Objects? Situations? Artistic conceptions - A review of Huang Gesheng’s landscape paintings
It is so difficult to review contemporary Chinese paintings!
Today's Chinese painting no longer has a single model. The contemporary Chinese painting world is so diverse that no one can come up with a universally accepted standard to evaluate real painters. Therefore, as a contemporary critic, you should set your own standards based on your own knowledge structure and cognitive judgment, and observe the contemporary painting world objectively and fairly.
According to my personal understanding, the 20th century of Chinese painting is not only a period with distinctive characteristics, but also a transitional period towards modernity. In this century of exploration of Chinese painting, we can generally classify painters into three categories: The first category is painters who work hard to continue the tradition, such as Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, Pan Tianshou, etc. The characteristic of this type of painters is that they always adhere to the brush and ink shapes of traditional paintings. Their works are traditional and classical, but also innovative and never repeat the ancients; the second type is influenced by Western culture and art and is committed to integration. Painters such as Gao Jianfu, Xu Beihong, Liu Haisu, Lin Fengmian, etc. Their works are characterized by the mutated forms of Chinese paintings, emphasizing modernity, extensively borrowing from Western paintings, changing shapes step by step, breaking through the limitations of traditional pen and ink methods, making their methods more free and diversified in appearance; the third category, those who are brave in innovation and dedicated to Painters who carried out comprehensive reforms, such as Zao Wou-ki, Wu Guanzhong, Liu Guosong, and painters who experimented with ink painting. It is characterized by the extreme form of variation of Chinese painting. The works are somewhere between Chinese painting and non-Chinese painting. In particular, the concepts, media, styles and techniques are mostly taken from the West. They are completely different from traditional Chinese methods. If based on traditional Standards, their so-called innovation seems to be very bad, with neither pen nor ink, it can be said to be substandard.
Compared with the first three, Huang Gesheng and others seem to be out of the ordinary, which shows that their Chinese painting patterns do not have that obvious tendency. However, as far as the painting itself is concerned, they have their own uniqueness, and this uniqueness just marks a kind of success.
Huang Gesheng’s Chinese paintings are great! What I say may just be that his style and artistic pursuit are in line with the standards I have set. I think he is a very outstanding painter among contemporary landscape painters. Relatively speaking, Huang Gesheng's works tend to be in the first category. The difference is that he is greatly influenced by the masters in the first category, but he is constantly surpassing them. His works have a more realistic and richer atmosphere of life. , the interest is also stronger. If we want to talk about painters with outstanding achievements in contemporary Chinese painting, then there is no doubt that Huang Gesheng is the most typical one. When Wang Changling, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, discussed the realm of poetry in his "Poetry Ges", he believed that poetry has three realms, namely, physical realm, situation and artistic realm. Those who have the best in these three realms are good poems. Like Chinese poetry and painting, the reason why Huang Gesheng's paintings are good, I think, may be because his works have achieved these hard-won three realms at the same time.
Object Realm - measure the object image and get its truth
As a plastic art, Chinese painting also attaches great importance to shaping the shape of objects, although it is different from Western classical painting in deliberately expressing the "vision" of objects. Realistic, but the expression of the form of “things” is still the top priority. Therefore, the ancients attached great importance to the expression of "objective environment". Zhang Hong "teaches nature from outside, and gets the source of heart from within". The first thing he emphasizes is "teaching nature", that is, the pursuit of "material environment". Jing Hao, on the other hand, "measures the image of an object to obtain its truth", and the premise of obtaining the "true" realm is achieved based on the method of "measuring the image of an object". Wang Lu put it more clearly: "My teacher's heart, my mind and my eyes, and my eyes are the teachers of Mount Huashan." Even Shi Tao, the master of literati painting, emphasized "searching all the strange peaks to make a draft." "Object realm" is the first realm pursued by Chinese painters, and it will never change.
Huang Gesheng, who is familiar with the history of painting, has certainly long recognized the importance of this "hump", so he began to study painting, taking modeling as the starting point. Huang Gesheng has a lot of wonderful expressions of "objective scenes" Sketching, this kind of accumulation plays an excellent foundation role in obtaining the "objective environment" of the painting.
The ancients attached great importance to the expression of "objects", which was usually obtained with the help of "visual recognition and mental memory", that is, the so-called concept comes first, and the scenery comes later. Whether it is observation or memory, both serve the painter. concepts set. Of course, in the process of experiencing nature, this concept is sometimes revised, such as Shi Tao's landscape paintings. However, this kind of "vivid" pictures derived from nature is still far away from the real natural state. Some painters simply superimpose this "nature" on the "nature" expressed by their predecessors, so there is stylization. convenience.
"Objects" have become bodies, and painters are more interested in expressing the interest of pen and ink. "Objects" are overwhelmed by "situations", so it is inevitable that thousands of people will have one "emotion" and one "intention". The target of criticism by modern scholars should be this declining "tradition".
