For the sake of spring, Xue Mei refused to surrender, and the poet put down his manuscript fee to comment on this chapter.
The snow in Mei Xu Xun is three points white, but the snow has lost a kind of plum fragrance.
evaluate
Mei Lan, Zhu Ju, four gentlemen, I prefer the integrity and character of bamboo!
This is my discovery.
Stone is present, but calligraphy is in my heart.
-I first met Liu's freehand flower-and-bird paintings.
◆ Text/Ma Secretary-General of China Painting and Calligraphy Collection Appraisal Chapter Association
I have known Mr. Liu for a long time. Before that, I didn't know much about his paintings and people At the end of last year, he came to Beijing for some reason, got together at our place and talked a lot about painting in a hurry. When I first met him, I was moved by his frankness and frankness. He is a typical Shandong man. Later, I began to pay attention to his works and was often moved by his simple picture charm. It is really picturesque!
For Chinese painting, Mr. Liu has devoted himself to studying it for decades. But he is not only guided by tradition, but always incorporates modern painting elements found in the process of sketching. If Liu regards painting as life, then sketching and artistic innovation are the soul of his pen and ink. In his own words, a painter who is not engaged in painting and sketching can't walk out of the barriers of his predecessors and can't keep up with the times. "Don't let the ancients call it ambition, and don't let today call it boundless." This is Liu's voice. But to do this, it depends not only on big talk, but also on concrete steps and efforts, which is by no means ordinary courage and talent. After years of hard work, Liu finally entered the advanced class of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2002. After graduation, he was admitted to the advanced class of Central Academy of Fine Arts with excellent results. In this art palace, he was hungry, worked hard and made great achievements.
Liu is a perfectionist. He is very strict with himself. He often disposes of dissatisfied works together with rubbish. Even if he has given it to a friend, once he finds it, he will change it to a good one. Someone asked him in surprise why. He said that his early works have not passed the standard, so it is better to discard them in time than to stay in society. Liu's attitude towards life is not only a concrete portrayal of art's high responsibility to society, but also his awakening to artistic truth and objective truth in the process of sketching. Perhaps it is for this reason that he has his own insistence on creation and sketching.
Liu was born in Linqu, Shandong Province, and belongs to the famous Yimeng Mountain area. Throughout his works of art, most of them are plantain, bamboo, plum, pine, eagle and pomegranate. Although these images are almost ordinary, he found spirituality for them from his long-term sketches and sublimated them into the heat of life.
I learned from others that in order to paint bananas well, Mr. Liu has to sketch in Xishuangbanna for several months every year. He said that the scenery there is very beautiful, with strange flowers and grasses covering overlapping mountains, banana orchards everywhere, lush and vibrant, showing the unique customs of the south all the time. However, the local environment is not satisfactory. The air is humid and the rain is constant. Often, as soon as a sketch is written, there will be a sudden rain. In this case, he had to put away his drawings and resume painting after the rain. At the same time, be careful of flying insect bites and poisonous snake attacks when sketching. But in order to create the truth of art, he never regarded these difficulties as obstacles to sketching. Spring Rain and other works with bananas as the object are all created on the basis of sketching.
Life is indifferent and short, and art is flawless. If you pour your talents, you will get one occasionally. Art and life should not be neglected. Liu thinks that as a painter, he must go deep into life and engage in a lot of sketching. Because, sketched works are not only difficult to repeat and be similar, but also can make people have many associations. Taking bananas as an example, how to express it with freehand brushwork can only be realized by painters in sketching. China's traditional painting method is that the ink is divided into five colors, and the shades are dry and wet. Some people paint banana in black and white. However, in his sketches, he really realized that there is a great distance between bananas in reality and bananas in art, and bananas in reality have dense leaves, so scientific abridgement must be carried out in his creation. For some dry or incomplete leaves, you can borrow some from another banana tree. The works created in this way are both artistic perfection and objective truth.
People who are engaged in the creation of traditional Chinese painting know very well that as a freehand flower-and-bird painter, they should create a state of writing "meaning" when creating. The so-called "freehand brushwork realm" is actually an illusion of the painter in the process of painting and a highly free spiritual realm of artistic selflessness.
The word "freehand brushwork" once appeared in the pre-Qin classic "Warring States Policy". Zhao Er ". The book says "loyalty can be freehand brushwork". Here, "freehand brushwork" and "character" are connected, which refers to a kind of character and temperament of people. Later, people gave "freehand brushwork" more connotations, but they were all related to the expression of mentality, emotion and interest. In the creation of traditional Chinese painting, this kind of freehand brushwork is done with pen and ink as the medium. When the ancients talked about painting, they called the painting beyond the object "one product". In fact, Yipin is the kind of painting that is completely "freehand". For example, Liu's works "Birthday", "Top Gun", "Song He Nian Qing" and "Autumn Rain Fei Fei" well reflect the realm of freehand brushwork, which can be described as a product. As Li Zuoxian commented in the Qing Dynasty's "Calligraphy and Painting", "Pen and ink are freehand brushwork, ... driving ink like a cloud, writing like the wind, ..."
