After the View of "Bai Desong's New Works Exhibition"
Qiu xiaoqiu
In mid-April, I just saw the "Nomination Exhibition of Modern and Contemporary Excellent Art Works in Chengdu Wenxuan Art Museum (the first time)" and gained a lot. Meanwhile, some opinions are being considered. ...
Suddenly, a friend sent an invitation: the Longquanyi District Committee and the government of Chengdu will hold the "Tianfu Painting School Series Exhibition, Everyone's Style and Bai Desong's New Works Exhibition" in Blog Town, Luodai Town on April 30th.
I often look at the works of three generations of painters in Sichuan, but an old friend of mine for 45 years, Mr. Bai Desong, is a veritable neighbor. He has been lurking in the depths of Dongshan, Chengdu, not participating in activities, not being close to the market, and hardly interacting with people. We meet occasionally, just drinking and chatting; Has Bai Lao been painting for more than ten years? Are you still studying? It's not convenient to ask
Bai Desong holds an exhibition! Surprise, surprise, drive. Step into the exhibition hall, wow! Twelve great works came at me at the same time, and I almost screamed: enjoyable! Tall!
After that, I went for a few days and read and pondered repeatedly. As the author joked, he painted a "minority" instead of the public.
Many people are not familiar with the historical stories described in the series of paintings of "Wei and Jin literati" on display this time, so we should simply interpret them. In this regard, the author has repeatedly said: "Art is not to appreciate stories, but to appreciate expressions."
Well, I'll start with Jian 'an Wenqi: the surging clouds, generosity and sadness should be the environmental atmosphere created by this painting, and also the atmosphere of the times in the life of literati in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The author must have been inspired by the poem "Looking at the Sea": "If the trip to the sun and the moon is among them; Xinghan is brilliant, if it is unexpected. " Of course, Cao Cao was a great hero among the literary representatives in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Watch him sing with lofty sentiments in the breeze: "A few bright moons, blackbirds fly south", "An old horse rides high, aiming at a thousand miles …" His broad-minded mind and lofty aspirations are all reflected in the gestures of the characters in the painting.
Where does the powerful gas effect come from? First of all, it is caused by the sharp contrast between black and white, and then by the ups and downs of the outer contours of many character groups. Among these people, we heard the beautiful sentence of "the crown of five words" wandering homesickness, and also heard the touching chapter of romantic Luo Shenfu. Really, the stars are beautiful and there are many excellent people.
What goes with this painting is the voice at the beginning.
This Four Great Classical Novels (including A Tour of Bamboo Forest and Lanting Spring Day) is a masterpiece with great theme, great scene, great weather and great scheduling.
Zhengshi shows the wind of another group of people openly talking about metaphysics after Jian 'an, and shouts out the strongest voice of the times known as "Zhen Yu Pit Gold". On the screen, celestial bodies run and Yue Xian plays in unison; Wang Bi, a leading figure, is confident and arrogant, and Kan Kan talks about it; Many colleagues are scattered, their expressions are serious and meticulous, and they are flesh and blood.
The two paintings with the theme of "Bamboo Forest" and "Lanting" should be a pair of companion pieces. Both emphasize the decorative and symbolic nature of the overall framework. Its clothing colors, one bright and one dark, show the different times atmosphere of the two series and the situation and mood of the participants.
The painting "Bamboo Forest" sets off the image of seven sages with different postures and echoes from afar with dark brown flowers: playing the piano, reading music with eyes closed, and bumping into the altar with heavy drinks ... The author highlights his advantages in modeling with lines, which is as slow and euphemistic as a song.
The fiddler at the top of the picture must be Ji Kang, a genius thinker, writer and musician in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Ji Kang is a person who advocates that "the more famous, the more natural". He was executed for not cooperating with Sima Dynasty. On the day of execution, 3,000 students asked Ji Kang to be pardoned and offered to learn from him, but Si Mazhao refused. Ji Kang smiled and beat Guangling San (Nie Zheng stabbed Hanwang) before he died, and then he died calmly.
Mr. Bai cherishes this creative theme very much. As early as 1996, he painted an ink figure painting "Far Away Guangling San" with 1.5m× 1.5m, which was highly praised by painting circles and lovers.
