In today's group of military oil painters, Sun Lixin is praised for his comprehensiveness and stability. His brushes are lingering in the thick history, or wandering in the current life and military camp, or singing in the embrace of nature ... showing extraordinary comprehensive ability and good professional quality. Sun Lixin, who worked as an artist in Bayi Film Studio for ten years, still remembers this sentence: "The director who can't see the trace of the director is a good director." "Not deliberately" may be his life criterion or his artistic pursuit. But pure and sincere painting is his lifelong ideal. Anyone who knows Sun Lixin can easily feel the confidence and persistence behind his calmness and elegance. In my impression, he is not good at words. Maybe his words are still wonderful in his works.

The Complex and Consciousness of Military Historical Painting Creation

The creation of military historical paintings can be said to occupy an important proportion and position in the field of the creation of revolutionary historical themes in New China. China People's Revolutionary Military Museum not only collects a large number of revolutionary military historical and artistic works such as Nanchang Uprising (Mopu) and Red Army is not afraid of difficulties (Dong), but also gathers a group of outstanding painters with pioneering significance and special contributions in the creation of military historical paintings, such as Gao Hong, He and Zheng. As the current director of Junbo Art Studio, Sun Lixin obviously felt the glory and pressure given by this history.

First of all, as a soldier in length of military service for nearly 40 years, Sun Lixin's education and growth experience have established inseparable dependence and emotional sustenance with this people's army. In his mind, the revolutionary military history is not only an earth-shattering legend, but also a beacon to guide the direction. Therefore, for the creation of military historical paintings, he not only has the convenient conditions and environment that are deeply infected and touched, but also has emotional recognition and ideological resonance. Secondly, the artistic experience of Sun Lixin painters is a generation growing up with the new art form initiated by the founding of New China. Memories of Youth, a "red classic", established their aesthetic orientation and artistic pursuit with its realistic guiding ideology and modeling concept. Therefore, it is the goal and even consciousness of this generation of military painters to inherit the excellent tradition of artistic creation with revolutionary historical themes and make it occupy the corresponding position and development space in the current artistic pattern.

1987, which was a noisy period when various western artistic trends were staged in China. However, Sun Lixin's graduation creation after studying military art is a rigorous and realistic historical painting of war theme "1938 Lunan Golgi Massacre". This tragic historical painting shows his choice on the artistic path, and can also feel the homogeneous and natural inheritance relationship between his heart and the artistic creation tradition of new China revolutionary history. From 65438 to 0999, Sun Lixin wrote his first military history when he was transferred to Junbo, which reflected Chinese people's Volunteer Army's famous battle on the Korean front-"Battle of Songgufeng". He Kangde and Zheng, who experienced the Korean battlefield personally, not only gave him careful guidance in the picture conception, but also gave him useful help in the overall grasp of historical painting and the advanced design of the relationship between pictures, which established confidence in the field of military historical painting creation and found the right path.

Walking through Minshan is an important chapter in the creation of Sun Lixin's military historical paintings. In this large-scale revolutionary historical theme creation, he "feels the heavy history with sincere heart and praises the immortal soul with simple paintings." (Sun Lixin) For this reason, he spent two months, passing through Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, tracing the journey of the Red Army, drawing a lot of sketches and accumulating rich materials. He put his understanding and feeling of military historical painting into the painting "Walking through Minshan". The picture shows the heroic feat of the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants crossing Minshan in the north to resist Japan with a panoramic and open composition. This work is different from the traditional historical painting. First of all, it puts revolutionary leaders and soldiers in the same position. They have no abnormal dynamics and are not in the center of the picture, but are integrated with the soldiers who help each other and strive forward. Secondly, it didn't choose to climb the snow-capped mountains, which is dynamic and can reflect the theme. Instead, it intercepted the moment when the Red Army set foot on the smooth road after conquering difficulties and obstacles to build a picture, which has a unique and meaningful focus; Third, the pursuit of dignity and truth in the characterization of characters, the performance of characters is not symbolic high-spirited, but introverted and personalized persistence. People's stern and tired expressions and heavy and firm steps add an inner spiritual thickness to the picture. Fourthly, in the treatment of oil painting techniques, we inherited the essence of traditional realistic painting, with more in-depth and delicate modeling and more concise colors, which left a deep impression on people in controlling big scenes and shaping many characters. Finally, it is worth mentioning that due to the muddy mountain road and the snowy mountain as the background, the phenomenon of "overexertion" in large-scale creation has been curbed, and the environment has been handled vividly, which has played an important role in creating the artistic conception of the picture.

