——The impression of calligrapher Cui Xiangjun (Ye Meng)
Bingshu spring, Baling ancient city, midnight. Gathered in a teahouse with oil painter Mo Hongxun, Chinese painter Dai Jian, poet Cai Shiping, and calligrapher Cui Xiangjun. Mo Hongxun and Mo Hongxun have not met each other often, but they have a close affinity with each other; Dai Jian has been paying attention to his Chinese paintings for a long time and likes them very much; Cai Shiping, the poet, is a new acquaintance and he is a kind and honest person. Cui Xiangjun was born with a majestic and square face, and his broad eyebrows had a bold and bold aura.
This is the second time I met Cui Xiangjun. The first time I met was at the Nanhu Hotel in Yueyang, in December 2004, when I participated in the "Dongting Lake Pen Club" of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles. That time, he sent "Literature and Imagery: Diary of Huajiadi". Read it carefully immediately. This year. It is not an easy task for people to read a book carefully. "Huajiadi Diary" is a wonderful art essay. Cui Xiangjun truly recorded the days he spent studying in the calligraphy graduate class at Wang Yong Studio of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in the form of a graphic diary. It is not only a record of the art learning process, but also a kind of thinking and learning. The process itself is art. After reading the diary, I also feel that Cui Xiangjun’s sense of language and ability to control words are very impressive. For the record of the artistic process, there is no pretense to make a fuss, making it feel like entering the calligraphy graduate class of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and integrating into their study life. The diary seems to be written casually, but it is not easy to attract readers. After reading it, I feel that I have gained far more than the pleasure of reading words. It opened my eyes, smelled the fragrance of ink in the graduate class, and indirectly gained insights about calligraphy appreciation. knowledge. After reading this book, I became partially familiar with Cui Xiangjun and sensed his spirit of persistent pursuit of art.
Ask Cui Xiangjun: Why did you become interested in calligraphy?
Cui Xiangjun grew up on Chishan Island, an isolated island in Dongting Lake. Both his parents worked in Chishan Prison. He attended a school for prison children and had limited contact with the outside world. The only people outside the high wall were his parents’ colleagues. , that is, people who are employed on the spot after serving their sentences.
When he was in elementary school, he almost never saw real calligraphy works. When he was 12 years old, he passed by the window of a small house and saw through the glass window a painting of Chairman Mao's poem "The Red Army is not afraid of expedition difficulties..." written in seal script in the house. He was greatly surprised. He was fascinated by the words. The formal beauty is frightening. A child didn’t know there were such beautiful calligraphy in the world. For a child who has never seen calligraphy works, seal script is simply a shock and an opportunity. This is the reason why Cui Xiangjun later became associated with calligraphy and reached a peak in seal script.
One day in the summer of 1979, there was a hand of God secretly pushing. Cui Xiangjun, a middle school student who had just become interested in calligraphy, went to the post office on the island to order a calligraphy magazine for himself. At this moment, an old man who was also ordering a magazine at the post office noticed the child and also noticed that what he wanted to order was calligraphy. Magazine. The old man took the initiative to chat with Cui Xiangjun. He was a prisoner who had served his sentence and his name was Wang Xiangui. Among those who were pardoned in 1975 was a major general and civil servant of the Kuomintang. After he was pardoned, he did not return to his hometown and worked in the prison to burn boilers. This meeting was an opportunity for Wang Xiangui and Cui Xiangjun. Wang Xiangui had considerable attainments in calligraphy. Due to some reasons, he was unable to return to his hometown after being imprisoned for 26 years. He was a lonely old man who cared about a young man who loved calligraphy. And counseled him. From then on, Cui Xiangjun became Wang Xiangui's student. It was at this time that he learned that the author of Chairman Mao's poems in seal script that shocked him a few years ago was Teacher Wang Xiangui. Years of suspense finally came to an end! In the following days, Cui Xiangjun sent his calligraphy homework to teacher Wang Xiangui's home for review two or three nights a week, and the teacher and students talked for four or five hours. The old man is a well-educated man and has a profound knowledge of traditional Chinese culture. Cui Xiangjun received not only the influence of calligraphy, but also the establishment of aesthetic taste.
On an isolated island, Cui Xiangjun had his first enlightenment teacher in calligraphy. In an era when culture and art are ignored, it is really rare to have a mentor who teaches him wholeheartedly and an environment for learning! It was impossible to buy books on the isolated island back then. Cui Xiangjun’s calligraphy inscriptions and art books were almost all purchased through mail order. Cui Xiangjun took the first step towards the art of calligraphy.