Lanting is another kind of mood. The author boldly leaves blank, and the picture is transparent, which is the environment of "clear sky Wan Li" and "love talk". Here, "the clear stream is rushing, reflecting the left and right, thinking that it flows." The painter's combination of landscapes and figures is the style of "painter's painting" rather than "literati painting". The book sage Wang Xizhi indulged himself, and the two groups of characters were different, each with its ups and downs. The figures and stones on the right gather diagonally with the flowing water from top to bottom on the left; The iconic strange stone group flew over the top of the painting, which played a role in standardizing the command.
Looking at the overall situation, read the preface again: "Look up at the size of the universe, look down at the prosperity of categories, ... believe in cola!" " Painting and writing complement each other.
Waiting for Dongshan, the title of the painting is Waiting for it, not Ascending again, which has another meaning and suspense. Xie An, the owner of this painting, is known as the "Saint of Dongshan", and history books call him "the first romantic prime minister in Jiangzuo". Before entering the official position, he lived in seclusion in Huiji Mountain, waiting to see what happened and showing his talents. This painting deliberately hides behind the scenes the famous battle of Feishui, which he commanded in the history of our country with little chance of winning, giving people a feeling of "listen to the next chapter".
This is the most decorative composition: the left mountain is opposite to the right water, and the upper circle echoes from afar. A group of petrels fly out of the mountain and go straight to the sea. It not only connects the whole painting, but also adds movement to the silence, which also leads to two major events: Xie Gong's seclusion in Huiji Mountain and maritime distress.
The author deliberately tilted the black square in the center of the picture, which looks like a carpet, to the upper right, causing the trend to be unstable. Xie An just sits here, with a clear mind, a calm look and a distant view; The left hand wants to go out, as if to command a fierce battle. The beautiful musicians in front of him are beautiful and dignified, dedicated to silk and bamboo. Some people say that if the patterns on the Hanfu you wear are used as modern clothes, they will certainly be favored by today's beautiful women.
Mr. Bai said: "Rise again" means failure; "Waiting for an opportunity" means that he is saving his strength at this time, and once the time is ripe, he will immediately go into battle and win it in one fell swoop.
What Tao Yuanming, a great writer in Jin Dynasty, expressed in "Return" is that he didn't bend down to retire to the countryside. This painting is concise and lively, with the original Han Dynasty portrait brick pattern as the foil, reminding the poet of his pursuit, from the ox cart hurried back from the upper right to the plowing, weaving, harvesting, fishing boats and birds rotating at the lower left ... forming an action chain around Tao Gong, singing and dancing. The painter condensed and summarized the classic contents in Tao poetry. Readers standing in front of the painting can't help chanting: "If you come back, the countryside will be ruined." "In Jintaiyuan, Wu Lingren makes a living by fishing ..." "I like reading, but I don't want to know too much" and "I love Lao Lin, and I miss him." ..... A clever painter won't say everything, he will pass on the association to the readers to extend it, which is the charm of visual art!
Four paintings in the Watch series. Don't say "one" for the time being, leave a suspense and break it down next time.
Now we say "second" and "third". Both of these paintings are set in the western Sichuan Plateau. "Second" should describe the late autumn and early snow. Mountains, snow, water, reflections, fallen leaves ...
All this is so quiet; All this is so quiet. How to sing the lyrics of autumn on the plateau!
The "third picture" can be called "auspicious crane map in snowy area" Snow-capped mountains, auspicious clouds and cranes fly slowly around the sacred White Pagoda with loud trumpets and chanting.
This is a landscape painting created by workers and writers. The author draws lessons from the line drawing technique of Tibetan Tangka to express cranes and white pagodas. Painting mountains, however, can hardly see obvious lines and methods, but it is by no means a foreign method of "block structure". It is very mysterious and hidden.
The reflection of branches in "Second" and the free and easy of huge dead trees in "Fourth" fully show the painter's broad mind and skillful ink painting and calligraphy skills. People and books are old!
The clouds in Yunnan and the mountains in Liangshan are sisters' works. Mr. Bai has a soft spot for Yunnan. In the 1980s, he influenced a generation of young people and young painters with his cartoon The Story of Xishuangbanna. Later, he painted 24 masterpieces with meticulous brushwork, participated in the national art exhibition and appeared in the China Art Museum.
In Yunnan's paintings, the author uses two local artistic elements: one is to compose the blue sky with the joy of tie-dyeing, and the other is to release the white clouds with beautiful dance. The center of the painting, like a star, contains stone forests and elephants; Isn't that white peacock dance in Yang li Ping? Symbolic and abstract shapes leave readers with many reverie, which is romantic enough!