Shi Tao said in Quotations of Paintings by Bitter Melons and Monks: "Man-made things are covered with dust. If you work for something, you will suffer. " "I cover things, and dust covers dust. If you don't work hard, there will be paintings. " This is the "freehand brushwork state" in which everything is left to its own devices, so that artistic imagination is always in a highly free creative position. Mr. Liu's freedom comes from his accumulation of sketches and his tireless pursuit of national art.
Liu's pine paintings are different from those of China painters. How to express the vitality and vigor of pine trees with China's ink painting is still a topic that painters are still discussing. Pan Tianshou's finger painting of pine trees gives people a feeling of imposing manner, and it is definitely impossible for contemporary people to extend this road. Traditionally, pine branches are fish scales, and Wu Changshuo, Li Kuchan and others have done their best in this respect. Painters of all ages are wise men who have come out from inheritance and innovation. It should be said that the predecessors set a good example for contemporary painters. Encouraged by the spirit of the predecessors, Mr. Wang's sense of innovation is getting stronger and stronger. After doing a lot of research and analysis on Chinese painting and related traditional culture, he deeply realized that the ultimate pursuit of painting works is the picture effect, not the tools in the creative process. So, he used his self-made brush and his own brushwork to create one painting after another with pine as the object. Once these works were published, they aroused strong repercussions from the society. People like the "momentum" created in his paintings, and prefer the ink and wash effects presented in his works. After more than ten years of hard work, he seems to have found the true meaning of the image of pine trees, thus surpassing the invisible and tall "fence" set by predecessors in this field. Mr. Liu often said that artistic innovation is not empty talk, and only the painter's long-term cultural exploration and artistic practice can be realized. In order to express the image of pine trees, he went to Huangshan to sketch many times, and stayed for dozens of days, eating instant noodles and drinking mineral water. Through long-term observation and copying of pine trees, he finally found his own technique to express the spiritual feelings of pine trees after vicissitudes of life. With this passion, he expressed the image of pine trees in large-scale ink paintings, and his spirit and emotions were vividly expressed. It's not hard to see from his Song Rhyme of Huangshan Mountain, Rising Sun, Song Wind of Huangshan Mountain and Other Mountains Look Dwarf in the Sky. Once you reach the top of the mountain, you will see that "all thoughts and feelings cultivated in the process of sketching are expressed through pine trees." On closer inspection, all his works show magnificent, dignified and old-fashioned artistic effects. Looking around, his pictures are luxurious and colorful. Looking at its artistic technique, it seems to be scribbled at will, but in fact there are hidden rules in the agitation, and there is no loss of charm in the romance, which can't help but make the viewers greatly sigh.
The artistic features of China's freehand flower-and-bird paintings are the comprehensive embodiment of painting language and aesthetic needs under the domination of China traditional culture, and are the emotional points for painters of past dynasties to express the relationship between man and nature. Mr. Liu firmly grasps this theme in his creation, which makes his works well reflect the aesthetic elements of China's freehand brushwork in the expression of pen and ink language, traditional culture and modern consciousness. He is good at using the characteristics of natural images to express the inseparable feelings between man and nature in an artistic way. Many of Liu's works are aimed at Mei. From ancient China to today, such works are common, and every dynasty and generation has its representatives. Xu Wei, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, once made an incisive interpretation in one of his poems "Painting Plums": "I have never seen plum blossom spectrum, and I have my own immortal; If you don't believe me, try to see thousands of trees, and the east wind makes spring. " This shows how important the image of plum blossom has been in people's minds for thousands of years. So it is not surprising that there are so many such works. Mr. Liu knows that profound knowledge is the basis of observing things and can make people get extraordinary feelings in ordinary things. The same mountain, water, grass and trees, painters with different academic qualifications will have different feelings, which will make their paintings very different. It is difficult to create a real painter simply by painting theory. To make one's art successful, one must seek painting inspiration from other related disciplines. Many of Mr. Liu's works achieve the artistic conception of poetry by means of things, so that poetry can be perfectly conveyed. Finally, he showed China's traditional culture and his feelings about life through pictures, which made his works doubly heavy and profound.
