Xue Yunxiang, Associate Professor of Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Mr Liu Hongzhi is my college classmate and my bosom friend. He is virtuous and intelligent, and pays attention to the shaping of his own character. He requires himself to be both inside and outside. Being a man and doing things is an art. His comprehensive inner self-restraint and unique understanding make him have his own unique views and personality in painting.
At the end of 1980s, Mr. Liu Hongzhi, who taught in a university, was admitted to the seminar of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under many masters of flower and bird painting such as Guo Yicong, Zhang Lichen and Tian Shiguang. During my study, I visited the Palace Museum, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Painting Academy and other museums and art galleries, which opened my eyes and explored the true meaning of art from the original works. Over the years, he learned from nature, traced back to the source, and made a lot of detailed copying and research on Chinese painting while sketching. Combined with his years of intensive study of calligraphy and his understanding of the homology of calligraphy and painting, he has formed a picture atmosphere of painting with books, which is quiet and indifferent, hearty, free and easy, and natural. While seeking the spiritual world of literati in freehand flower-and-bird painting, it has well integrated the pen and ink, composition, color and image modeling of Chinese characters, which has injected new vitality into contemporary freehand flower-and-bird painting. Expressing his tortuous life experience and indomitable personality style may be the starting point for him to pay attention to contemporary art, and may be his lyrical expression of the psychological state and living state of the post-60 s generation.
Contemporary art is an era in which East and West learn from each other. Mr. Xu Beihong went to France to study western realistic painting, which had a far-reaching influence on modern art in China. Since the 20th century, western masters have also studied China's ink painting, the representative of oriental art, and it has become one of the characteristics of contemporary art to learn from each other's strong points, which also shows that integration and infiltration are the inevitable ways to promote artistic innovation. In 1980s, when the western artistic thoughts flooded into China again, the theory that ink painting faced a "dead end" came into being. At this time, Mr. Liu Hongzhi chose to travel to Europe. He visited European museums and galleries of classicism, realism, modern art and contemporary art, once again witnessed the original paintings of European masters, examined the evolution of European classical art to contemporary art from an oriental perspective, and made a lot of diaries to compare and summarize the cultural and artistic differences between the East and the West. As an artist engaged in the creation of China ink painting, I firmly believe in the uniqueness and preciousness of the national spirit. After traveling in Europe for several years, he resolutely chose to return to Beijing, and applied his thoughts on the blending of eastern and western paintings for many years to his freehand flower-and-bird paintings. His ink painting creation in recent years has deeply explored the essence of traditional culture, constructed the aesthetic orientation of contemporary western art, strengthened himself in the integration and infiltration of eastern and western art, fully expressed his thoughts and temperament, created his own unique artistic language, and made positive exploration and contribution to contemporary freehand flower-and-bird painting.
I look forward to Mr. Liu Hongzhi's continuous progress, bold breakthrough and innovation, which will open a new era chapter for freehand flower-and-bird painting.