In September, Art published Shao's long article Creation, Appreciation and Comment. The article said that "Father" created by Luo Zhongli, a young painter, is an oil painting reflecting the "sufferings" of contemporary farmers. Since the second national youth art exhibition, it has been appreciated by many people and touched more people. It shows that the creation of theme paintings with rural themes has received extensive attention. However, how artists reflect farmers' "sufferings" is a major issue worthy of discussion.

Some commentators said, "Father" is the image of contemporary farmers in China "or" the father of 800 million farmers "? Whether this statement is appropriate is also debatable. The author of this article combines his father's creative thinking and draws different opinions according to relevant comments, which may not be correct. Please give me your advice.

There are 800 million farmers in China 10 billion population. It is undoubtedly worthy of strong support and encouragement for artists to care for and love farmers and strive to shape their images in their artistic creation. However, due to the vast rural area, low productivity and backward tools in China, farmers have worked hard for a year, and in the end their lives are still very poor. Anyone from the city to the countryside will find the sufferings of farmers. In this respect, artists are more sensitive than ordinary people. Suffering is an undeniable fact. If the artist faithfully reflects everything he observed in the countryside in his works, does it mean that it truly reflects the real life of farmers? Generally speaking, people's attitude towards this issue may be positive, but as artists, we should not limit our horizons to those of ordinary people. Artists see farther than ordinary people and see things that ordinary people can't see. In other words, artists should have profound and positive subconscious activities, permeate lofty ideals in their works, and cannot take a negative attitude towards life. Therefore, it is one thing to observe the sufferings of farmers, and it is another to reflect the sufferings of farmers. Although art is a reflection of life and life determines art, life is not equal to art, and art is not equal to life. This is self-evident. However, problems like this have not been well solved in all the works of art we have seen.

After finishing the creation of Father, Comrade Luo Zhongli wrote a letter to the editorial department of Fine Arts, telling his creative experience. It can be seen from the letter that when he was pregnant with his father, his attitude was frank, his feelings were sincere and his thoughts were simple. He happened to meet a ragged and unkempt "dung keeper" in the toilet in Chongqing, which touched his impressionable heart and suddenly produced the creative idea of expressing "suffering people". Comrade Luo Zhongli attached great importance to visual experience and understood the attraction of visual image to ordinary people. Therefore, he must not relax the follow-up observation and careful scrutiny of the "dung keeper":

"It was New Year's Eve in 75, and the rain kept coming at people with snow particles. It's very cold. There is a middle-aged farmer waiting next to the toilet near my home. In the morning, I noticed his stiffness in the snow. With the unique posture of farmers, he erected the telephone pole on the wall next to the cesspit, leaned against it, put his hands in his sleeves, numb and dull, and smoked silently. Until the evening, he stayed there, changing only various postures. ……"

"It's late at night, and the hilarious voice on New Year's Eve gradually quieted down. The last time I went to the toilet, I saw him still in the dim light. The cold at night squeezed him into a corner near the cesspool, and his body shrank into a ball. His eyes, like cattle and sheep's eyes, stare at the cesspit, like a man who is cornered, and he is never ready to make any resistance except to protect himself. At this time, there was a violent shock in my heart, sympathy, pity and emotion ... coming at me crazily. Yang Bailao, Xianglinsao, Runtu, Ah Q ... In my life and works, foreign countries are crowded in front of me. I don't know what he ate today. I went home and brought him two moon cakes. For a long time, he couldn't say a word. He is really an honest farmer. He must have been asked to do this hard work because he is too honest. Honest farmers always suffer, as I know. I want to shout for them? This is my initial impulse to conceive this painting, ... "