Chinese painting is a medium carrying traditional culture. But without deep painting skills, the painter can't bear this responsibility. For the truth of art, while studying traditional culture and predecessors' painting theory, he always takes a lot of time out to sketch every year, and understands the different forms of objects in different seasons through sketching observation. In spring, he wrote colorful and ever-changing flowers, and in summer and autumn, he wrote vigorous and graceful jungles and flowers. In winter, the notice he wrote was proud of the wind and snow, with twists and turns. A series of works with plum as the theme, such as "Spring of Iron Bone" and "Snow of Iron Bone", were all created by him through years of sketching.
Based on Gu Mei's real objects, these works depict Gu Mei's various postures with close-up techniques and various lines in Jiao Mo Center. Magnificent, far-reaching artistic conception, energetic and meaningful, ethereal in density, thick trunk, and flowers in branches and leaves. Mei's image is real and vivid, and her faithful and noble image gives people many reverie. Mr. Liu likes to draw big notices and red berries, and likes to create that kind of battle with red dots on a white background, highlighting people's spirit.
The ultimate in painting is style. Style is the embodiment of a painter's character and temperament. Mr. Liu embraced life enthusiastically, threw himself into nature wholeheartedly, and appreciated all kinds of creatures with flowers, trees, birds and flowers and their infinite vitality in the wind and frost, so as to gain rich feelings directly in vision and smell, arouse his feelings and thoughts about nature in deep affection, and transform them into strong artistic language through the creation of his mind. He showed what he saw, heard and felt with vivid and touching pictures, colorful emotions, clear and fresh style, and a degree of pen and ink. "Hundreds of clumps of plum calyx, a bunch of dead branches. Moist ink and fresh color. Flying and perching, exercise is like life. Pleasant sex makes love, work and escape possible, and Si is a wonderful product. " Looking at Mr. Liu's paintings with this sentence by Xu Wei, a painter in the Ming Dynasty, can give us a lot of enlightenment. His paintings, whether huge or full sketches, can make people truly feel his solid traditional skills and wanton artistic brilliance, and feel the richness of pen and ink and the originality of picture composition. Many of his works are huge, with wide pictures, broad tolerance, exquisite brushwork, pictographic images and ink coloring. While reflecting the natural temperament, it also fully shows the painter's personality. It is not difficult to see that Mr. Liu has both profound traditional skills and the pursuit of modern consciousness. In his works, the sense of the times becomes the natural expression of his profound artistic accomplishment and lofty spiritual pursuit. He has said many times that only by breaking through the traditional mode and ideological shackles of conformism and paying attention to the original skills of natural expression can the creation of freehand flower-and-bird paintings maintain its vitality with strong lyrical freehand brushwork, and people's desire to return to nature can be realized with splashing ink.
Therefore, every plant, tree, flower and bird in his works are full of vigor and profound artistic conception. His painting style not only has the characteristics of freehand brushwork, both physical and mental, but also has the characteristics of rewriting and emphasizing brushwork. It not only has strong visual impact, but also reveals a charming charm in spiritual connotation. All his works are thriving in the sun, full of charm, overflowing with noble and intoxicating fragrance in the wind and frost, showing graceful dancing in the spring, and sticking to wanton blooming in the rain and dew. He vividly expresses his inner world's inspiration and interest with pen and ink, thus creating a pleasing and thrilling charm and artistic conception on the screen. This is the painter's display of objective things, and also reflects the painter's noble sentiment.
From Mr. Liu's freehand brushwork, we can see that he is an artist who is gradually becoming successful. On the basis of China's traditional flower-and-bird paintings, he constantly enriched the era connotation of "freehand brushwork". Liu believes that "writing" and "meaning" are two important features of China's flower-and-bird painting. China's philosophy of harmony between man and nature is a main line that runs through China's freehand brushwork for thousands of years, forming a unique cultural element of China's flower-and-bird painting. The so-called "meaning" is to establish the moral integrity of the painter's spirit through the choice of flower and bird themes; The so-called "writing" is to explain the stylized traditional theme through personalized pen and ink, so that those repeated cultural symbols can be transformed into artistic images containing the painter's cultural personality.
