Traditional Chinese Aliens Brush Painting

  
It is an unexpected melding of genres that somehow, just works.  No, I'm not talking about Indian curry burritos or Korean short rib tacos, (why am I not talking about those things?) I am talking about this incredibly bad ass Aliens brush painting by Taiwanese artist Peter Lee which blends traditional Chinese painting with a legendary sci-fi creature design.

This year I celebrated my 40th birthday.  Many people this age are busy researching what sort of ball cap they will be wearing to prevent sunburn to their balding scalp whilst driving their Mazda Miata.  I, on the other hand, was anticipating the arrival of my wife's generous gift of this original commissioned painting.  That's right, this beautiful (and huge) original painting is now officially part of the expanding Toy of the Week art gallery.

Mr. Lee has done several of these Aliens paintings.  This video shows him in action creating a similar masterpiece.  

The fluid and gestural brush strokes of this type of traditional painting work incredibly well with the forms of the alien creatures.  It takes a skilled and deliberate hand to execute these types of paintings.  When a stroke goes down it cannot be removed or reworked.

What makes this piece even more astoundingly bad ass is the calligraphy of a Chinese proverb on the left portion of the painting.  The ancient proverb roughly corresponds to this quote from Ridley Scott's original Alien movie:

Ash: "I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality."

The proverb basically says it is the right of every living thing in this universe to seek survival and carve out a niche for themselves in the world. It is a very pure pursuit. The quote wishes whoever receives the painting to have luck in the goals and pursuits in their own lives.

In the movie Alien, Ash also described the creature as a "perfect organism."  This beautiful painting by Mr. Lee is also perfect.  The only problem is, at approximately 60" long, it is so damn big that I think I my wife and I need to buy a new house to display it!