Wang Xiaoyong
Executive Vice Chairman of Gansu Provincial Artists Association. He is a member of the Artists Association, a director of the first and second terms of the Gongbi Painting Society, and a special painter of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He graduated from northwest normal university in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in chinese painting, and graduated in 2002 from the main course of the hubert studio of the Chinese painting department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Gansu Province "555 Innovative Talents", Gansu Propaganda and Cultural System "Four Batches" talents, Gansu Province's fifth session of young and middle-aged moral and artistic shuangxin literary and artistic workers. His works have won the bronze medal of the "Fifth National Gongbi Heavy Color Painting Exhibition", the silver medal of the "Haichao Cup National Painting Exhibition", the bronze medal of the "Second National Ethnic Minority Art Works Exhibition", the "Second National Character Painting Exhibition" Excellence Award, the "Seventh National Gongbi Heavy Color Painting Exhibition" Excellence Award, and the "First Pilgrimage dunhuang" National Fine Arts Exhibition" Excellence Award. "Plateau Red" participated in the "10th National Fine Arts Exhibition", "Daxiahe" participated in the "11th National Fine Arts Exhibition" collected by the Art Museum, and "Xianghe Gannan" participated in the "12th National Fine Arts Exhibition". From 2014 to 2017, he created a large-scale long volume "Dunhuang Impressions , Silk Road Hongni", which won the "Ninth Dunhuang Literature and Art Award of Gansu Province" and participated in the "13th National Fine Arts Exhibition" mural exhibition.
Recently, Wang Xiaoyong, a famous painter in our province, was interviewed by reporters, and he recounted with sincerity and affection, revisiting the artistic holy land in his heart that has always been long and peaceful, and has haunted him for many years - Dunhuang.
Wang Xiaoyong's paintings are not only unique in personality, but also very novel in visual effects, which have enjoyed a high reputation in the contemporary Gongbi figure painting circle. For decades, he has always used a praiseworthy attitude and full of emotion to depict the beauty and emotion of life that are not fashionable but have eternal significance.
"Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes is famous for its largest number, the longest spanning history, the richest content, and the relatively complete preservation." At the beginning of the conversation, Wang Xiaoyong's words unabashedly expressed his heartfelt artistic yearning for Dunhuang: "45,000 square meters of murals, more than 2,000 sculptures, beautiful and profound, is really the artist's dream of the art mecca." ”
"I've been to Dunhuang twice before, but it's a marquee-like sightseeing tour." During the conversation, he always had a gentle smile on his face: "Follow the guide's guidance, visit several caves, with the guide's shaking flashlight lights, see some of the murals in the clouds, in some front halls or aisles of the light to see the real appearance of the murals, but can only be hurried past." Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes has preserved a large number of heavy color murals from The Northern Liang to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and for me to learn and create modern heavy color paintings, it is undoubtedly the best temple for learning traditional heavy color techniques to understand the spirit of western culture and art and nourish artistic creation. So, unconsciously, Dunhuang became the place where my soul was haunted. ”
At the beginning of 2012, the Propaganda Department of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and the former Gansu Provincial Department of Culture made a plan to build a large cultural province to build the Dunhuang School of Painting, and the Gansu Academy of Painting also launched the "Pilgrimage dunhuang Gansu Academy of Fine Arts Creation Project". Invited by the Gansu Academy of Painting, Wang Xiaoyong participated in this more than 20-day pilgrimage to Dunhuang and achieved a long-awaited in-depth contact with the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, an experience that still excites him once mentioned.
"On May 11 of that year, early in the morning, I arrived with the team to the Mogao Grottoes, when Dunhuang had just experienced a long-lost drizzle and the air was exceptionally fresh." Wang Xiaoyong told reporters while recalling: "We lived in the Mogao Mountain Villa in front of the Mogao Grottoes and began more than twenty days of investigation and study. To be able to get along with the Mogao Grottoes day and night is really gratifying and exciting. The whole inspection was carefully and meticulously arranged, and in the morning, the activity launch ceremony was held in the nine-story square, and then the deceased Dunhuang guardians such as Chang Shuhong and Duan Wenjie were worshipped. ”
He said: "In the afternoon, we listened to a lecture by Ma Qiang, deputy director of the Institute of Fine Arts of Dunhuang Research Institute, on the overall copying process of Cave 29 of Yulin Cave and the use of mineral pigments and the copying techniques of Dunhuang murals. This is exactly what I needed when I studied heavy color painting. It was really touching and beneficial to hear Director Ma talk about the insights and detailed technical explanations of the murals from years of study, which played a good role in paving and guiding the study and research of the murals in the Mogao Caves afterwards. ”
Of course, what made Wang Xiaoyong even more excited was that he also spent two full days visiting the cave for the first time on this trip. They successively viewed 25 caves according to the division of the times, most of which were representative and important caves. The docent of the Dunhuang Research Institute is Ms. Chen Jin, who received Wang Xiaoyong, a very special pilgrim, with a sincere and professional explanation.