The freehand brushwork of flower-and-bird painting in the 20th century began in Zhao, Wu Changshuo and Wang Yiting. Shanghai-style flower-and-bird painting, based on inscriptions, brought vigorous, simple and vigorous painting style to traditional freehand flower-and-bird painting, and changed the gentle and charming posture of flower-and-bird painting in the late Qing Dynasty. Chen Shiceng, Qi Baishi and Pan Tianshou all evolved from Wu Changshuo, thus forming the leading position of Shanghai School and Beijing School's freehand flower-and-bird painting in the whole country in the 20th century. In 1950s, influenced by real life, traditional flower-and-bird paintings began to pay attention to the expression of local themes under the inspiration of the new era. The painting styles of Guo Weiqu and Wang Xuetao. It adds a sense of realism and life to flower-and-bird painting. This is the turning point of freehand brushwork painting from "inheritance" to "new change". After 1970s, freehand brushwork flower-and-bird painting turned to the expression of nature and living environment, and colorful and competitive tropical rain forest became the object of human's contemplation of natural living environment. Mr. Liu appreciates the works of these masters very much, but he doesn't want his painting style to be the shadow of past generations. He believes that under the background of China's great culture, every painter should also have his own unique regional culture. Great culture is * * *, and regional culture is unique. Embodied in artistic creation, it is easy to form the artist's artistic personality. Qilu is permeated with "Confucius and Mencius" culture. To some extent, "Confucius and Mencius" culture has become a folk custom in Shandong. Therefore, from Mr. Liu's freehand flower-and-bird paintings, it is not difficult to see that the culture he carries has the flavor of Taoism and Confucianism, which has also become a distinctive symbol of his painting art.
Mr. Liu believes that the traditional cultural background of freehand flower-and-bird painting is very important. To a large extent, without traditional culture, there can be no real freehand brushwork. When Huang was 90 years old, his art and thoughts miraculously reached the state of transformation under the condition of "blindness and scribbling". His paintings at this time are no longer hand-painted, but carefully painted. In the dim light of poor eyesight, he used his 80 years of pen and ink skills to write his own feelings. It seems impossible, but the method is self-conscious, which can be described as chaotic but not chaotic, uneven and similar, making art choose a superb position, so the creation in the late Huang Dynasty is completely a portrayal and promotion of one's own mind.
Showing off rather than pleasing others means that the painter is completely in a "freehand brushwork state".
The success of a work is caused by many factors, both artistic inevitability and artistic contingency. However, as an important factor for the success of freehand brushwork, it is whether the painter has mastered his own "freehand brushwork state". As far as works are concerned, the artist's representation of objects is not only the representation of objective objects, but also the cultural attribution of the artistic atmosphere presented in the picture and the author's spiritual attitude towards nature and life carried by the picture. As for the author's spiritual bearing, emotional factors, cultural precipitation and painting skills. They are also reflected in the picture to varying degrees. Therefore, the painter's "freehand brushwork realm" is inseparable from his personality and mental state. In this sense, Mr. Liu deeply realized the mystery in his creative practice. His exploration of all things in nature and his study of traditional culture are all aimed at increasing the internal strength of his artistic creation and attempting to achieve artistic breakthroughs. When creating traditional objects like bamboo, it is not difficult to see his progress in this respect. Such as xiaoxiang rain, spring rain and so on. From the conception of the work to the specific brushwork, it is far from the traditional techniques. It should be said that most contemporary painters who paint with bamboo are influenced by Zheng Banqiao's techniques, while most of the bamboos in Zheng Banqiao are "bamboos" in the wind. The whole work seems to be bearing his famous saying, that is, it is tempered, because the wind blows southeast and northwest. And how should the bamboo in the rain behave? There is no explanation in Zheng Banqiao's works. After long-term observation and practice, Mr. Liu thinks the bamboo is good, but it is far from the bamboo in the sketch. In addition, bamboo in Zheng Banqiao is well known to the world, and it is difficult to create works with its own characteristics on this basis. There are many works with bamboo as the theme in history, most of which are works of literati style. They only express their interest through the carrier of bamboo, which has little connection with the sketch creation of contemporary people, so he believes in his sketch. Bamboo forests in the north and south have left his footprints. Long-term sketch creation made him realize a lot of truth, so he fully demonstrated his artistic personality in such an image. His Rain in Xiaoxiang won the gold medal in the National Ink Painting Exhibition in 2006.
Mr. Liu's paintings always use the most natural mentality to select the simplest image between heaven and earth, and then strengthen the sexual interest and inner feelings he gives to the picture. So his paintings can be perfect.
—— Han Zhengang, Director of Fine Arts Department, Academy of Fine Arts, First Normal University
In terms of technical performance, Mr. Liu's Mo Gu is different from his predecessors. In ink line drawing, it is simple and changeable, with shades, reality, dryness and wetness, and black and white contrast. The pen comes from the entity, with a sense of texture, little change in the picture structure and few strokes. Looking at Mr. Liu's works, it shows the painter's spiritual outlook and highlights his unique artistic style.
—— Wu Mingguang, Vice Chairman of Beijing China Calligraphy and Painting Collection Association, "the grandson of Wu Changshuo"
Like other arts, freehand flower-and-bird painting has undergone profound changes and made great achievements in modern times. As a painter, it is important to read a lot of books, but what is more commendable is sincere and profound love for life and in-depth and unique observation and understanding. Liu has made a lot of efforts in this respect, and his achievements are commendable.