If we say that there is an art form in the world, it can achieve a nation's unique aesthetic tone and temperament with a lofty spiritual atmosphere and poetic language of life. I think this is traditional Chinese painting.
Traditional Chinese flower and bird painting has been one of the best art forms of the Chinese nation since ancient times, which absorbs and integrates traditional Chinese philosophical ideas and humanistic spirit to the greatest extent, and embodies the aesthetic flow of the times between creation and heart. Whether it is delicate brushwork or expressive freehand, traditional flower and bird paintings are expressing the poetic feelings of traditional literati. Of course, this requires the painter not only to have profound education and solid painting skills, but also to have a pure and sincere poet's heart.
Recently, I was invited to the Baishi Memorial Hall in Qi Baishi's hometown to participate in a rather elegant and moving "Lurun Mountain Flower" Zeng Jingxiang Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition. Mr. Zeng is known as the master of Xiangtan Baishi for a hundred years, and he is the most capable of "portraying ten thousand insects and opening gods for a hundred birds".
People in the painting circle say: The current painting world is very lively, but the real painter is very lonely. The lively painting world does not lack exaggerated and skillful brush and ink skills, but lacks an in-depth discussion of the traditional brush and ink language like Mr. Zeng; There is no lack of the so-called bold and innovative visual impact, but the lack of spiritual appeal with traditional cultural heritage like Mr. Zeng; There is no lack of a variety of expressions, but a lack of a spiritual temperament like Mr. Zeng.
To borrow a popular word on the Internet: "light luxury", here we can understand it as low-key or mild luxury. This is in line with Mr. Zeng's attitude towards life and creative mentality. Although he is so low-key and unassuming, his extraordinary works undoubtedly show the nobility of taste and artistic luxury, which is enough to be a blockbuster. What people can appreciate in the works is a kind of "not intended to be good but good", a natural state of creation, a kind of life attitude without utilitarianism and without the struggle of the world. Some are just a kind of freshness and liveliness, which makes people feel the intoxication of "innocence is my teacher".
"The flowers are still in spring, and the birds are not surprised." Zeng Jingxiang's paintings have an upward cultural spirit contained in painting; a kind of unearthly thoughts and feelings that permeate painting; A kind of mellow artistic heritage that invades painting.
"One flower, one world, one bird, one love". Chinese painting pays attention to borrowing things to send feelings, borrowing things to convey feelings, borrowing things to express feelings, borrowing things to express feelings, and borrowing things to express lyricism, and the idea of flower and bird painting is more about people's feelings. Mr. Zeng's flowers and birds are not painted for the sake of painting flowers and birds. It is not to copy nature, but to firmly grasp a certain subtle connection between animals and plants and people's thoughts and emotions in life, and to give an intensified lyrical expression. Skillfully integrating the catharsis of emotions into Danqing, so the flowers and birds he paints are in a variety of postures, with different expressions, full of fun, and the style of painting is smart and free, integrating traditional techniques and contemporary aesthetics. It has reached the realm of oneness and forgetfulness of things and me. There is a surging main feeling of "one branch and one leaf is always about love". The birds he writes about are spiritual birds; Flowers are living flowers; Pen and ink are thoughtful pen and ink.
The highest level of flower and bird painting lies in the lofty intention. The high attention to the ideological connotation of the paintings and the full expression of the humanistic spirit are undoubtedly the key factors that make Mr. Zeng's paintings extraordinary and unique. He put the strong feeling and humanistic care of the objective world in his chest, and turned it into a text, overflowed into a poem, and acted into a painting. Therefore, each work contains a profound ideological connotation, which makes people think deeply after viewing. The ancients had a saying about painting: painting makes people surprised, it is better to make people happy, and it is better to make people happy than to make people think. Mr. Zeng's paintings just highlight the enlightenment of thought.
I thought that Mr. Zeng was not looking at the world with his eyes, but with his heart; His eyes are not staring at the market of fame and fortune, but at the vast world. His paintings, with profound techniques, fresh brushwork and elegant style, contain his emotion, temperament, personality and cultivation, with personified charm, full of vitality, and the connotation of truth, perfection and beauty. He is a thoughtful, educated, virtuous and accomplished painter.
Guo Ruoxu of the Song Dynasty said: "Since the character is already high, the charm has to be high; The charm is already high, and the vividness has to come. The ancients believed that "the character is not high, and the ink cannot be used", and to draw Chinese well, we must first do a good job of people, personality, and character. Mr. Zeng has been engaged in painting and calligraphy teaching and painting creation all his life, and many of his students are talented. After his retirement, he donated all the income from calligraphy and painting creation to poor students and set up a "student fund".
Mr. Zeng's exhibition is already his "ancient year". The reason why everyone in Chinese painting is a late bloomer is because Chinese painting requires the accumulation and precipitation of learning. However, the master is not only old, but also the factors that make up the master must at least master the difficulty of the painting technique and reach a considerable height; A distinct style of personal painting art has been formed; exhausted his life's energy for the development of the art of painting; To be able to become a representative figure that everyone expects. All of this Mr. Zeng deserves to be deserved.
"The drizzle wet clothes can't be seen, and the idle flowers fall to the ground and listen to the sound." Mr. Zeng's world of flowers and birds makes people see, is such a kind of peace and concentration that forgets the dust, drizzle and idle flowers, my lord ups and downs, no matter how many temptations there are in the utilitarian world, he is still outside the long red dust, floating between the world and the world, self-realization of a realm, self-defense of a sky. This is a real painter: Zeng Jingxiang.
(Luo Yang)