"These two days of viewing are completely different from the previous visits, although there is already a recognition of the exquisite and rich murals of the Mogao Grottoes, but this systematic, in-depth and meticulous observation cannot help but make people marvel at the grandeur and breadth of the Mogao Grottoes." Wang Xiaoyong said with emotion: "Strolling through the caves, just like walking in the time of ancient Chinese art history, ancient painters skillfully integrate realistic feelings and associations, and use lines, images, and colors to form a three-dimensional visual space, showing the dreamy Buddha realm." In some of the working caves, the photographic lights are turned on, and the murals of the caves are clear and bright as a whole, which is even more rare. Ms. Chen Jin, the docent, often uses flashlight lighting to guide us to see some relatively small exquisite murals, because the content of the murals in the cave is very complex, and it is easy to miss if you are not familiar with them. ”
Cave 254 is an early grotto of Mogao Caves during the Northern Wei Dynasty, dating back about 1500 years. The physical paintings of this period are almost invisible in the interior, and what surprised Wang Xiaoyong was the two murals on the south wall of the cave, one was the prince Bunsheng of Sakuna, and the other was the descending motif.
"The frame is not large, about 1.5 square meters, but the depiction content is very complex, the character shape is simple, romantic and vivid, the storyline relationship and composition processing are very exquisite, the primary and secondary are clear, and the flying curves are rhythmic and rhythmic, making the picture full of vitality." These meticulous descriptions make people feel the shock in Wang Xiaoyong's heart at that time: "These two mural painting techniques are combined with exquisite and free and unrestrained, and the image expression characteristics are very prominent, and I am not fully amazed that the ancients 1500 years ago could have such a high artistic expression." Later, in the Dunhuang Exhibition Hall, a video specially composed by the Institute for Prince Satan was continuously played with multimedia, interpreting in detail the relationship between the story and the picture composition, expression techniques, etc., which further deepened our understanding of this work. ”
After the first viewing, Wang Xiaoyong and his party began to copy sketches, consult materials at the Dunhuang Research Institute, and visit the exhibition hall. The Gansu Academy of Painting specially distributed a set of Dunhuang mural albums for each person, and the arrangement was very thoughtful.
"Instead of sketching, I focused on the books and materials, trying to get a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the murals of the Mogao Caves in the past." Wang Xiaoyong told reporters: "To tell the truth, the cave observation of the first two days made people blind and dizzy, and there should also be a process of sorting out and digesting." From the library's information album, I saw many mural photos that I had never seen before, with a wide range of contents, many pictures showing the life of the city in various eras and local detail photos of the murals, which were very vivid, and the expression methods now seemed very novel. ”
On May 19, Wang Xiaoyong and his party began the second cave viewing. On the first day, the caves of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Western Xia were mainly observed, and the second day was selected according to the study of recent days, and some of the caves that were more interested were selected to study again. Before this viewing, they used the album to make a preview in advance, studied the parts they were interested in in advance, and indicated the location, and the cave was very purposeful when they were viewed, focusing on feeling the charm of the original work.
"Any painting is inseparable from the idea of modeling and the expression of modeling." He said with emotion: "Throughout the Dunhuang murals, from the Beiliang of the open caves to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, they all have the expression of imagery. Whether it is Buddha, Bodhisattva, flying sky, secular provider or natural scenery, pavilions, birds and animals, successive generations of painters can express themselves in vivid and simple shapes according to their own understanding and wishes. This expression of imagery makes the mural full of infinite vitality and appeal, which is in stark contrast to our current realistic sketching. ”
Speaking of this, Wang Xiaoyong, who is still engaged in art education, sighed endlessly: "In the modern period, many artists blindly pursued Western realism, especially the Russian modeling teaching system, ignoring the research and teaching inheritance of traditional plastic arts in the mainland. In fact, there is no distinction between image modeling and realistic modeling, but the ancient humanistic thought of the mainland is longer than the expression of imagery, and its image modeling more and more reflects the unique artistic charm of mainland painting. ”
He believes: "The excellent modeling expression of Dunhuang murals is not well applied in our art education and art creation, which is related to the in-depth study of Dunhuang art, dunhuang studies are more mature in archaeological protection and document collation, and the systematic study of murals from the perspective of fine arts is insufficient." If more people can carry out special research on this, it will surely lay a good theoretical foundation for building the Dunhuang School of Painting, continuing the Han and Tang Dynasties, inheriting excellent cultural traditions, and creating fine art works with local cultural characteristics in Gansu. ”
Speaking of which, the memories of the trip should have been exhausted here, but Wang Xiaoyong mentioned one thing that made him very memorable: "There is a magical Guanyin well in the Sanwei Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, surrounded by some small poplar trees and small sand willow bushes. While a few of us were drinking the sweet water from the well, a nun came, claiming to be the abbot of Guanyin Temple, and after small talk, she prepared a meal for us. ”
"In the ensuing conversation, I learned that she had been practicing here for many years, living alone in the Guanyin Well, and if it were not for the admiration in her heart and the perseverance of her faith, it would be difficult to imagine living alone in this wilderness." He said with emotion: "And this spirit is also very important to us artistic 'practitioners', in our own life path, not only can we also endure loneliness and loneliness with firm faith, but also can we truly move forward towards the artistic belief in our hearts." ”
Li Chao, chief reporter of Lanzhou Daily
Responsible Editor 丨Bai Aihong
Editor 丨An Ruoxuan
![In the Mogao Caves, see the "sticky big cat"[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)