Born in 1966 in Heilongjiang province, north-eastern China, Lou Zhenggang was not yet 12 years old when she was spotted as a prodigious talent. She has happy memories of her first explorations in ink in the 1970s, when her country fêted her as a “legend”. For Lou Zhenggang, it all began when she was 2½. Twenty years later, she settled in Japan and her career turned to abstract art. In colours, then in inks, she created many series, notably “Life is love.” Those 34 works made her the first abstract, contemporary artist to gain a place in the National Museum of China, in 2007. As Lou puts it, “calligraphy is a mirror, while painting reveals inner feelings.” Nowadays, when not exhibiting in some corner of the globe, the artist loves to reconnect with her inner self at Izu, beside the sea, in Japan. Alone in this deep blue landscape ringed with lush, green mountains, she works tirelessly on large-format works. “I want to spend the rest of my life creating,” she declares.