the artwork, just a nice title, but may refer to the birds' flight.

The inscription and signature read, "辛卯年 碩生" which translates roughly as, "8th-Heavenly-Stem [of the] 4th-Earthly-Branch Year (An indication this was painted in 2011), Shou Sheng".

About the Artist Kang Shuo Sheng

The Artist, Kang Shuo-Sheng

The artist's name is 康碩生 (Kang Shuo-Sheng). Sometime in the Spring of 2012, I met him in Jinan city which is the capital of Shandong Province in northern China. I loved the detail of his work and picked up a few of his pieces. I often keep good ones like this around for my personal decorating, when I am called to decorate a fancy Chinese restaurant. I've had some of these sealed away in a flat file drawer for more than a few years. I guess it's time, like fine wine, to release these to the public.

Kang Shuo-Sheng was born in 1952 in Shandong province. From a young age, he had great interest in traditional Chinese painting style. His formal art studies began in 1978 at the Shandong Art Institute. His specialty quickly became bird and flower paintings.

Soon after, he opened his own studio and has quite a following in Shandong, and the rest of northern China. After a fellowship at the Tianjin Art Institute in 2001, he developed an interest in emulating the art styles seen during the Yuan, Ming, and early Qing dynasties.