“Luo Zhongli’s painting Father encountered many obstacles. When people looked at it, they wondered, ‘How could you paint a portrait of a farmer the same size as Chairman Mao’s portrait?’ In the past, this was not possible. However, this painting was very realistic and yet incorporated a certain kind of emotion. Art previously had been completely fake—there was always some false ideological element in it. During the Cultural Revolution, everything had to be ‘red, bright and light’… you couldn’t have any dark or gloomy colours. Dark colours were considered incorrect. It was very difficult for China to leave behind the Cultural Revolution. It wasn’t simply that officials were reluctant to let go; common people also had to go through a process before emerging from it because everyone’s head was completely filled with stuff like this.”