HUO Guangcheng and Zhao Chun are two artists working as a team called the "Oriental Duo", a rare thing for artists, who tend to emphasize individuality and originality.

It has been natural for them to work on one painting together. "I can pick up the brush and continue working wherever he stops," said Zhao Chun, who is 15 years younger than Huo. "Even if we paint two separate works, there is hardly any difference between us in style - only we ourselves can tell."

Some artists and critics question their way of creation, wondering whether they can keep their work up to a high artistic level.

But their co-operation has turned out to be a great success. They've had five exhibitions in the first half of this year alone.

They have become a media sensation, with two collections of their paintings published and a great number of works sold.

Besides, they are the first painters in China whose paintings have been made into prints by a famous Japanese company.

Sworn brothers

Their co-operation started with mutual appreciation.

There was a community of artists near the Luxun Art School in Shenyang in the mid-1990s. Huo was a quiet and hardworking artist, working with great concentration, and Zhao was a young man eager to experiment with many new styles in search of a personal artistic path.

They met in a bar, and after some conversation, they realized that they shared lots of ideas. They soon became good friends, forgetting the 15-year age difference between them.

"It is art that connects us. We have much common in painting. Our style is realism and we both paint figures in oils, especially those of minority nationalities," Zhao recollects.

Soon they found that apart from similarities, they could even learn from each other's strong points to offset their own weaknesses. Both graduated from Luxun Art School, after receiving a systematic and formal education in art. Huo, with more social experience, has a good grounding in basic skills and expresses his idea in a more classic way, while Zhao is more active-minded and resourceful due to his age and background.

The two became sworn-brothers in front of Guan Gong, a god of Chinese folk legend.

"At first, we rented a house together to paint separately and then painted on the same canvas. It was quite natural," said Huo.

For five years, they lived together and worked in an 8-square-metre room, discussing and experimenting with the painting skills of different schools in order to discover their own style.

"Sometimes, we even didn't know where the next meal would come from. Besides, my brother has his family to raise," Zhao said, smiling ruefully.

Although Zhao calls Huo "brother", he also felt Huo was much like his father, who takes good care of him in life. And Huo's wife, treated Zhao like her own child.

Recognition

In those years, the two "brothers" spent most of their income in travelling around the country to seek inspiration. During a trip to Lijiang of Yunnan Province, a girl in a lane left a deep impression in their minds.

"The picture was so beautiful that I still remember it now. And we both said with one voice 'that's it!' I think we found our passion point," said Zhao.

In 2000, Zhao and Huo brought "The Lane in Memory", the first of their "minority nationalities" series, to try their luck at the International Art Fair in Beijing.

With neither fame nor letters of invitation, they had to ask friends for help. Finally, they managed to anonymously display two paintings on a pillar between to two exhibition areas. To every one's surprise, their talent revealed itself and swarms of viewers crowded around their works. One artist even squatted before the paintings without any intention to leave.

It was also at this fair that they met their guiren (a person offering great help), two Indonesians from a famous French paint company. Their new benefactors bought two pictures in their own name at a surprisingly high price.

"You can imagine our joy at that moment. It was really a good beginning for our career." Both seemed quite moved as they remembered the experience.

From then on, their life situation changed dramatically. They attended art fairs in Shanghai and Guangzhou without a break that same year.

With full confidence, they went to Beijing to realize their dreams, renting a house in the "painters village" near Yuan Ming Yuan (Old Summer Palace).

The perfect locale

The poor living condition and extreme cold hampered their work, and the local artists' artistic ideals were different from theirs. "They were too politically-oriented, but we are more aesthetic," Huo said.

According to Zhao, national features and love are two themes of their paintings because both are universal and permanent for human beings.

In April 2001, they moved to Shanghai, which proved a correct choice. After two years stay in town, they have had their own workshop founded in the southern suburb of the city.

"The most frequently asked question for us is: How do you co-operate in painting," said Zhao.

They usually paint separately at the beginning, stop to think and point out each other's defects and perfect the picture in turns. Sometimes, if one loses passion and inspiration for a painting, the other will continue it.

"People usually cannot tell the difference between our cooperative works and our independent ones. Even we ourselves cannot sometimes," said Huo.

Huo and Zhao do all the public relations work by themselves, finding studios, organizing exhibitions and publishing paintings.

"We have been too busy since coming to Shanghai. Though it is good for our careers, we have to spend twice the energy concentrating on our paintings. We must work relentlessly, never daring to stop," Huo explained.

Huo has brought his wife and son to Shanghai and they have become used to regarding Zhao as a member of their family. The only trouble is that Zhao, who spends most of his time with Huo and his family, doesn't have many opportunities to meet girls, but he himself doesn't seem to care.