Today, the painting world in China is unprecedentedly prosperous, with many painters and active market. As far as the artist's personal artistic appearance is concerned, some are "very China" and some are "very western"; Some are "very traditional" and some are "very fashionable"; Some are "very classical" and some are "very avant-garde"; Some are "do as the Romans do" and some are "very individual". There are so many forests, so diverse and dazzling. Based on the communication and understanding between the author and his predecessor, Shu Ren, for more than 30 years, I deeply feel that his works belong to authentic Chinese paintings that pay attention to traditional pen and ink, the spirit of the times and the expression of personal feelings.
Old Shu Ren has lived in painting for a long time, but his behavior is gentle. He has been marching on the correct road to carry forward the excellent tradition of Chinese painting, being open-minded, eager to learn, devoted to exploration and diligent, which is the main reason for his continuous progress and achievements in creation.
Shu Ren's flower-and-bird painting has a profound foundation, absorbing the nutrition of famous flower-and-bird painters in ancient and modern times, and drawing his own flower-and-bird mirror with his own understanding and comprehension. The image of flowers and birds he created is extremely vivid, but it is not a true sketch of real flowers and birds in nature, but an aesthetic exaggeration and processing, which makes the beauty of flowers and birds more prominent. The flower images in his paintings, such as lotus, chrysanthemum, plantain, gourd, plum blossom, bluegrass, hibiscus and peony, are all moderately exaggerated, and the purport of "between similarity and non-similarity" is obtained.
Shu Ren's flower-and-bird paintings are better than Mo Miao's, with elegant colors, beautiful and picturesque pictures. First of all, it has something to do with his quiet and peaceful attitude. He thinks he will be satisfied with a peaceful and good painting environment, and has no extravagant demands for material life and no wild desires for fame and fortune. Everything is logical, logical. His paintings are calm and elegant, which is due to his carefully cultivated peace of mind. The ancients said that "painting is a state of mind", as the saying goes. He likes to use a long-side wool pen and use multiple centers and wingers when carrying the pen. Draw a horizontal branch or soil slope for a long time with a drag pen or a reverse front. If the image of the painted flower branch is insufficient, it should be supplemented by poking and rubbing. Although the technique is flexible and changeable, it can be crisp and neat, and it has its own rules. Most of his paintings are cursive, and the strokes he sketched and dragged are ups and downs, which seem illusory and active. In line modeling, he emphasizes the exquisiteness, illusion and imagery of the pen, and dislikes mechanical realism or description, which makes his works have the traditional charm of "painting with books" and "painting with meaning". He likes to use warm and clever ink and wash, trying to make the picture create a refreshing ink and wash atmosphere. The basis of its ink application is still the pen, that is, the bone pen based on calligraphy, so it can make its large ink or colored ink hearty and colorful, and penetrate the back of the paper. His paintings of lotus leaves, banana leaves, strange stones, etc. are all written with a wide pen and ink, and occasionally patched with a thirsty pen stone color, which makes the images in the paintings appear black and white contrast, color ink contrast, shade contrast, dry and wet contrast, giving people a bright, strong, smart and lively feeling, which can be described as elegant. Its composition is rigorous and lively, simple and exquisite, which makes the audience pleasing to the eye and clear at a glance. It never procrastinates, which is a very good idea.
In a word, Guo Shuren, with his pen and ink cultivation and hard work for most of his life, finally got a place in the Guinness painting world where famous artists gathered, and formed a rigorous, exquisite, ethereal and free-and-easy painting style, which won praises from people from all walks of life. May Senior Shu Ren take care of himself in the years to come and make unremitting efforts to create newer and more beautiful paintings.
Wang Zhende (Professor and Master Supervisor of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts)
Art theorist and critic. Recently, I saw some paintings by Guo Shuren. After seeing it, I suddenly remembered Emily Zola's definition of art. Zola thinks that art is a corner of nature seen through a certain temperament. This sentence is worth pondering. As far as painting is concerned, we can understand it this way; What to draw and how to draw, all need to be screened by the painter's temperament, and expressed by the painter's temperament, thus producing artistic personality-this can be called works of art, and Guo Shuren's paintings are like this. Painting is full of personal temperament, good ideas and good aesthetics, which makes reading painting meaningful. Selected as the work of the 6th National Art Exhibition, "vigorous spirit", the bamboo style described by him is full of vitality and affability. Wild Fun, which was selected for the 8th National Art Exhibition, is a painting with great brushwork and dripping ink, showing heroic feelings and natural vitality. These are obviously images in his mind.
We all feel that painters in China have been immersed in traditional art for a long time, and their works all reveal the influence of Confucianism, Buddhism and other traditional cultures. In Guo Shuren's works, this influence is very obvious, which brings depth to the works.
Emphasizing the consistency of beauty and goodness is an important feature of Confucian aesthetics. In my opinion, this is exactly how Guo Shuren works as an artist. Kindness is what fills his heart and his paintings. He is a person who faces life and everything with soft eyes and smiles, so his paintings are full of love. He seems to lack the spirit of criticizing the world, which makes his works not good at profundity of thought, but when facing the goodness and beauty in life, he can make use of observation, experience and profundity of expression. His kind heart and the artist's keen sense enable him to feel so strongly and show the beauty of flowers, birds, insects, lotus ponds and snowfields so subtly ..... and all these are reflected in harmony. Harmony in techniques such as pen and ink, color and composition; More spiritual: harmony between flowers, trees, birds, insects and everything, harmony between man and nature. His paintings are deeply influenced by the "gentle" style theory of Confucian poetry teaching, and he pursues the realm of "no excitement, no calendar and self-discipline". There is no strong modernity here, but it has profound cultural implications. I think of an ancient poetics, and a slight change may be suitable for evaluating Guo Shuren's painting style: high-flowered but not flashy, gloomy but not obscure, vigorous but not bold, diluted but not thin, vigorous but not old and hard, graceful but not tender and weak, elegant but not elegant, heavy and not dull. .....................................................................................