Understanding of life cannot be based entirely on intuition. Intuition can sometimes deceive people. As far as "raising manure" is concerned, it is not necessarily a "loss" but a "chore". There are also many manure farmers in Xi city. According to them, it is the production team's care for the needy families to go to the city to raise manure. Some of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, and have difficulty in doing heavy work. I hope to do some light work, and raising manure belongs to light work. Although "keeping dung" is a bit dirty, it may be looked down upon by people? This is the view of the city people. Farmers have been dealing with dung for generations, and they have no prejudice against dung, but their work is not heavy and their scores are not low, and they are by no means "at sixes and sevens" as described by Comrade Luo Zhongli. In the eyes of farmers, "guarding dung" is by no means a despicable thing. No matter "honest" or "dishonest", it is possible to "keep dung" Of course, "honest" people are more reliable. Don't they need "sympathy", "pity" and "touching"? Only people with a sense of superiority would want to "shout for them?" In fact, it is completely redundant, even inexplicable?

If "guarding dung" is "hard work", it is not for landlords and capitalists, but for the country, the collective and the individual, neither "bitter" nor "not bitter". It is also unreasonable to associate The Watcher with Yang Bailao, Sister Xianglin, Runtu and Ah Q, etc. If these people can "guard the dung" for themselves, I'm afraid their fate will not be so miserable, right? Should farmers in the old society "shout" because they "despise their dung"?

Farmers in the old society did "hard work", so did farmers in the new society. On the surface, the "bitterness" is the same, but in fact it is completely different: the "bitterness" suffered by farmers in the old society is endless, but in the new society, it is for future happiness; Farmers with low consciousness also know that "sweetness" comes from "bitterness", which is a simple truth of life.

Since Comrade Luo Zhongli regards "being a dung worker" and "shouting" as the "initial impulse" in the creation of Father, it is necessary to visualize the "suffering" and "hardship" of farmers in the characterization, as he himself described-

"Standing in front of the huge head of' father' will have a strong visual effect, which is why I try to enlarge the picture. If the picture is reduced by half, the effect will be completely different. Therefore, big is also one of my languages. Only in this way, in front of this huge head, can I feel the eyes of charity like cattle and sheep, hear his heavy breathing, the pounding of the veins stood out, the surge of blood, smell his unique smell of tobacco leaves and sweat, feel the trembling of his skin, see the sweat oozing from tiny pores, and have a chapped and anxious lip with only one tooth left. I can imagine what that mouth has eaten all its life. How much coptis is that? Or how much is white rice? ..... Father-this is the father who gave birth to me and raised me. Standing in front of such an upright, kind and hard-working father, who can be indifferent? How would you feel? Such a father, who does not understand, who does not love? "

The "father" described by Comrade Luo Zhongli in language is exactly the same as the "father" described in painting. He did depict the peasants with great enthusiasm, hoping to create an "honest", "kind" and "hard" father through detailed description, but the tedious detailed description actually damaged the image of the characters. For example, my father's "only one tooth", whether he eats "coptis root" or "white rice", will fall off sooner or later anyway, all physical degradation is inevitable, and even the happiest person will die. The author can't describe the characters only by vivid details.

From the reality of life, if a "suffering" farmer loses his teeth, he should try to insert false teeth, not only for practicality, but also for beauty. Pursuing civilization is human desire; The love of beauty is a noble character of human beings. Although the farmer's living conditions are worse, he doesn't want outsiders to hear his "heavy breathing"; Don't want outsiders to "smell his unique smell of tobacco and sweat"; I also don't want outsiders to see his "chapped and anxious lips". These physical defects or bad habits in life are also considered by farmers as not beautiful. If you meet a farmer like the one described by Comrade Luo Zhongli, if you take photos of him for free, he will definitely refuse. No one wants to leave an ugly impression on others. Farmers have self-esteem. As long as you have been to the countryside, you can see the "portraits" of the deceased hanging everywhere in farmers' homes. No matter rich or poor, they are neatly dressed and sit upright. No one is squinting and sweating, and there is a broken bowl in his hand. Poor thing. Why? This is by no means the vanity of farmers, but the expression of loving beauty and civilization.