Xu Yuan, a 24-year-old professional artist, has focused himself on a type of painting that is rarely favored, and often even shunned, by other young artists.

"Farmer painting," a genre that depicts bucolic scenes and celebrates village life, is the subject of Xu's brush as well as his own new company.

Unlike most artists in this genre, mostly farmers with no training, Xu is a junior majoring in traditional Chinese painting at Guizhou Normal University (GNU) in Guiyang.

While most of his peers prefer modern art and regard folk paintings as unimportant, Xu concentrates solely on this genre, and he plans to devote his career to developing it using the professional elements he learned in school.

"Painting pastoral scenes is not only for farmers. Most art students don't understand this type of work at all, " Xu told the Global Times.

He seems to be alone in his passion for bucolic paintings. "When I mentioned my interest to my schoolmates, they dismissed the genre as peasant art!" Xu told the Global Times. 

Roots on the canvas

Xu comes from an artistic family. His grandfather, father and uncle are all painters in Shuicheng county, Guizhou Province, focusing on scenes of village life and farming. Despite growing up in this atmosphere, Xu says he did not learn to paint at home.

"My father didn't teach me anything about art. When I was young, I used to watch him paint and then I'd steal some of his paper to draw," Xu said.

In 2003, Xu won the Golden Prize at an international art exhibition for teenagers and children hosted by CCTV. Six years later, he was admitted to art school at GNU.

In addition to painting, Xu is also interested in music, calligraphy and other types of art.

"I enjoy the beauty of all arts," Xu said. "All art forms are connected."

To bring some innovation to the genre, Xu likes to paint using elements he learned in school. Though he said he hasn't found a proper way to "balance creativity and the subject's original feeling," he is determined to adopt a seamless fusion in his work.

Despite his urge to introduce different skills into his work, Xu does not believe that his academic background alone will create good art.

To better understand farmers' lives, he spends long stretches of time in rural areas in Guizhou Province, living side by side with farmers.

"The last painting I sold captures the essence of village life," he said. "It is based on an experience I had with several farmers one evening. We chatted, drank baijiu and danced. It was such a warm and happy night that it inspired me to paint."

Promoting a genre

Xu has created more than 30 works, three of which have been collected by the Zhejiang Art Museum in the provincial capital Hangzhou. His most recent piece sold for 18,000 yuan ($2,828), and the most expensive one fetched about 30,000 yuan.

The more he paints, the more his ambition grows.

"I want to capture and preserve our precious folk cultures, especially ethnic minority cultures, and develop them into a kind of art movement, making the genre more popular," Xu said.

The young painter explained that this is what motivated him to gather together several artist friends, as well as his father, to discuss opening an art company devoted to this genre.

"I quickly realized that the folk culture industry won't go far if it continues to produce only handicrafts. I am concerned with how to develop folk art in a more effective way."

However, Xu has run into some obstacles, such as a lack of funds and few interested talents, that have challenges his company. He said he has also learned that he needs to make his business less focused on his own works.

However, Xu remains devoted to art that depicts rural communities, which he says are disappearing rapidly. "There is an urgent need to record and protect them," he said.