Wu Xiuzhi
In Chinese landscape painting, "landscape" as a symbolic and metaphorical category, since ancient times, mountains and water occupy an important position in people's ideology, mountains and water are static and moving, one yin and one yang, one hidden and one revealing, reflecting people's dialectical thinking. After thousands of years of development and evolution, people are more limited to the means of expression of mountains and stones and trees, but there are not many changes in the expression technique of "water", an important part of landscape painting. Zhang Mingyuan, with his deep understanding and accumulation of traditional Chinese landscape painting, after years of exploration, drawing on tradition, integrating into the times, combining social factors, natural factors, environmental factors, cultural factors, technical factors, etc., skillfully handling the dialectical relationship between mountains and water, not only expanding the language schema of landscape painting creation, but also expressing the fresh and idyllic modern psychological needs, so that his works can make people feel the beauty of "scenery", the sublimation of "environment" and the expression of "feeling" through "water".
The ancients painted water in a way that showed the environment, such as painting a waterfall in the mountains, regardless of the long-range and medium-sized scenery, only a white line was left to show the water, of course, it also won the recognition of the appreciator. The water in Zhang Mingyuan's landscape is mostly shown in the method of leaving blank space, and then a few lines are ticked and slightly rendered, which not only presents a chiaroscuro effect, but also makes the changes in the water more colorful. Zhang Mingyuan believes that in Chinese painting, because the mountains are quiet and calm, there are relatively few huge changes, so the water must have more opportunities to be expressed. But water is dynamic, the change is informal, where living water, no normal, amorphous, transparent, ever-changing, always in the process of flow, to the performance of the state of water has brought difficulties. This has undoubtedly become an important part of people's neglect of painting water, which is also the main reason why Zhang Mingyuan has made more efforts in water characters.
Confucius once said: "The wise man leshan, the benevolent one enjoys the water." Mencius described the image of "water" as "the source of chaos day and night". Water not only embodies the human mind, but also shows an all-inclusive mind. This kind of spiritual realization cannot be reflected only by the description of the appearance, and must be directly facing the rivers, seas and lakes to obtain the image. Zhang Mingyuan has served as a journalist, joined the army, and has had rich experience from secretarial propaganda to political and legal units; moreover, he has copied the Eight Congresses, is familiar with Xu Wei, worships the guidance of Beijing and Tianjin, and obtains jinling techniques; from the border of the motherland to the water town of Jiangnan, years of spiritual understanding and purification have made the landscapes and rivers in his pen appear ethereal and concise. In his works, the constituent elements such as points, lines, and angles are few strokes and are clear and checkable, because he tries to take into account the simplicity and brightness of the picture, and organizes those complex objects that embody profound meaning into an orderly whole through large blocks of ink to set off the changeable water, so that people can obtain a pure artistic effect.
The combination of virtual and real landscape painting and the flexibility of the composition of the picture are indispensable elements of the spirituality of painting water. This is also the embodiment of the cosmology of "one yin and one yang is the Tao". Pen and ink should not only pay attention to inheritance, but also face its own living conditions and environment, and keep pace with the times. Zhang Mingyuan inherits and innovates at the same time, using ink, accumulation of ink, broken ink, splashing ink, and mutual use of su ink, coupled with the texture effect produced by special pen and ink techniques, so that the mountains and rivers are deep and powerful. Because he is good at using ink and his understanding of traditional landscape painting to reach a higher realm, when expressing the "bouldering" of large brushstrokes, the method is bold, the ink blends, the combination of dry and wet, and the chaos is orderly, so that people can appreciate the ever-changing weather of the landscape and clouds, and at the same time, they can also understand the rich harmonious realm of the unity of heaven and man and the profound artistic conception of the extra-painting.
Zhang Mingyuan dares to innovate and dare to use pen and ink to awaken the imagination space of self and romance. It is on the basis of the natural creation of the teacher, he absorbs the strengths of all the families, and skillfully absorbs the techniques of the landscapes of the past generations, keenly grasps the essence of tradition, combines the unique feelings of nature, life, and the times, and gradually forms his own style. In his works, the landscape and water imagery overlap and are pleasing to the eye; the clouds and mist are hazy, and the thoughts are thousands; the waterfalls and springs are clear and clear, and the sound can be heard. This kind of perception of the scenery, the expression of the situation, is the spiritual crystallization of "the mountains and rivers meet the gods and traces", the expression of the wisdom of life, and the natural expression of his lyricism through the scenery, if there is no deep understanding of cultural history, no cognitive understanding of the spirit of life, and no comprehensive literacy of the context of contemporary art, it is difficult to reach this level.
The formation of artistic style is not achieved in one day. The "scenery", "situation" and "situation" expressed by water in Zhang Mingyuan's landscape paintings were finally formed in the process of his continuous understanding, continuous innovation, and continuous challenge to himself.
Zhang Mingyuan is currently a member of the China Artists Association, a national first-class artist, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, a painter of the China Landscape Painting Creation Academy, and the vice president of the Jiangsu Academy of Calligraphy and Painting.