He is calm in mind, sound in character, indifferent and classical in aesthetic taste. This largely determines the important style factors in his paintings-tranquility and elegance. Take it easy, don't worry, don't be dry, be elegant, not vulgar and not turbid. There is a kind of weather that is related to the world and detached from it.
China's art attaches great importance to elegance, not only as a style, but also as a style, an expression of personality and spiritual realm, which has always been highly appraised. In addition to pursuing "the unity of beauty and goodness", Guo Shuren also pursued "one". His paintings show his cleverness. He can always dig out new things in common themes, showing an aura and a vivid charm of life. Most of his paintings are traditional themes and themes: sparrows when red plums reflect snow; It is the vitality of bananas after the rain, the brilliance of lotus when it comes out of the water, the coolness of orchids and the loneliness of chrysanthemums ... Although the theme is old, he can always draw new ideas, in which he can show his personality pursuit and aesthetic ideal. Of course, this is achieved through skill. Elegant colors, harmonious pen and ink, vivid modeling, balanced composition in opposition and unique fading create an elegant, elegant, vibrant and vigorous artistic conception. What his works bring to people is not shock or surprise, but harmony, profundity and indifference. People feel a literati temperament and cultural charm. It can be seen that the profound influence of Zen and Taoist aesthetic spirit.
He doesn't think he is clever, he is an honest bitter pie. Wherever he goes, he will set up a big painting case, stay away from world disputes, and bury himself in painting whenever he has time. He painted a lot, learned a lot, and made great efforts in the deepest part of Chinese painting techniques. For example, he is very particular about pen and ink. From the five colors of ink painting to the various shapes of lines, from the exploration of different brushwork to various changes in composition, he has made in-depth research, which has enabled him to master the rich expressive force of traditional techniques. This is the foundation, with which we can talk about the pursuit of spirit, interest and style.
He knows that there is no way out for Chinese painting to imitate its predecessors blindly. The artist's achievement lies in his difference from others, not in his similarity. In recent years, looking at his works, he tends to fully inherit the tradition, and then pursue the flavor of the times and create his own personality. So his painting style is more traditional. He constantly polished and created his own painting language in a step-by-step way. Accumulated in this way, it gradually highlights a charm, a style, and something that belongs only to yourself.
Most of his paintings are entitled "Lord of the Mid-Levels". Zhai Hao often best embodies the painter's ideals and pursuits. We can learn a lot from Zhai Hao in Guo Shuren. The name was originally named after his experience. He used to live in a bungalow, but it was changed to a second floor after the earthquake. He climbs up and down every day, but he is indifferent and enjoys it. Pursuing the past every day, creating artistic conception, wandering in the vastness of octupole; Love flowers and birds, splash-ink painters, dazzling with colors. Here he struggled and was happy, and made great progress in painting. Thinking of staying away from worldly distractions, for example, in the mountains, the second floor can only be considered as the mid-mountain, so calling itself "the master of the mid-mountain" is a bit like "people can't bear to worry, but people should not be happy."
He has no pursuit. In fact, he devoted all his energy to art, with peaches and plums all over the world. Of course, he was "self-sufficient in the next step." He doesn't ask much for the world, he just wants to paint well, and his higher and higher artistic achievements have opened up a broad life and artistic road for him.
The "Mid-level Landlord" also shows his endless pursuit of art, just like climbing to the top halfway, still far from the top ... He constantly encourages himself by warning himself. In other people's eyes, he is famous for his good painting, but he has been exploring, which has given him endless motivation. He is not the kind of person who likes to make a wish and talk with Xu Hong endlessly. He is a persistent and seemingly peaceful struggler. He also has the tenacity and drive to never stop until he reaches his goal, but these are all in the shadow of the wind of peace. The responsibility of a long way to go, the struggle spirit of "a gentleman can't be unfaithful" and the down-to-earth and unassuming style are all standardizing him and achieving him. He walked out of a life track from hidden to obvious, from poverty to success, from ordinary cadres to outstanding artists. Now he is a professor of tianjin polytechnic university Art Institute, a member of China Artists Association and a librarian of Tianjin Literature and History Museum. His works have been selected for many exhibitions at home and abroad and won many awards. Satellite TV channels of Shandong and Tianjin TV stations have made many special presentations and published many books, such as Lotus Painting and Course of Freehand Flower and Bird Painting.
However, he still signed the name "Lord of the Mid-Levels", which shows that he is obsessed with the past, gets rid of the secular ideal of concentrating on art, and is determined to climb the peak bravely. In addition, Wang Anshi, a great innovator in the Song Dynasty, is half a mountain. He really wants to emulate the martial arts and make a difference in artistic innovation. These, let us see his character, but also see his potential. Mr. Guo Shuren is nearly sixty years old, which is the heyday of the painter's creation. May he constantly realize self-denial and self-transcendence in hard practice, and then climb the higher peak of flower-and-bird painting art.
(Mr. Wang Quanju is the director of the theoretical research office of Tianjin Federation of Literary and Art Circles and a famous calligrapher)