My return to woodblock printmaking during the summer leads me to search the internet for inspiring artists in the medium. The Japanese are credited with taking woodblock to its' highest form. However, the Chinese are credited with inventing the medium and spreading it to Korea and Japan. Here are some excellent Chinese woodblock printmakers I find inspiring.

Li Yanpeng - born 1958

Li Yanpeng is an outstanding Chinese printmaker - in many ways. He is extremely serious about his art prints. He creates them in reduction woodblock technique - realistic images of rural scenes from the Loess Plateau along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtse River. His compositions are painstakingly created with extremely fine lines.

Li Yanpeng is one of today's recognized and established top artists in China. His woodblock prints are rare and prices are elevated. However not expensive when you take into consideration how much time and effort it requires to create one design and when you look at the edition sizes of only 20-30.

The artist's subjects are unusual - goats, cattle, donkeys and the local people from the Loess Plateau. No artist who strives for fame and recognition would normally choose such subjects. It is nothing that caters to an international art collector public. But that is Li Yanpeng. He lives for his art, and he could care less about what an international art scenes buys easily. And nevertheless, or maybe just because of his "neglect" of the market, Li Yanpeng has become so successful.