According to the author, he painted three different "Mountains of Liangshan", two of which I have seen, and the other is my companion's painting "Fire of Liangshan". Are masterpieces of the author's long-term in-depth life.
Unique composition
Looking at the twelve big paintings on display, the author pays great attention to the overall charm and rhythm of the pictures. The first is to use geometry to build a large frame. Panoramic composition adopts the traditional "scattered perspective" that spans time and space, and even contains elements of montage and stream of consciousness. When looking at paintings, it is natural to associate Dunhuang murals, Dazu and Anyue stone carvings with Mr. Bai's works. Within a specific framework, the "general director" freely and willfully dispatches characters: sitting or standing, static or moving; The echo connection between groups and individuals, groups and groups, the opening and closing of characters in groups, and the complementarity between people and things, people and scenery; Specific and subtle, simple as a whole ... how many profound life and artistic philosophies are contained in it! It's really intriguing.
Deformation and realism
Today, most of the characters in Chinese painting are either painted according to photos or bizarre; It turned beauty into ugliness and gave it the reputation of "ugly beauty". Thousands of people are similar to each other in inbreeding, with pale and heartless facial expressions and rigid body movements. The deformation of the characters in Mr. Bai's works comes from life, but it is obtained after concentrated generalization and exaggeration. It really comes from the rich inner world of generate. Real and vivid.
A strong sense of sculpture and China's unique opera moves (especially Sichuan Opera) have become the resounding symbols of Bai Desong's portrayal of characters!
The author's treatment of the facial structure of the characters is no longer a sketch made with a brush. His sketching techniques, influenced by Cheshokov, have long been centered on China and Bai De. After years of artistic practice, he is clear-minded, handy, accurate and calm. It is no exaggeration to say that just cutting off a face in his painting is a vivid portrait.
Mr. Bai's face painting is a deformation on the basis of realism, but his treatment of clothing lines is freehand or implicit. He used the brushwork of painting mountains, stones and clouds to draw characters' costumes. There are not only textures endowed by nature, but also changes in human structure and movements. The seamless combination of realism and symbolism is the great achievement of Professor Bai's years of hard exploration!
An art theorist once said: The seeker's eyes are dark and the light behind him is bright.
Yes, innovation is selfless, and so is innovation.
Ink painting and color
In ancient times, there was a saying that "ink is as precious as gold", and the eyes were painted with thick ink; But Bai did the opposite. He used bright colors to embellish inconspicuous gadgets on a large area of paintings. For example, the fruit on the plate, the belt on the robe, Yu Pei and so on. The loudest color should be Cao Cao's red cloak that solidified instantly when the sea breeze lifted when he was reciting poems in Jian 'an Wenqi. It's an exclamation point of the whole painting!
Of these twelve paintings, except Yunnan, which uses a large area of blue, other paintings that seem pure ink and wash are not pure. If you look closely, you will find that every painting has a uniform tone. Speaking of hue, it seems to be the saying of western painting. In fact, Chinese painting has been divided into turquoise and light crimson as early as the Tang Dynasty. Doesn't the "color following the class" in the "Sheikh Six Laws" emphasize the cold and warm classification of colors? Mr. Bai is good at using warm colors, such as khaki and brownish gray. Color melts in ink, and color and ink are inseparable. The sound at the beginning blends the whole painting with the color of burnt tea, and inserts a contrast color similar to the effect of "hidden celadon" in the middle and lower part, as well as a partial rendering of alternating cold and warm. The author has good intentions and the readers are deeply mysterious.
Mr. Bai deliberately emphasized two extreme colors in these paintings: black and white. He thinks that ordinary ink is not black enough and white canvas is not white enough. So he added acrylic black and zinc white on the white cloth to show brightness and emphasis. Because he pushed these two polar colors to a more extreme level, he changed the visual effect of the original color of the canvas into beige, and added several layers to the black. In short: black is deeper and white is whiter, which greatly expands the layering and expressive power of color.
According to the author's account, his artistic treatment of figures, clothing patterns, environment and other objects was originally inspired by the texture of strange stones. It suddenly dawned on the author that China folks have long had an aesthetic habit of favoring stone patterns and wood grains. Many furniture and utensils retain wood and stone patterns as decoration, and even put marble fragments into wooden frames as screen decoration. Many daydreams and hallucinations caused by "landscapes" and "figures" on marble have always been loved by Chinese people.
The painter has a unique eye and applies this feeling to his creation, which makes his series of works more organically unified in artistic style.
