Pang Maokun was born in 1963 in Chongqing, Sichuan province. He graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1985, and received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the same department in 1988. Pang Maokun is now Dean 
of the Oil Painting Department at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and is also a member of the Chinese Artists’ Association and the China Oil Painting Society. His work has been exhibited in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. Since the 1980’s Pang Maokun has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout China.
The Apples Are Ripe II, 1999
Oil on Canvas
50" x 35" (127cm x 89cm)About this work
Pang Maokun produced two similar works entitled “The Apples Are Ripe” this one being the second painting he did of the subject, a woman of the Yi minority of Sichuan. The original painting made in 1983 gained him much acclaim and was a prizewinner in the Sixth National Art Exhibition held in Beijing in 1984. Pang Maokun says that he was drawn to the idea of painting this scene when he saw the woman squatting in an orchard against a backdrop of apple trees. She has been hired to protect the ripening apples from anyone who might try to steal them. Her hands are raised to shield her eyes as something attracts her attention. She wears a black dress, heavily pleated apron and broad bamboo hat bound in black cloth that are characteristic of her people. The texture and detail in the painting is expertly handled by the artist who says he was also attracted to the subject because of the textures and contrasts he thought he could interpret.