The high degree of unity between work and career may also be an important reason why Sun Lixin is prolific in the field of military historical oil painting. Since he was engaged in professional creation in Junbo Workshop, military historical painting has been the main direction of his research and creation. Whether it is the task in the museum or the contract of other units, or the theme he chooses independently, he regards them as a serious creative project. In recent years, he has completed General Yang Jingyu (2005), We will definitely come back (2006), Song of the Plateau (2007) and Ai Xibaipo (20 1 1), and cooperated with Bai Qianjing and other colleagues in Hundred Regiments War (2007). Among them, "Join forces with powerful forces to make Jintang Bridge" is a work selected for the national major historical artistic creation project, which took three years to complete. In the process of cooperation, several artists have made gratifying breakthroughs in the sense of the times, expressive force and modeling language through constant collision, coordination, unification and promotion. The overall momentum and atmosphere of the work are full of heroic feelings, and there is a sense of sublimity that directly hits people's hearts visually. As Sun Lixin described in his later diary, they are "committed to pursuing all their efforts, and it is not an exaggeration to say' painstaking care'."

Creation and expansion of realistic military themes

As a military artist, it is closely related to his own growth to pay attention to military camp life and shape the image of soldiers. Like most military painters, Sun Lixin also experienced the growth process of amateur, professional, self-study and further study. If there is any difference, it is that his "amateur" state has a relatively high starting point. Joining the army is a student of a military band. Systematic music theory study and performance training have had a far-reaching impact on the cultivation of his artistic taste and feelings. The opportunity to study in Gao Quan's studio, a famous military painter, made him take many detours that were not as professional as a self-taught painter. The study of military art, especially the later study of oil painting doctor course in Central Academy of Fine Arts, raised his knowledge and understanding of painting to a higher level than himself. The brief introduction of Sun Lixin's artistic resume is to show that these military painters who started with describing the life in the military camp and grew up with the reform and opening up have various choices and opportunities in the face of the impact and influence of the trendy art and the transformation and adjustment of the mainstream art in China. However, most of them still choose the realistic creative path, take care of reality with realistic modeling language, and strive to develop new realistic techniques from the traditional realistic style, thus reflecting the realism of the times and vitality. Among them, Sun Lixin is obviously a practitioner full of self-confidence and firm belief.

The Green Years is the first time that I was deeply impressed by Sun Lixin's oil paintings. Strong modeling, full colors, strong light and shadow, and loose brushwork constitute a lyrical and romantic youth ballad. There are many works reflecting female signal soldiers, but the difference of this painting is that the author takes "green" as the image, the simple female soldier image, the unified camouflage uniform and the green plant background constitute the "green" symphony of light and shadow. Its rhythm is lively, the texture is sonorous, and the picture exudes a hearty, fresh and gentle manly atmosphere unique to the military camp. I love Sun Lixin's oil paintings because I don't stay on the surface of a scene, don't rely on specific plot description, and pay attention to the color "expression" and artistic conception conveyed by the picture.