Revolution of painting materials
Who said that Chinese painting has been operated on paper since ancient times! T-shaped silk paintings unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, silk paintings handed down to this day, Tibetan Thangka, etc. Has been committed to textiles. Zhang Daqian copied Dunhuang murals. In order to achieve the effect of ancient paintings on stone walls, he specially invited Tibetan lamas from Ta 'er Temple to make canvases for him.
After decades of unremitting exploration, Mr. Bai finally drew dry, wet and light effects on pure cotton white cloth, which can only be achieved on rice paper. What a pioneering work!
Although cotton cloth has the advantages of being easier to preserve than rice paper, it also has some shortcomings, such as how to correct mistakes in painting. Mistakes on rice paper can be made up, but mistakes on cloth cannot be made up. Once, Mr. Bai accidentally dropped a cigarette end because of smoking and burned a hole in the canvas. He was so angry that he almost made up his mind to quit smoking. The masterpiece that is about to be completed has to be reluctantly given up and started a new stove.
Xuan paper has become a national quintessence, but it still needs to be reformed and improved. For example, it is easy to get wet and moldy, and it is easy to "wind alum" after drying for a long time. I also hope that industry experts will pay attention.
Seek seclusion and meditation in Dongshan
Mr. Bai Desong is a Hakka in Luodai Town, a suburb of Chengdu, and the son of an out-and-out farmer. He loved literature and art since he was a child. After graduating from primary school, he was admitted to sichuan fine arts institute High School with excellent results. After that, he was promoted to undergraduate course in sichuan fine arts institute with excellent results. After graduation, he stayed in school as a teaching assistant, professor, director of the department of traditional Chinese painting and assistant to the dean (Mr. Ye Yushan, a famous sculptor). A large number of excellent art educators and Chinese painters have been trained, and at the same time, they insist on the creation of Chinese paintings. His comic books, The Story of Xishuangbanna, Red Rock, Wild Wind Valley, I don't know what I'm thinking in March, etc., and his single paintings, Song of Hope, Song of Feng Jiangjun, Far Away Guangling San, The Fire of Liangshan and the meticulous group painting, Castle Peak Everywhere, participated in the national art exhibition or published.
The lines used by Mr. Bai in this batch of new works can be said to be varied, changeable, flowing, chiseled, understated, stopped and collected ... These should all be due to his long-term skill in pondering pen and ink and drawing cartoons.
One of the series "Watch" is to draw his attachment to his hometown with compact composition and bold pen and ink. 1998 Mr. Bai lives in seclusion in his hometown, far away from the hustle and bustle of downtown, reading, writing, drinking and floating in obscurity; Don't follow fashion, don't seek fame and fortune, and live a leisurely and peaceful life.
Drink for nothing, and drink beer to quench your thirst. Nevertheless, he knows the world situation and the present situation of art like the back of his hand. I asked him, "Why do you know so many things outside Taoyuan?" After he took a sip of white wine, he answered me sourly: "This is called' a scholar can know what's going on in the world without going out!'" "Ha ha ha ....."
Whether it's Back to Xi or Waiting for Dongshan, Bai Desong with distinctive personality is different, even different from the ancients. He devoted himself to painting a series of paintings of "Wei and Jin literati" for more than five years, which is the harvest of his persistence in cultural self-confidence, traditional self-confidence and literati character.
He is the son of a farmer and the most grounded grassroots painter; However, he is also a respected old academic professor. The combination of the two is wonderful!
The research is rigorous and meticulous. In order to draw a series of paintings of "Wei and Jin literati", it took more than a year to prepare the copy.
Those seemingly accidental effects or vague treatments in his paintings are all written by his strokes (and the brushwork is beautiful at close range). This is by no means a reward.
Mr. Bai's painting style has changed from "literati painting" to "painter painting", which is no longer a game of pen and ink. Instead, it is a masterpiece with a strong sense of antiquity in the form of modern painting.
He often quotes a famous saying in Wen Xin Diao Long that "changes can last for a long time, but there are many general rules" to encourage his determination and endurance of continuous innovation.
At this time, I should return to his "wait and see" series of paintings "No.2": the reflection of branches, the solidified first snow, and the golden maple leaves quietly landed on the water in a corner of the alpine forest Haizi. ...
All this is so quiet; All this is so quiet.
Quiet, not noisy, not impetuous.
Only by calming down can we strive for perfection and create.
On the evening of 201May 14, Xiaoqiu was in Chengdu Dongshan Middle School.