I don't know how many times he copied the Heart Sutra, but I especially like the one he wrote in "Late Spring in the Year of Non-Chen". I compared this word with Yue Yitie by Suo Jing, a calligrapher in Jin Dynasty, and felt that their brushwork was similar in spirit, such as the thickness of pen and ink, the change of thickness and dryness, the inclination of word potential and so on. Compared with Jingge, Jingge's words are more casual, with overall charm and line spacing. Although dense, their ranks are uneven but orderly, and their strokes often emerge from the situation, which gives people an interesting and memorable impression.
I've been studying Han bamboo slips recently. I'm new to Cao Zhang. I feel that Cao Zhang's official script and regular script are very difficult to control. It has strict norms, procedures and fixed strokes, but there is also room for personal development and change. The so-called "calm and happy" (see Liu Xizai's Art Outline) is reasonable and interesting. Of course, Jing Ge has been training for quite a long time. More importantly, his understanding and grasp of pen and ink and writing space conforms to his personal temperament and elegant taste. This writing state is called "Oriental leisure" by critic Zhang (see the preface to Writing in Jing Ge) and "elegance" by writer Ye. Jing Ge showed this state incisively and vividly in his calligraphy collection "Jing Ge Bi Fa". He said: "Any writing form that can be called a calligrapher should be based on personalized taste." This is also the only reason why calligraphy can persist in the era when the brush is completely replaced by other writing tools. ..... For me, calligraphy is an aesthetic activity, an expression and release of emotions, a calm, a combing, and a kind of leisure and entertainment. Of course, it will also be escape and self-exile. "So, look at his handwriting, almost free from any font constraints and specifications. The so-called "personal use" is just like Zheng Banqiao's "words and deeds are wonderful". On the whole, it is "like a messy jade shop". My feeling is that the words of Jingge are close to the script, with the foundation of Han Li, and the brushwork is the flavor of Cao Zhang. He pays special attention to the overall aesthetic effect. Between words, "strokes are coordinated, feelings are expected" and "each has its own beauty" (see Chen Zhidong's Stone Pot on Painting), thus forming the unique tone and atmosphere of Jingge calligraphy.
Brother Jing began to paint in recent years, and he painted well. Books and paintings set each other off and become interesting, which is really in line with Zhang Yanyuan's statement that "painting and calligraphy are the same". In the past, Xu Wei was praised as "painting in cursive script" and "painting in the book, painting in the book" (Zhang Daiyu), but now Jingge pursues the realm of "painting" by the ancients with the elegance of calligraphy, and obtains a more free and self-sufficient artistic conception of pen and ink besides the abstraction of calligraphy. Lake stone, teapot, cups and bowls, tables and chairs, flowers and trees, etc. As a still life in western painting, China literati ink painting entrusts with the creator's personal feelings and feelings. For example, Jing Ge's Home Flower has a simple composition, an old-fashioned chair and a flower without a name. Roses? Ross? Or peony? It is said that Badashan people love to draw fish. When someone asked him what kind of fish it was, his answer was: I don't know, I just think it's so beautiful. This is the uniqueness of China's freehand brushwork, and it is also the difference from western still life painting. Li Kuchan called it "comprehensive modeling", which, in Qi Baishi's words, is "between similarity and non-similarity, too like kitsch, not like deceiving the world". Inscription is an important part of this painting, which has a wonderful finishing touch: "the green window is idle, people dream, birds are quiet." This is a sentence written by Xue Anfu, a poet in the Yuan Dynasty (the author said that the Song Dynasty was wrong). The words "green window", "human", "bird", "leisure", "dream" and "quiet sound" point out the space and artistic conception outside the painting, which makes the painting and the book, the object and the abstraction echo each other and make the realm come out. Isn't this the subjective world pursued by China literati?
"Just drinking tea" is also interesting. Two tea sets, one is a lamp, the other is a bowl, and one is high and the other is short, located in the lower left corner of the picture. The above is the words in "Tea Spectrum" written by Qian Chunnian in Ming Dynasty: "Tea is produced in the world ...", which occupies one third of the screen space. The beauty of words contrasts with the clumsiness of painting, and the sense of space between calligraphy and ink painting reaches a natural balance. This painting reminds me of the case of "drinking tea". "Just drinking tea" should be another interpretation or deconstruction of this case by Jing Ge.
Self-portraits are not common among ancient painters in China, but this does not mean that China literati are not narcissistic enough. They will use landscapes, flowers and birds-for example, "Meiju" as a metaphor for a gentleman to amplify their aloof and noble. Jing Ge's self-portrait is anti-traditional, abandoning rhetoric and revealing her frank self. Self-portrait in Mask is a very "contemporary" work. Hanfu, twisted and dancing Xia Jiaer, Van Gogh-style background, bright colors and * * * rotating and dancing brushstrokes, especially the nameless flowers that appear many times in his paintings, give people a kind of self-enjoyment, a kind of confidence and childlike innocence that can't even hide the mask. This is, of course, a portrayal of Jing Ge's own living conditions, and it is also what I think, a tradition of pondering and several samples of China literati at present.
I really appreciate Jing Ge's present living conditions, such as writing, drawing and collecting, which have almost reached the conditions and standards of "being tired of playing with things". What is "ambition"? When we were young, we were overwhelmed by this "ambition" and did not hesitate to commit ourselves to life and death. But after fate, should people give themselves a living method? Face yourself, let nature take its course, let nature take its course, and return to your original heart. To borrow Comrade Zhu Xinjian's words, it is "determined to be happy". That's what I thought.