The development of Chinese painting in the 20th century was first reflected in the correction process of the intake of this "objective environment". All the master painters who emerged during this period were masters of emphasizing the "objective environment" and expressing the "objective environment", from Huang Binhong to Li Keran, from Fu Baoshi to Pan Tianshou, Chen Zizhuang, Qian Songyan... without exception. Huang Gesheng may be more aware of the vitality of the works of these contemporary teachers. This is due to the connection with the sentiments of the times, or he is more obsessed with "things" in the process of experiencing and observing life, so he has A passion that comes from the heart. Huang Gesheng's sketches and long scrolls are all true portrayals of scenes from nature or life. Just because of the presentation of this "objective environment", his works are more refreshing and contented.
Situation - To touch people's hearts, nothing comes first than love
Bai Juyi once said in a poem: "To touch people's hearts, nothing comes first than love." A good work of art first touches people with "emotion", and the final purpose of expressing "objective environment" is to convey emotion. Huang Gesheng is not only a fan of "object scene" biography, he can also be called a master of "creating emotions" when it comes to expressing "situations". This is more due to his real experience and feelings of life. Although the objects selected in Huang Gesheng's works are extremely simple and ordinary, once they enter the picture, these casual images suddenly come alive through the artist's skillful processing, which can be said to be full of interest and wonderful! Especially its sketch style is more prominent and exciting.
The "situation" in Huang Gesheng's paintings has rich connotations. First of all, it is the expression of nostalgia. In Huang Gesheng's landscape paintings, we can clearly see his vivid, civilian atmosphere of daily life that bears the mark of his childhood. This is a vivid feeling of hometown. This may be related to the fact that when he was a child, he was active among the people in the countryside and felt the customs and customs of the people. Secondly, it is an expression of his literary feelings. Huang Gesheng received a good education and had excellent cultural influence. Coupled with his diligent study, his literary accomplishments should be above those of his peers. In addition, while studying and researching the works of ancient masters, he had dialogues and exchanges with the masters with a pious attitude. This was also the best way to improve his literati. Therefore, his paintings allow us to feel the character of a culture, a kind of noble interest that wanders between ancient cultural traditions and modern civilization. In the creation of the "situation" in Huang Gesheng's paintings, what is more important is the publicity of his poet's feelings. A clearly displayed interest in Huang Gesheng's works is the expression of poetic flavor. Compared with the leisurely and relaxed mood of ancient literati, Huang Gesheng's poet's mood is more heroic and fierce, with a sense of "the strong wind blows and the dust is flying", which may be related to his inner character and temperament. The masculine style of Huang Gesheng's works objectively counteracts the weakness and decadence of the contemporary painting world. This is a "situational" pursuit that deserves our special recognition.
Huang Gesheng's "situation" effectively combines the simplicity of nostalgia and the cultivation of literati on the bold and unrestrained poet's feelings to express it. This is the accident of life and the active pursuit of the painter** *The perfect place to tie knots.
Artistic conception - can reach places that the ancients did not pay attention to
The picture ultimately derives from "intention" to "environment". After Huang Gesheng succeeded in expressing both objects and situations, coupled with his thorough understanding of painting theory and painting methods, the "artistic conception" of his paintings naturally entered an excellent state.
Huang Gesheng's understanding of the principles and methods of Chinese painting is directly related to his starting from flower and bird painting to gain a glimpse of the mysteries of Chinese painting, and then entering into the creation of landscape painting. This order is not a strict rule, but flower-and-bird painting does have unique advantages in the process of learning Chinese painting theory. The language of Chinese flower-and-bird painting is pure, and special emphasis is placed on the correct use of painting techniques in expression. The layout of the picture is not overwhelming, and the flexible and changeable pen and ink are all presented directly on it. There is no way to avoid it, and there is no way to explain it clearly and clearly. Therefore, this painting subject is particularly effective for us to train the principles of Chinese painting. Huang Gesheng's proficiency in pen and ink and his agility in controlling the painting can clearly be seen as the benefit of his early training in flower and bird painting. After entering into the creation of landscape paintings, Huang Gesheng effectively transplanted the understanding and application of Chinese painting principles from flowers and birds on the basis of learning from nature and expressing natural emotions, and his works naturally reached perfection.
The three realms of Huang Gesheng's landscape paintings come from his diligent study and practice, and are also inseparable from his persistence and obsession with the art of Chinese painting. Of course, his character that focuses on thinking and generating many ideas also contributed to the continuous improvement of his works. Confucius said: "Be knowledgeable and determined, ask questions and think deeply, and benevolence lies in it." Huang Gesheng's success seems to have fulfilled the wise sayings of Confucius. Huang Gesheng is in his middle age and is in his golden period of creation. I sincerely hope that he will produce more and better Chinese paintings. This is not only his personal behavior, but also in the context of the transformation of contemporary Chinese paintings from tradition to modernity. In the process, Huang Gesheng's exploration is marking a direction, which can be regarded as a collective hope. I think it is an extremely important contribution to the Chinese painting world.
The famous art critic Su Lu pointed out: ""Hundred Miles of Li River" is the first art work that truly takes the Li River, Guangxi's natural geographical environment and national cultural characteristics as the research object. The true pioneering work of the Lijiang School of Painting. Even today, it is still an irreplaceable milestone and masterpiece in the growth of the Lijiang School of Painting. ”