With the later communication and familiarity, I saw more and more of his works, and I was deeply impressed by Sun Lixin's diligence and dedication. He dabbles in a wide range, and in practical military subjects, he is not limited to a certain arms or a certain specific subject. In my impression, the theme never seems to be a problem for him, and he is more concerned with how to express it. Sun Lixin attaches great importance to the essence of oil painting, emphasizing the intensive reading and enjoyment of painting, and dislikes some auxiliary means other than painting, such as making texture in his paintings or using some special materials to enhance the visual effect. He is very concerned about the inter-frame relationship and spatial processing of the picture, paying attention to the sense of integrity and words, whether it is the grasp of the theme of the picture or the concrete shaping of the image, not deliberately, less carving. He once talked to me about the feeling of studying for a Ph.D. in Central America: when I first entered school, my classmates were very excited when they saw that their tutors were Jin Shangyi, Zhan Jianjun, Zhu Naizheng, Han Zhong and Yuan Yunsheng, and they thought they could learn some unique skills. As a result, gentlemen still talk about some basics, sometimes just how to put a few colors. After a period of adjustment and understanding, Sun Lixin understood a truth from their words and deeds: how strong the foundation is, how far the road can go. His graduation work "Dust of Golden Armor" brings together his learning achievements and experiences. In this work, the combination of characters is interspersed, and the relationship between color, reality and space echoes, all of which are handled carefully and naturally, conveying a simple, simple and noble atmosphere.

The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 shocked China and foreign countries. Military artists rushed to the disaster area at the first time, went deep into the front line to rescue and provide disaster relief, and collected materials for their own creation. In the tent in the disaster area, Sun Lixin received a notice of writing for "The Heart of Wenchuan-National Art Exhibition". Because of his experience in the disaster area, his oil painting "Backbone" was completed very smoothly. Although it is a "first aid chapter", it does not affect the artistic level of the work at all, but adds an impulse and agitation to the picture. The picture focuses on a dynamic scene of rescuing the wounded from a very direct perspective. The figures are three-dimensional and powerful, and the rigid frame composed of soldiers' backs reaches the painting center, which gives the sculptural group image momentum and direction. Dark clouds and splashing rain covered the picture with dark and gloomy cold gray tones, and the image of female military doctors holding up infusion bottles became the most prominent bright color of the picture. Muddy ruins are rough and direct. The bright light of the military raincoat and the slippery marks of the rain are handled with great pen power and natural style. Raindrops splashed on the helmet give people a sense of tension. This work profoundly shows people's fighting will and courage in the face of disasters, and the powerful impact and realism of the scene left an unforgettable impression. Sun Lixin, who was still wanting more, later created a companion piece of the painting "Relatives" and was selected for the 11th National Art Exhibition. This work vividly shows the relationship between the affected people and their children. The foreground of the picture is a peaceful old man and a sleeping child, and the background is soldiers still in the ruins. This scene that Sun Lixin saw with his own eyes in the disaster area was refined by art and solidified on the canvas. There is a strong visual contrast between the tranquility of the foreground and the busyness of the background, which fully explains the profound meaning of the theme by deeply depicting the theme characters and carefully creating the overall atmosphere.

While loving contemporary military themes, Sun Lixin's brush also dabbled in contemporary real life. It may be related to the reason why he is good at creating historical paintings. Large-scale scene paintings with themes often become his choice and favorite theme. Works such as "Metro Builders" and "Ode to Life" are all large-scale oil paintings with grand scenes, many characters and complex structures. Stylistically, they can be regarded as the expansion and continuation of Sun Lixin's military historical paintings on modern themes.

An uninterrupted journey of sketching.

Sketch runs through Sun Lixin's whole painting career. It can be said that sketch is of great significance to the formation of his oil painting characteristics. "Only when I am bathed in the brilliance of nature can my paintings be full of vitality" (in Sun Lixin) gives him visual wisdom, which makes him feel confident and confident when facing the canvas. Mr Zhan Jianjun pointed out in the interview of Realism Spirit Still Worth Further Study: "At present, there is a problem in realistic creation, which is the photographic description of the scene." In addition to the lack of life experience and artistic language training, replacing eyes with lenses is the root cause of this abuse. On the other hand, Sun Lixin never relies on photos. In his eyes, plane photos without a sense of space are boring. The vivid feeling of facing nature, the joy of discovery, and even the restless desire can never be perceived in the studio, nor can they be similar. Sketch plays an irreplaceable role in tempering modeling ability and interest and improving color perception and sensitivity. As the painter himself said, sketching can "get inspiration from nature and have a passion for things. Sketching is an inseparable part of my life."