For Wang Xiangui, tutoring young Cui Xiangjun in calligraphy learning has become a very meaningful thing in his life. Think: If Wang Xiangui was still alive, he would be gratified to know Cui Xiangjun's achievements in calligraphy today.
Cui Xiangjun later came to Changde to study and work. Changde is also a city on the shore of Dongting Lake and a place where calligraphy talents gather. Cui Xiangjun, who is good at learning, received guidance from Mr. Yang Wei, Zhang Gong and Zhou Bo, which laid a solid foundation. Later, he studied at Hunan University of Arts and Crafts for three years. Thanks to the guidance of the famous painter Mr. Du Wei, his style of pen and ink was further improved. In the autumn of 2002, he entered the Central Academy of Fine Arts for further study, which gradually improved his calligraphy art creation.
Today I saw Cui Xiangjun’s calligraphy exhibition at the Hunan Art Museum. It was the third time I saw Cui Xiangjun and the first time I saw his work exhibition. Scanning the huge exhibition hall, there is a feeling of flying clouds and turbulent waves breaking the shore, which is a great visual impact. I wonder if some words were written with a big broom? What a courage! The large-scale works occupy four walls of the exhibition hall. Among them, the seal script couplets were unanimously praised by colleagues.
Cui Xiangjun's calligraphy has a majestic momentum, outstanding personality, and at the same time a profound artistic conception. There is a couplet that seems to be a masterpiece. Hanging in the middle of the east wall of the exhibition hall is a couplet written on red rice paper: "The mountain scenery of Yunlin is as far as the sky, and the article of the founding of the government is as beautiful as the new one." Especially "It is as far as the sky". 3 words, mellow, peaceful and casual, very eye-catching, as if you suddenly entered a cool and spacious ancient building temple after being exposed to the sun, there is a refreshing feeling that is soothing to the bones.
I really like this couplet. When I looked carefully, I found that someone had already ordered it. As soon as the exhibition opened, someone started taking action, so fast! It's really a shame. Think: This kind of couplet cannot be copied. It requires a state of mind and accidental creativity. It is something that cannot be obtained again. With no choice but to "eat" this couplet with my eyes, I felt connected to the profound Zen world of Cui Xiangjun's calligraphy works. Good works make people reluctant to part with them. The so-called collision between art and soul is at this moment.
I don’t know much about calligraphy, and I haven’t studied the real grass and official seal scripts. When I look at calligraphy, I can see a kind of life’s true energy, a kind of life’s direction, a kind of freedom that removes the fire and cultivates to a round and lifelike state. spirit. Calligraphy is an abstract art. It is the most convenient way to express one's spiritual strengths, and it is also difficult to cover up one's spiritual weaknesses. I don’t really appreciate the idea of ??searching for begging classics in the treasure house of Chinese calligraphy art to whitewash my pale soul. Things that look beautiful on the surface may not necessarily belong to the calligrapher himself. Calligraphy is the most difficult thing to conceal the true state of one's own state of mind and spirit. When copying the works of famous artists, one is afraid of losing oneself and falling into tradition, which makes one feel a great sense of uncertainty. Having low self-esteem may rely on your own strong mental strength to refuse to get lost.
Cui Xiangjun's calligraphy is like a child in the countryside, running naked in the wasteland in the summer sunshine and swimming happily in the water, a kind of wantonness that is not restricted by laws! It makes people feel the free and unrestrained spirit of the calligrapher.
Cui Xiangjun's calligraphy reminds us of the vigorous reeds in Dongting Lake, a kind of tenacious growth and a kind of willful expression. Plants that grow wildly on a piece of fertile land.
Some seniors in the Hunan calligraphy circle said that among the young calligraphers in their early 40s with strong traditional skills, Cui Xiangjun is the more outstanding one. However, what we can see from Cui Xiangjun's calligraphy works is not the complete inheritance of tradition, but the full absorption of the rich nutrients in tradition and the enhancement of his artistic body without leaving any trace. There is a fresh vitality in his works, which is the original power of rawness, or a state that cannot be imitated. All these are the traces of his wandering mind.
Cui Xiangjun, a calligraphy artist who grew up on an isolated island in Dongting Lake, studied, worked and lived in the cities surrounding Dongting Lake, and later chose to live in Yueyang Ancient City by Dongting Lake. A broad aura with the essence of Huxiang culture. Dongting Lake and Yueyang on the Yangtze River are irreplaceable geomantic treasures in terms of human geography.
Cui Xiangjun never left Dongting Lake. Dongting Lake was the creative background of his calligraphy works. He changed a couplet in his collection: "Dreams of clouds in the chest, lakes and mountains in the eyes" to "Dreams of clouds in the chest, The title of this article is "Lake and Mountain at the End of the Pen".