Huang once said: "Learning books should have morality in mind and extensive knowledge of sages. Books are very expensive. If there is no journey to the supernatural mansion, the official pen and ink will not be reduced, but will be less and less, just the ears of the laity. As I said, a scholar-bureaucrat can do everything in his life, but he can't be vulgar. Vulgarity can't be cured. " Huang hates the word "vulgar", and the corresponding destination is elegance-"Yi". Ancient calligraphers yearned for the realm of "Yi" with their own understanding. But everyone's understanding of "vulgarity" is different, so the danger of "vulgarity" can't be avoided when calligraphy is performed. Calligraphers' "vulgarity" and "escape" are constantly adjusted, so the process of aesthetic experience should be diverse and rich.
Zhao Lengyue's calligraphy art states the ideal language of calligraphy beauty, that is, to remove sweetness, smoothness, noise and conformity. The simplicity and calmness of "big and clumsy" embodies the calligrapher's deep artistic pursuit spirit. His lack of pursuit of superficial perfection reflects the different customs of China people. He is diligent in practicing his aesthetic ideal in calligraphy practice, so he does not avoid what Wang Anshi called "danger", but expects to see "strangeness and magnificence", which makes people respect him. Looking at this pursuit of Mr. Wang in the whole book world at present, this unique aesthetic exploration has its special significance. This is like economic investment in a commodity society. Ordinary people invest a small amount of capital without taking too many risks and will soon see the benefits. For the sake of huge benefits, Mr. Wang took risks at the cost of capital and pursued an artistic running script that was not easy to be applauded.
Specifically, how did Mr. Zhao Lengyue practice art? The author believes that it is mainly reflected in the following points:
First, his calligraphy is not complicated, but simple; Not for beauty, but for quality. In fact, the simplification of this visual form does not weaken his artistic expression, but is consistent with his overall pursuit of simplicity and nature, which contains a flexible expression quality and enhances his personal language expression. In fact, skilled or mature techniques in the general sense do not mean that the calligrapher's art is completely mature, it is only a necessary stage. It is true that many people have lost their pursuit of art before reaching this stage in practice, while some experienced people are stuck at this stage, afraid or unable to climb up again. As we all know, the aesthetic field of art has no boundaries, and it is narrow and ridiculous from the perspective of human culture. That kind of "perfection" is just a freeze of artistic feeling. An artist with courage and ability will always cross this obstacle and climb to the top again-of course, he may also fall into a trough and lose his original achievements. Zhao Lengyue's pen is straightforward, with no traces of affectation, and sharp, showing strength and strength. , and strive to inject an inner strength and hidden tension, such as cotton wrapped in iron, so that "returning to nature" becomes extremely simple and muddy, which is tantamount to a successful creation. This "linear" texture is by no means a simplification, but a very rich vocabulary in purification. Although I can't say that I haven't seen it in the history of books, it is indeed a lonely shadow, which can be considered unique.
Secondly, in the interest of ink painting, it is not monotonous to show people, but to boldly absorb the naivety of "children's style" books. Although we have deliberately strengthened the contrast of dry, shadow, depth and other performance factors, we can't leave too many axes to show natural harmony. Perhaps this is Mr. Wang Juesi's reference to Mifei and Wang Juesi's cursive script, but it has become his own language.
Thirdly, in the tradition of learning books, he learned from others, refined the inscriptions of the Six Dynasties with the brushwork and interest of Yan Zhenqing's running script, took the road of nature, frankness, dignity, simplicity and purity, ignored Tang Kai's normative beauty and even beauty, and pursued the beauty of nature and simplicity, which was not surprising. This reflected the spirit of Laozi and Zhuangzi in cultural psychology but opposed the gorgeous charm and elegant and solemn style-contemporary Mr. Qi Gong. Mr. Qi's book is "bookish" and Mr. Zhao's book is "bookish", which is not easy as far as Shibei School is concerned. From the perspective of traditional calligraphy, every mature calligrapher can be said to have his own "tolerance", "tolerance" and "spirit". Zhao wrote Xiao Dan as a monument, and Yu Youren wrote Xiong Yi as a monument. Following in the footsteps of these memorial schools, Zhao Lengyue wrote a "simple" commemorative spirit without losing the flavor of postal service. Is it unique?
Fourthly, on the basis of re-examining and understanding the tradition, Zhao Lengyue's calligraphy boldly abandoned some established languages of his predecessors and sought his own vocabulary at the same time. Its artistic spirit is of great immediate significance. It takes special vision and courage not to inherit the tradition of our predecessors by appearance. To this end, he has to pay the price, the price is that there are not many intimate friends. This is at least a rare reflection of quick success and instant benefit in the art world.
Fifth, temper and explore the self-style, and attach importance to the influence of modern artistic concepts on Zhao's calligraphy visual experience. He prefers to slip away on the boundary between tradition and modernity and disdains ordinary formal expression, so his books are in tune with the modern aesthetic spirit in a sense.
However, Zhao Lengyue cannot get rid of the cultural "quadrant" endowed by history. Traditionalists need a high vision to appreciate his bitter beauty; Modern avant-garde calligraphy needs tolerance to put books on the floor. Mr. Zhao's calligraphy, "sideslip", needs historical test. Whether he always goes straight or leans to one side, we should pay warm attention.
It is also worth mentioning that, in the author's eyes, Mr. Zhao Lengyue can't write cursive basically, and his grasp of the beauty of cursive is also somewhat poor. Like all calligraphers of tablet school, Zhao Sheng is a calligrapher who values "sense of space" but is not good at cursive "sense of time sequence". In recent years, I have seen the Eighty Calligraphy Collections published by Mr. Wang. I took a look and felt quite worried. The abandonment of Mr. Wang's book has lost many valuable things to the existing achievements. That kind of sloppy spirit makes me deeply feel that it is not easy to "reform in my later years."
Fortunately, because I am the proofreader of Zhao Lao's calligraphy, I took this opportunity to write three letters to the old man and collect a piece of paper of Zhao Lao's seven-character couplet. The flag mirror core "perseverance" was given to Han Yang; Signed "Selected seal cutting works of Sanqiu master Han Daxing"; Lai Chusheng is a few square meters of seal cutting paper in Zhao Lengyue; This letter is handwritten; A letter from Zhao Laozi; A letter from disciple Guo Shuquan. (Mei Mosheng)