During 1997, Sun Lixin was invited to hold "Sun Lixin Oil Painting Sketch Exhibition" at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. For painters who have not graduated from Central America, it is both disturbing and honorable to face a group of professional and critical audiences in this top national academy of fine arts. Fan Dian, an art theorist, fully affirmed his works in the preface of the exhibition. He said that Sun Lixin "loved sketching almost to the point where he took it as his career, and he became more and more confident in painting." From 65438 to 0999, the painter held "Sun Lixin Oil Painting Exhibition" in China Art Museum, and most of the works on display were mainly sketches. To some extent, Sun Lixin's academic recognition and appreciation in the field of professional painting should start with his sketches.

"Who can draw inexhaustible true beauty nutrients from nature, whose spiritual realm is bound to be enlightened or sublimated. I think this is the truth and value of sketching. " Tutor Zhu Naizheng's words show that sketching is the simplest existence need for the growth and development of an artist's artistic life. Sketch is a dialogue with nature, which incorporates the painter's discovery and emotion. "The instant feeling left on the canvas is mainly a stroke of genius." (Fan Dian) Therefore, Sun Lixin loves and attaches importance to sketch. Every year, no matter how busy the creative task is, he will take time out to sketch. Nearly a thousand sketches not only witnessed his persistence and practice for more than 30 years, but also harvested his own "treasure excavated from nature with his heart". (Sun Lixin) For example, what he felt when sketching on the plateau in 2002: The Noon Sunshine was attracted by several simple and strong colors under the blue sky and white clouds. In two hours, the smoothness of the picture is his eyes. Gahai after the Rain focuses on the scenery after the rain and filters out the redundant colors. He spared no effort to find the internal relationship between haystacks, earth walls, houses, soil and water, and explored the internal "order" of nature. The patchwork and natural old sites in "Earth House" are composed of subtle color symphonies worth savoring in the ash blocks of different temperatures and sizes. Through the analysis of these specific works, we can see Sun Lixin's state and artistic pursuit in sketching. After a long period of sketching and observation, he has developed the vividness of "seeing" things and the ability to refine and summarize "understanding". In his sketches, we can read "stories" and see "realms".

From Sun Lixin's "The Yellow River flows in front of my house", a more imaginative and creative sketch, we can feel the beauty of simplicity and the root of national origin. The vast tableland, chaotic flowing water and endless loess slope, like a high and sad trip to heaven, show the perseverance and strength of life's ups and downs, stubbornness and high spirits. In 2004, Babao Village, Linxian County, Shanxi Province, was a sketch activity to prepare for the graduation of doctoral program. Sun Lixin and his classmates lived in a cave in this small village near the Yellow River, ate farmhouse meals, chatted with villagers and sketched out his life for a month. Graduation and creation of Love in the Yellow River-Life Group Painting in Babao Village. In these figures and landscape oil paintings, Sun Lixin intentionally combined his feelings about sketch with his experience of studying in the Academy of Fine Arts, which made the boundary between sketch and creation more and more blurred, extended the rationality and delicacy of the Academy of Fine Arts to sketch, and kept the experience and vividness of sketch in the picture. Sun Lixin summed up the experience of these works and said: "The continuous improvement of understanding benefits from the continuous accumulation of practice. The painting itself is more important. "

