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A 7-meter-tall, 5-meter-wide installation sculpture titled "Father" recently debuted at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute graduation exhibition in China, creating a powerful visual impact. The cracked lips, deeply creased face, and other details powerfully conveyed the hardworking, resilient, and stoic qualities of the Chinese farmer. The sculpture was originally based on artist Luo Zhongli's oil painting "Father". When I first saw this portrait sculpture, I was deeply moved, unable to fully express the hardship and difficulties of life that it displayed. Sometimes, the true essence of an artwork lies not in the sculpture itself, but in the feelings it evokes in ordinary people.

This Clay Sculpture took 11 years to transform from a painting to Finish. Each step was meticulously carved. This is an ordinary person, a common man, an anonymous figure, immortalized in sculptural form. We can examine every detail of his face, yet we do not know who he is. He has transcended time and history. The only thing we know is that he is a laborer who has endured immense hardship.

His forehead is entirely lined with wrinkles, as are his hands, face, and entire body. These wrinkles appear to have been carved by a knife, but they are the marks left by the knife of life. The hardships of his labor seem to have carved into his body like a knife. These wrinkles are the traces of his arduous toil. His bronze-colored skin bears witness to his lifelong outdoor, earthen existence. The earth and sun seem to have permeated deep into his skin, altering its color, texture, and patterns, merging him with the land.

Here, we see not only his labor, but also the passage of time - not the specific time he has lived, but the long duration of his ceaseless toil. As he pauses from his endless labor to take a sip of water, we are granted a glimpse of his face - a face in the midst of work, and a hand engaged in the act of lifting a bowl to drink, bringing the hand and face into close proximity and presenting them together. The hand is the primary tool of his labor, while the face displays the marks of that labor, making this portrait sculpture a pure and comprehensive representation of the laboring body.

These two slender, bony fingers, nearly just bones wrapped in skin, appear sharp and dexterous, their skin scarred from countless wounds. One finger is still bandaged, perhaps all of them have been at one point; and once healed, they will be covered in scars like the rest. The nails are rimmed with black grime.

These tiny, inconspicuous fingers now occupy a vast portion of the composition, solely because they are supporting a bowl. These two fingers, along with the others hidden from view, work in concert in different postures and angles to hold up this bowl.

It is a hand hardened by arduous toil, which, alongside the deeply creased face, bears witness to the intensity and duration of his labor, the immense hardships, struggles, and sorrows of his life. Yet, when we look into his eyes, they are so gentle, so calm.

His history, his life, his endless labor, and the hardships it has endured, seem to have left no trace in his eyes, arousing neither anger nor sorrow, nor destroying him. He has quietly accepted these difficulties, not lamenting the injustice of his fate, nor crying out in tragic questioning. His tranquility and forbearance have instead consumed these hardships. His small eyes possess the boundless compassion of the rugged, vast sea.

However, the eyes are not sculpted with clarity. We can sense the softness of his gaze, but we cannot see his eyes clearly, as they are shadowed by his thick brows. They appear small and dark, lacking luster. Only the nose, the cheekbones on either side, the forehead, and the lower lip are brightly lit.

The light is concentrated around the eyes, surrounding them and making them appear even darker, sunken into deep, black holes. Any gaze that escapes from these dark pits will be gentle and feeble, not forceful. The large area of beard casts the lower part of the face in deep shadow.

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