For Lu Yunhua, high heels are the perfect feminine symbol, but the abstract artist has imagined and recreated them in his own unique style.

Lu’s heels are made of ceramic and painted in dazzling colors.

“Westerners were amazed with my high heels as they did not think that a common sexual symbol could be interpreted into an Oriental language,” Lu said after his ceramic high heels and porcelain handbags were showcased at the British Museum last November.

Ironically, Lu is not a ceramist but an abstract oil painter. He is among a rare breed of artists who incorporated two different formats swiftly.

“Abstract paintings and ceramics are the result of years of practice and experiments. I’m glad that I persisted with them.”

Born in 1960 and growing up in Shanghai, Lu picked up painting skills as a small boy. In the early 1980s when China adopted the reform and opening-up policy, his realistic oil paintings sold better than his peers.

“I think I was the first local artist who could afford a car at that time,” he says. “I sold my paintings then at 6,000 yuan (US$967.74) when the monthly salary of ordinary citizens was no more than 50 yuan.”

He quickly reworked his style after seeing an exhibition in Beijing.

“The exhibition featured works of some realistic painters in the country,” he recalls. “I was dumbfounded because I couldn’t tell the difference between two paintings. They all adopted the same technique, tableau and even same hues as backdrop.”

That night Lu could not sleep.

“Although I knew I could live comfortably as an artist, my art was stuck in a quagmire. It was not going anywhere,” he says. “That’s not the purpose of being an artist. I wanted to change so that my art would stand out independently of others.”

Lu embarked on a path of abstract art that conjures up a world of color patches, curves, lines and blocks.

But the change in his style of work brought in additional hurdles — he didn’t sell any painting for 10 years!

“In China, realistic paintings are popular because they have a specific shape and style. But abstract paintings left many people confused as their aesthetic standard and experiences did not accept them.”

He struggled with financial pressures and the falling out with the mainstream. But he didn’t give up.

“I knew I was on the right direction, and it was just a matter of time,” he says. “I did feel desperation and anger at times, so I turned to my canvas for solace.”

He picked up a job at a cultural institution in Shanghai. “My job was to use a Chinese brush to write on the certificate of merit. I hated it and thought it was a waste of my talent and time.”

But looking back today, he is grateful for the time spent on that job as the lines and curves spent using the Chinese brush have unwittingly given his current series of works a strong Oriental flavor.

Lu prefers purple, pink and rosy hues on canvas, which renders an intimate, sexy and entangling feel to the viewers.

“In my eyes, creating a piece of abstract painting equals to finding a solution in science. Each line, curve and color drop should merge harmoniously.

“My paintings have a certain rhythm like music, you may not hear it, but you can feel it,” he says.

Lu’s tryst with Chinese porcelain was by accident. He was invited by a friend to a kiln and saw some of the artists painting on the plates, vases and jars.

“For me, the ceramics and porcelain were a new media, quite strange and unfamiliar,” he says.

When the euphoria for ceramics started to fade, Lu quickly decided to “dive in.”

“Because I found that I had something I could not pour onto the canvas. I needed a different art language,” he explains.

Lu went to Jingdezhen, “the cradle of China’s chinaware,” to learn the process of painting on porcelain.

“It was difficult at the beginning as I found that once I had finished a line in ceramics, the next line I did looked awkward,” he says. “The Jingdezhen people wouldn’t tell you how to correct that and liked to keep it a secret among themselves. I had to watch them carefully ... and found they used glue in the oil.”

Such details in over-glaze and under-glaze colors required careful inspection and observation.

“Today I can say that only few oil painters have the knowledge of porcelain like me. It demands patience and persistence for years,” he says.

His signature colors and pattern when reflected on porcelain excited Lu. After learning the basic technique of traditional porcelain-making process, he wanted to break out of the traditional fold.

“My abstract paintings deal with the relationship between man and woman ... That is when the high heels came into my mind.”

Lu admits that he loves the fashion world and reads a lot of fashion magazines. “In order to find the ideal high heels, I frequented many boutiques. I only found the perfect pair in France,” he says with a smile.

Lu did not use the traditional under-glaze and over-glaze on the ceramics, instead he painted the colors on the ceramic high heels for a better visual effect.

The artist recently moved to Los Angeles, splitting time between the United States and Shanghai.

“Some people asked me why I moved to the US since my art career in China was quite successful,” he says.

“Because once I traveled to Houston and one of my friends asked me who was my favorite artist. I told him it was Mark Rothko and he was thrilled to tell me that there was a museum of Rothko in Houston.

“I visited the museum and was deeply touched. Houston is not a big cosmopolitan city, yet it had space for Rothko.”

Lu intends to move to New York in the future as he believes that the Big Apple would give him more opportunities and possibilities.

“I have many plans in my mind,” he says. “I often think of a catwalk show displaying my paintings on costumes, high heels and hand bags. I have even thought of the lights and colors of the catwalk’s background in my mind.”

But for now, Lu is back in Shanghai. He has been invited to be a part of the Shanghai Fashion Week in London this September.

“It seems that I did not choose an easy life, but I don’t care about starting even from zero,” he says.