"Exploring the road of independent oil painting in China" (in Zhu Naizheng) is the long-term practice and lifelong pursuit of several generations of artists engaged in oil painting in China. Sun Lixin's staged and normalized journey of sketching made him rich in practical experience and humanistic accumulation in the field of landscape painting creation. The birth of the series Snow Country can be regarded as a release of his "blowout" style. These landscape paintings, which are composed of square pictures with the same shape, take hometown as the theme, snow as the keynote, realism and freehand brushwork blend with each other, and have a dreamy and long artistic conception and deep and soft poetry. Group paintings are shrouded in hazy images. Dawn, flying snow and early spring are nostalgia and infatuation for the northern hometown. The long, clear sand and moonlight are also true and illusory descriptions and self-confidence, and an artistic expression from "scenery" to "environment". For example, "Qing Yang" shows the charm of the wind with strong gray tones. It caresses the yellow weeds in the foreground, spreads smart lines on the snowfield, and the trees in the foreground tilt in one direction, forming a pure "Xanadu" with quiet villages and winding mountains. People can feel the texture and sound of snow particles falling in the wind. In reality, in this non-realistic landscape work, the painter retains the vividness and sensitivity of the sketch, but pays more attention to the reorganization and structure of the scene, highlighting the creation and rendering of artistic conception. What is commendable is that this kind of creation and rendering has no traces of carving and deliberate, and it is a natural expression of self-cultivation and a natural emotion. If the imagery of things, the ecstasy of images and the understanding of the image realm are the main factors that form the image realm oil painting, then, as one of the invited artists of the special exhibition "Understanding the Image Realm", Sun Lixin's series of works Snow in My Hazy Hometown reflects the theme of the exhibition very accurately. These works of his have completed the qualitative promotion from the real scene to the "spiritual scene", injected more intense emotional factors and humanistic feelings, and have the unique artistic conception and charm of China culture. Extending from the meaning of "realizing the image", they keenly touched on the inseparable substantive issues between China and the West, tradition and contemporary, and took a solid step with their personal appearance on the road of exploring "oil paintings belonging to China alone".

As the backbone of contemporary military painting, Sun Lixin has a calm and confident attitude. He is a man with plans and goals. After years of creation and accumulation, he has a very clear view of himself and the future. He believes: "Creation is a song of life, which must be sung with heart and understood with emotion." In terms of artistic concept, he practiced the creative path of expressing shocking revolutionary ideals, national quality and noble feelings with simple and natural expression techniques. Sun Lixin said that he would move forward step by step, because he "always felt that there was a lighthouse ahead to guide and inspire people to climb". Zhu Naizheng

"Sketch" is out of fashion now, especially for those who only stare at western fashion and pop art, they have long been dismissive. Nevertheless, in this vast rural area where we grew up, there are still many addicts who insist on sketching, old and young, who are always happy and complacent. Li Xinjun is one of them. Recently, he showed me his years of hard work before Fu Zi. After reading it again and again, a large number of works are printed with his life course, artistic ideas and artistic footprints. I am moved by his sincerity, diligence and dedication, and I have something to say.

Sketching is the simplest existence need for the growth and development of an artist's artistic life. It's like air, water and food that people need every day, not imported goods at luxury banquets: it's like keeping warm and keeping out the cold, covering clothes with cloth, not model fashion performed on stage. It can be said that this is undoubtedly caused by an instinct. Thousands of images in nature are full of charm among sincere artists, and their hearts are always shocked by them, so they can spare no effort to capture and reproduce them, and then they will devote themselves to research. The first thing to study is the internal and external laws of nature. In this repetitive process of learning, in fact, a person's mind is gradually integrated and cultivated and honed in the dialogue with nature. At the same time, the laws and elements of plastic arts are gradually explored. Therefore, the painter's heart is also dynamic and static, and the true feelings are aroused, so that the heart, eyes and hands are highly unified and harmonious, so that things can be forgotten and finally concentrated on the pen. This is the wisdom of artistic vision. Looking at the masterpieces of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, we can't help but shine with this brilliance of wisdom and charm. We can also see the light of this wisdom from many works of Li Xinjun.

As a soldier, Li Xinjun has been experienced for a long time in his military career and has developed a spirit of perseverance. He took pains, regardless of the cold and heat, and traveled all over Wan Li Road. Therefore, no matter the ever-changing clouds in the sky, a pool of clear reflections, colorful branches, trees on the far slope, shiny birch trunks, potholed paths in cottages, thick autumn grass, snow-covered Yuan Ye ... Although seemingly ordinary, it has never been ignored in his eyes and easily let go, because there is the inherent beauty of nature here, and once it is excavated by a willing heart, it will become. Who can draw inexhaustible true beauty nutrients from nature, whose spiritual realm will be enlightened or sublimated. I think this is the mystery and value of sketch.

Li Xinjun's sketch, at first glance, seems to lack bright colors, but on closer inspection, it can chew out pure beauty. Using music as an analogy, it is obvious that he did not compose a grand symphony of various instruments, but a poetic melody played by a single instrument. I think he should fully understand this trait, and he should be more diligent and not neglect his own left and right.