Mo Shuhua, a painter honed by Meishan Stone.
? This Mid-Autumn Festival, I was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Hunan Provincial Games and the famous calligraphy and painting exhibition held in Loudi, my hometown. During the activity, I was amazed at the artistic appearance presented by Mo Shuhua's younger brother through decades of uninterrupted efforts.
It is called "younger brother" because I studied under my mother Pan Xiying and was favored by my father, Mr. Morrison, for his superb painting skills. Up to now, I still cherish the three paintings presented to me by Mr. Mo. Mr. Mo Shuhua's father, Mr. Mo Xun, graduated from Shanghai Xinhua Art College in 1930s. He studied under Liu Haisu, Xie Gongzhan, Zhang Shuqi and other famous artists, especially Zhang Shanzi, who is famous for painting tigers in the world and is called "Mo Tiger". Mo Shuhua grew up in such an artistic family.
In the great transformation movement of intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Mohsen's family was also affected. So Mo Shuhua's fate came to a turning point of 180 degrees: he lost the opportunity to continue his studies and was rushed to an isolated and backward poor mountain village in Anhua by the wave of "going to the countryside", where he stayed for ten years.
In a cloudy day, there is no cultural life after hard work. After all, a young heart cannot be imprisoned. What is commendable is that no matter how bad his living situation is, Mo Shuhua has never given up his pursuit of knowledge and his love for art. Without paper and ink, he used clay as paper and branches as pens to write thousands of words over and over again on the earth, or he had infinite reverie about mountains, rivers, flowers and stones. He realized that the rise and fall of vegetation and the withering of bloom are the steps of time, and they will not give up the blooming of next year because no one appreciates them; I realized that stones always exist in the wilderness in a silent and natural state. Even after the vicissitudes of life, it still maintains its true colors: hard, calm and calm. Ten years of educated youth life not only tempered his will, but also broadened his horizons.
Mo Shuhua's works, because of his good calligraphy skills and fascination with the exploration of freehand brushwork, have formed their own distinctive personality on the basis of many reforms, such as the overall grasp of freehand brushwork, the choice of expression objects, the exploration of composition forms and the expression of humanistic spirit of works.
Tradition and life are the two sources of Mo Shuhua's creation. Only by combining traditional pen and ink techniques with real-life scenery and emotions can we create excellent works of art. Mo Shuhua in life likes to travel, and prefers to observe life. A flower, a grass, a tree, a mountain, a stone, even a farmer's hen and a bird on the roadside fence can be painted. He doesn't like to describe rare exotic flowers and plants, rare birds and animals, but focuses on the flowers, fruits, insects and birds that are common in life, giving people a simple and close local feeling. He believes that "if an artist has no passion for life, he will not have passion for painting."
Yingshanhong is a common mountain flower and one of the images that Mo Shuhua likes to describe. Life is full of laughter is a stylized work. In his works, he formed a certain spatial level through the obscurity of water, and the perceptual pen and ink caused the smoothness of brushwork and the fierceness of ink and wash. While strengthening the subject consciousness, he consciously pursued the spirit of the times, thus reaching the point of "preparing the law and using it for our own use". He is familiar with the order and laws of China's calligraphy and painting, which enables him to draw a peaceful and broad picture among dragons and snakes. From this perspective, Mo Shuhua's works have indeed achieved: artistic creation is not only an expression of objective things, but also a portrayal of the author's inner activities.
In the long river of history, flowers and birds have formed a tradition based on sketching and taking entertainment and freehand brushwork as refuge. Freehand brushwork not only has the function of image, but also has the function of expressing feelings. In order to show distinctive personality and express strong feelings, the author often exaggerates and deforms artistically. The background color of Mo Shuhua's "Cool Autumn Map" is thick and simple yellow, which is thick and dense in the treatment of trunk. The impenetrable leaves are crowded together, and several red leaves contain inner life in dignified convergence. The vigor and strength of a pen shows that trees have withered and lasting vitality even in severe autumn. The ups and downs are full of vicissitudes and heaviness of life. Excellent pen and ink, the picture is atmospheric, which makes you feel vaguely imposing. On the basis of tradition, strengthen the rhythm of pen and ink according to one's own artistic personality. More importantly, he ingeniously introduced the plane composition consciousness in western modern art into lyric pen and ink, thus strengthening the visual impact and making valuable exploration and contribution to the modernization of traditional freehand flower-and-bird painting.
? "This gentleman is the best and can be a cold friend" is another new attempt by Mo Shuhua to change his painting style this year. He changed his previous feeling, thick, full, dense and complex. The whole picture consists of a hard rock and several asparagus poles with thick and extensive bamboo leaves. "It's warm in spring in bloom, and the flowers are bright in the dark." This gentleman is the best, but he can become a cold friend at the age of 20, which shows a strong charm and aesthetic feeling. This is a song sung from his heart, which makes people taste the poem while reading: only when a person has a strong self-spirit will he have an eternal pillar of life. Here, he externalized his own spirit, the road was simple, and the bright and strong aesthetic interest of literati painting came to the fore. In his own paintings, the universal philosophy of life and history are integrated, so that people can not only enjoy the works, but also bring people philosophical thinking.
Mo Shuhua is good at constantly challenging himself, which is manifested in his repeated creation of the same theme. The innovation of the same theme is a challenge to the painter's self-study and the necessity of artistic sublimation, and the difficulties can be imagined. However, Mo Shuhua can give birth to new attributes and new realms from the change of schema, thus showing his unique feelings.
It is precisely because of his excellent professional ethics, outstanding teaching achievements and sincere artistic creation that Mo Shuhua was cordially received by former Vice Premier Li Lanqing and awarded the title of "Virtuous Artist" by the Ministry of Culture.
Mo Shuhua grew up from the tempering of Meishan stone. He loves stones, writes stones and hides stones. He is also ambitious, knowledgeable and persistent. I think his achievements will get bigger and bigger.
(Chen Chusheng, professor of Jinan University, famous calligrapher, ancient philologist, art connoisseur, rich collector, music lover, and engraver of "Long live the People Ding" in the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Conference Hall)