In fact, it has long been suspected that the "Eight Laws" were made by Tuogu, and it is very important to understand its existence value. The "eight methods" have been respected and interpreted by generations, and have long been endowed with more and richer connotations, becoming synonymous with calligraphy techniques and aesthetic ideals. The "eight methods" advocated by Mr. Ge Jieping to guide all aspects of Cao Li's seal script is to grasp the charm of traditional classics more accurately through "from practice to practice" on the basis of summarizing and generalizing the statutes of calligraphy theory in previous dynasties. Therefore, he believes that the understanding of the eight methods is the accumulation of skills: "To be a good doctor, we must be smooth, reverse, white, restrained, frustrated, put pen to paper, and leave no trace. If a scholar works hard here, he must be a good doctor, and he is not far away. " After some painstaking efforts, I finally got the message, as if "suddenly looking back, that person was in a dim light!" " His Gree is an example: I visited the Han tablet and reviewed Deng's brushwork. I suddenly found that "official script and regular script are actually opposites, so how can we take advantage of the situation", so I realized the brushwork principle of "every painting must be revived" and then became a personal style of "having both eight methods and distinct brushwork".
Merit is two important features of China traditional culture and art, and it is also an eternal topic of calligraphy. "Gong" in calligraphy refers to the accumulation of aesthetic experience and the tempering of pen and ink techniques, also known as basic skills. In the Song Dynasty, Mi Fei was famous for "collecting ancient Chinese characters" and eventually became a generation. "The calligraphy of the right army is wonderful late, and Yu Xin's article is even better", all of which are about the importance of merit; The so-called "sex", that is, temperament, refers to the natural expression of calligrapher's cultural accomplishment and personality accomplishment in his creation, which is also called a work beyond words. Therefore, there is a saying that reading nourishes nature and cultivates self-cultivation. This is not the joys and sorrows of natural people.
Mr. Ge Jieping believes that the acquisition of calligraphy aesthetic experience is realized in Linchi practice. With the deepening of Linchi and the improvement of skill level, aesthetic experience can be more and more abundant. The improvement of aesthetic ability directly helps us to know, understand and grasp the classics more accurately, thus enriching our pen and ink expression ability and sublimating techniques. The so-called "like eating sugar cane, it is getting better and better" and "interesting to understand". The "fun" here is the natural expression of temperament. In his 70-year artistic career, Mr. Ge Jieping has always regarded both merits and virtues as his aesthetic ideal. In particular, it is of more practical significance to expound the relationship among work, sex and spirit. He believes: "Active and asexual, lifeless, reactive and unreal. Merit is the foundation of calligraphy, and sex is the soul of art. Both are indispensable for books. " Work-oriented, from temperament, like a deep-rooted leaf, and a rich look. When Mr. Wang was alive, he always hated those who dreamed of getting married, or smeared them with his hands, regarded decay as a magical stream, and innovated with grotesque patterns.
Mr. Ge Jieping also has something new to say. It is believed that "old-style poetry is more expensive than elegance, and it is elegant to read it tirelessly"; "Seal cutting can be refined by printing books"; As for calligraphy, it is considered that "if you don't understand the eight methods, it will be vulgar", that is, the so-called "unrealistic expression". He doesn't shy away from the objective existence of "even the elegant have vulgar books", which shows his academic character of seeking truth from facts and not following the old theory.
In Ge Jieping's calligraphy thoughts, what impressed us most was his piety and awe of tradition and sages of past dynasties. Most of his books are about technology, skill and spirit, and there are few words like "innovation". This feature is very similar to that of many calligraphers of the older generation and even traditional calligraphy theory. Facts have proved that they respect tradition, do not talk lightly about innovation, and have their own style; Nowadays, people often take "innovation" as their responsibility, and talk about the level with the ancients, but the result is shallow. It goes without saying whether our ancestors were conservative or arrogant today.
Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China's calligraphy industry has made great progress, and the achievements are obvious to all, so I won't go into details here. However, behind the prosperity, many disadvantages are gradually exposed, which is worrying. Especially since 1990s, with the older generation of calligraphers stepping into their twilight years and passing away one after another, contemporary calligraphers have gradually lost the guidance of the mainstream power and the support of traditional culture, which are manifested in the confusion of choosing calligraphy, the inversion and dislocation of value judgment, arrogance and blind innovation, which have brought serious crisis to the healthy development of calligraphy art. The main reasons are as follows: First, the lack of education leads to the lack of humanistic spirit. Due to historical reasons, many young and middle-aged calligraphers have not received the training of Chinese studies and lack the necessary traditional culture nourishment. On the surface, I just can't write poetry couplets, and the phenomenon of "copying" is serious. The deep-seated influence is: due to the weakness of literature and history cultivation and ignorance of traditional cultural background, the ignorant have nothing to fear, rebel vanity, despise sages and be blind and confident, as if they have really reached the era of "innovation". I wonder if there is any truly innovative geometry since Wei and Jin Dynasties? Second, quick success and quick success, impetuous. Lack of patience with traditional classics leads to most calligraphy creations staying at the empty and simple "technical level", or grandstanding with formal composition, with little interest and artistic conception. As Mr. Zhang said: calligraphy, a slow-paced activity, has encountered an era of fast eating. Third, the exhibition-centered operation mode of contemporary book circles. On the one hand, it misleads the value pursuit of book learners, and takes participating in exhibitions and winning prizes as their learning goals. On the other hand, the so-called exhibition hall effect mistakenly regards the visual impact brought by novelty, strangeness and uniqueness as the aesthetic standard, but ignores the examination of the connotation of the work, which makes it fall into the quagmire of shallowness, vulgarity, fancy and strangeness. Fourthly, influenced by the trend of western modern art, "anything will do" has become a reasonable excuse for refusing to practice calligraphy, which leads to confusion in choosing calligraphy, inversion and dislocation of value judgment, and serious deviation between calligraphy and traditional writing, which many people find incomprehensible. But our calligraphers are complacent there, calling it "pure art", which tends to be high and low. Fifth, during the social transformation period, traditional moral values collapsed and life values were disordered. Many people felt anxious and needed spiritual comfort. As contemporary calligraphers and watchmen of traditional culture, we should not neglect moral cultivation. It is the need of the times to comfort yourself and others with truth, goodness and beauty, and it is also the need to carry forward the traditional culture of the motherland and enhance the affinity of calligraphy with the people. This is also the precious spiritual wealth left by Ge Jieping's calligraphers of the older generation.