In the process of drawing the portrait of Chairman Mao under his tutelage, Ge deeply felt that it was difficult to reflect the character's spirit and posture by copying only one or two photos. It is not enough to reproduce Chairman Mao's great image more vividly and accurately on the huge canvas. Therefore, he collected a wide range of information, collected more than 60 portraits of the chairman, screened out a dozen distinctive photos, and compiled them into a small collection for reference when painting.
The eyes are the windows to the soul. Ge's eyes, which he tries to portray, show the profound thoughts and broad minds handed down from generation to generation, and try to build a bridge between leaders and people, historical reality and even the future through these eyes. When painting, he is always looking for a kind of "feeling", which is difficult to express, but it is this feeling that has reached the spirit likeness he pursues. Just like many people look up at the portrait of Chairman Mao in front of Tiananmen Square, they will say the same thing: "It's really like"!
Ge's studio is in the northwest corner of the gate. It is an iron shed with an area of 90 square meters and a height of more than 8 meters. The scaffolding made of iron is mainly for fire prevention, and the top is covered with translucent glass, in order to let the sun penetrate evenly from the top. This kind of studio is sultry in summer and bitter in winter, but in order to draw a good portrait of Chairman Mao, it is guaranteed to hang a brand-new portrait of Chairman on the gate every year 1 1 month. Ge is not afraid of the cold and is fascinated by painting.
He is known as a great painter of portrait oil painting in the largest square in the world.