Liu Yi
Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Nanjing University of the Arts
My acquaintance with Dacheng can be said to be accidental and inevitable. We live in the same ancient city of Huai'an in northern Jiangsu. , the two families are only less than 500 meters apart. But we haven’t met each other for many years because I’m not good at socializing. But I have never heard of all kinds of anecdotes about Dacheng. When Dacheng was young and heroic, he sought advice from Han Tianheng, a master of seal cutting, and later became famous for his seal cutting. It wasn't until the autumn of 2006 that we met officially by chance. My initial impression of Dacheng was that he was tall and handsome, spoke elegantly and straightforwardly, and I felt like he was a friend I could make friends with.
Since I travel back and forth between Nanjing and Huai'an for many years, I don't have many opportunities to meet each other. One time, I was drinking tea and looking at paintings with my friend Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Yuan suddenly said: , your painting style matches Dacheng’s seal style very well, why not ask Dacheng brother to engrave one or two? I hesitated for a long time and said, "It's not very good, okay?" As a fellow artist, I know the hardships of creation, so I rarely open my mouth to others. Brother Xiaoyuan said: "I will talk to Dacheng about this." So a week later I had the imprint of Dacheng on my painting. Gradually, we interacted more and became buddies who talked about everything. Once I was invited by Dacheng to be a guest at his home. When I entered Dacheng's study and studio, what I saw was that in addition to a bed that was only big enough for a bed and a painting desk, there were books from the floor to the ceiling, and most of them were academic masterpieces. I gained a new understanding of Dacheng. He murmured in his heart that this boy was not reckless, but turned out to be a scholar, and he was very happy in his heart. After that, I no longer avoided taboos in every chat. I felt more comfortable discussing and arguing with Dacheng about many academic topics that I could not discuss with others. During such small talk, I learned that Dacheng not only has his own opinions on seal cutting and calligraphy, but also has his own unique experience in philosophical aesthetics and painting.
I don’t remember which winter it was. I returned to Huaihe from Nanjing and was invited by Dacheng to have a drink in a tavern that served authentic dishes. After dinner, Dacheng and I walked home. He told me very seriously that he was going to Beijing to study painting. I thought he was chatting casually after drinking and didn't take it seriously. Unexpectedly, he would actually go north to study painting after spring. I know that Dacheng is very determined, because he has never left painting, and he is the pillar of a family with seniors and juniors. Now he has abandoned decades of "artistic cultivation" and went north to start from scratch again. Can an artist really give up so much in pursuit of the essence of art...? It was a year later that we met again. One day Dacheng told me that he had some paintings to show me. I was busy doing my doctoral thesis at that time, and a bunch of paintings from Dacheng came to my house. I thought that what I saw would be a higher sublimation of Dacheng’s painting language, but when I opened it, they were all based on ancient times. However, the atmosphere of the paintings was no longer What my past self and ordinary people could achieve. Another year, there is still a large pile of paintings spread out in front of me. Dacheng's brushwork becomes more and more graceful and boundless, and he integrates his own cultivation of seal cutting and calligraphy into the paintings. He is no longer comparable to ordinary painters, directly referring to the language of painting. ontology. I have a higher level of understanding of Chinese painting, and even though I am still a little immature, I am no longer just a follower of the crowd. It can be seen that Dacheng’s understanding and diligence are extremely high.
After Chinese painting has reached a sophisticated level, what is painted is the comprehensive accomplishment of the painter. Dacheng has many years of training in calligraphy and seal carving. In addition, he has embarked on the right path of learning and continuous accumulation, and diligently cultivated his brushwork. Given time, I believe that Dacheng will be able to Made with great tools.
2012.6.7
Preface to Zhou Dacheng’s Painting Collection
The works are as follows: The works are as follows: