In July this year, Bai Bingyang's work "Pamir's Confession", which was selected for the National Art Exhibition, was exhibited at the China Art Museum. Taking this opportunity, the "Visit" column of Mingmo Club invited Mr. Bai Bingyang to conduct an online interview.
part 01
In the first part, Bai Bingyang tells the story behind the work and takes us to appreciate the world in the painting.
Inspiration
Creativeinspiration
Last summer, I went to Xinjiang to collect research, and after visiting the ancient city of Kashgar, I decided to rent a car to go to the Pamir Plateau, wanting to see the Tajik people written by Jin Shangyi, Zhan Jianjun and other old gentlemen. Tashkurgan on the Pamirs has renewed my understanding of the life of the Tajik people. I was touched by their enthusiasm for others and their love for their homeland. Sometimes I have just met a Tajik friend on the road, and he can invite him to share food at home, introduce relatives and friends, and sing and dance together. I was shocked by this sincere and simple folk customs and magnificent scenery. It was a matter of chance that I drew this picture.
Bai Bingyang "Pamir's Confession"
170*235cm Cloth Oil Painting
In 2024
The creative process
Creative progressprocess
The National Art Exhibition is held every five years and is a grand event in the Chinese art world. I was selected for the 11th National Art Exhibition in my junior year, and I was selected for the 12th Art Exhibition when I graduated from graduate school. The work I prepared for this exhibition is the one I have drawn the most. First of all, in the process of collecting wind on the plateau, you need to overcome a series of environmental factors such as altitude and diet, and you also need to find inspiration for painting on the unfamiliar plateau and explore your own special perspective. Because the subject matter of the Tajik nation has been expressed by countless painters, how to paint one's own understanding and convey spirituality requires a lot of hard work. After returning from the collection, he immediately carried out the teaching tasks of the new semester in Shanghai. Since my creative environment is in Beijing, the problem of adjusting time and distance is very difficult. I am very grateful to have been guided by many famous artists and teachers during the creative process. At the same time, I am very grateful to the school leaders and colleagues for their understanding and support. In the end, the work took six months to conceive and more than four months to draw the original draft.
The double meaning of "Pamir's confession".
Meaning of the artworkthe artwork
I like this topic very much, and it comes from one of my mentors. I think it has a pun meaning: on the one hand, on the shore of a lake on the plateau, a man shows his love to a woman; On the other hand, through this work also expressed my love for the Pamirs.
Teacher Bai who is "full of relaxation".
The first thematic creation
The first theme creation
Due to the impact of contemporary art, thematic painting was once considered an outdated painting system. With the adjustment of cultural policies, the value of thematic creation has been re-emphasized. Everything must be looked at dialectically, no matter what kind of art style, as long as it is done to the extreme, it is good. This is my first real thematic creation. As a thematic creation, it is necessary to show typical characters in a typical environment, and there must be a distinct theme or plot. Composition is crucial. Later, I read a lot of materials, inspired by Velázquez's "The Surrender of Breda", and re-examined it with my own materials, and finally developed my own composition and feeling.
Velázquez, The Surrender of Breda
From sketching to creation
From sketching to creation
Sketching is the basis of creation, and it requires quick and intuitive judgment, but you have to think carefully about it. On the one hand, I shot more than 200 gigabytes of creative materials in the Pamirs, and on the other hand, I painted live sketches. To create a satisfying work, like a pregnancy in October, it is impossible not to think about it repeatedly. The important characters cannot be directly drawn, but must be redesigned according to existing materials. I adjusted the draft of this painting hundreds of times, and sometimes I used clumsy methods to type out pictures, cut them into graphics, design and combine them, and then invite models to pose after the design was completed.
Teacher Bai Bingyang's sketching scene
The details are conceived
Detail conceptionsconceptio
On the front left side of the picture are three women singing and dancing, borrowing from the classic "Three Goddesses of Beauty" combination. The three women block out the light of the campfire, so that the appearance of an excessively bright fire does not interfere with the details of the characters. Behind the fire are men playing folk instruments, women of all ages dancing, and animals dancing happily. The three women look back at the young man and woman in the center of the picture.
The man in the painting holds his chest with his left hand, a unique way of expressing his heart in the Tajik people, and the man's other hand leads to the fire and the three women dancing on the left side of the painting. The man turns his head to look at the woman in costume in the center of the frame. A young woman dressed in a newlywed veil, smiling, holding an oil lamp, stares at the viewer quietly, with an aesthetic expression of oriental beauty. The building in the foreground behind the woman is called "Maza", which is a local mausoleum that symbolizes the testimony of the ancestors and has the meaning of life. On the left side of the young woman are the people who came to bless and participate in the celebration, the children are looking forward to it, whispering to the family around them, and in front of the far right are two Daolang sheep of the unique breed of the plateau, and the two sheep are intimately snuggled, suggesting the sweetness of love.
The four women on the right, some of them look back and greet their companions; Some hold the eagle flute, a national instrument used only during celebrations: the most important is the woman on the far right, leaning slightly towards the figure in the center of the picture, looking at the newlyweds with blessings in her eyes, holding a pomegranate in her hand, revealing bright red pomegranate seeds. This symbolizes General Secretary Xi Jinping's instruction that "all ethnic groups hug each other tightly like pomegranate seeds". The figure holding up his mobile phone to take a picture in the middle ground represents the changes in life in the information society. In the distance, two border guards came on horseback to celebrate. The Tajik people love their motherland very much, and according to field investigations, every local family has at least one border guard to guard the border line in the western part of the mainland. There are a lot of moving stories in it.
The undulating snow-capped mountains in the distance are the famous Muztagh Glacier. The full moon in the sky is accompanied by auspicious clouds, which is the artistic conception of "colorful clouds chasing the moon", and the moonlight is reflected on the beautiful and vast Baisha Lake, which is reflecting the face of the main character in the painting. The brand-new houses on the left and the trees full of fruit reflect the achievements of the "Rural Revitalization" project. Naughty children climb the fruit tree and gaze at the main character in the painting. The red sign on the door frame reads "Home of Party Members," which embodies the glorious and exemplary leading role of the Tajik Chinese Communist Party. Like in the city, the people of the frontier are also bathed in the changes of the times. Everyone's life is alive and now, so their changes don't need me to deliberately show them, but that's what I see. I strongly recommend everyone to visit the Pamirs if they have the conditions.
part 02
Behind the results of his works is Mr. Bai Bingyang's enthusiasm for painting and his strict requirements for himself year after year. In the second part, Mr. Bai Bingyang's creative life was shown from multiple perspectives such as hobbies and painting spirit, not only that, but Mr. Bai Bingyang also expressed his views on the current hot discussion of artificial intelligence painting, and gave sincere suggestions to the students.
Hobbies
Hobby
I grew up with two wishes, one was to be a painter and the other was to be a paleontologist. I think paleontological fossils have a unique beauty. During my university years, I used my spare time to delve into the knowledge of paleontological fossils, and traveled to almost all important fossil producing areas in China, gaining an in-depth understanding of fossils, and finally decided that ancient insects were my main interest. I was fortunate enough to come across this fossil specimen and realize its potential scientific value. There is also an organic fate, and the species name is named after "Bai". I was also able to use my expertise to create a restoration map of this new species, which was featured in the world's most famous scientific journal, Nature. I think art and science go hand in hand. Scientific research can also relieve the mental stress that comes with my dedication to creation. Through this experience, I want to show you that if you are interested, you should devote yourself to research, not only to learn, but also to play.
Teacher Bai Bingyang in the laboratory
Featured in the journal Nature
Make a statue of a model worker
Creating statues for model workersfor model worker
The statue of the model worker originated from the cooperation between the Chinese Law School and the Shanghai Workers' Cultural Palace. The spirit of model workers and craftsmen is very important in our times, and General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly proposed to learn from model workers and craftsmen, use brushes to express directly, go deep into the front line of labor, and feel the spirit of model workers more intuitively. It is also my honor to have this opportunity to make statues of them.
Teacher Bai Bingyang made a statue of a model worker
I don't know my own art style
I don't know my own art stylemy own artistic style
Wu Guanzhong said: "Style is the author's back, and he can't see it." I think so. I don't know what my style is like. When I was in my twenties, many friends suggested that I develop my distinctive characteristics as early as possible so that I could be remembered by the public. But after so many years of training, I just want to do every picture well. In fact, the painter can reconcile and shape piles of invisible paints to convey true feelings and the spirit of the times. I think that's a very avant-garde and very contemporary thing in itself. Therefore, I don't think it matters whether the style is or not.
The spirit of painting that the Academy of Fine Arts taught me
Painting spirit
I graduated from Studio 1 of the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. When I was in college, Mr. Jin Shangyi positioned the teaching style of the studio in the range from the Renaissance to the impressionism of Manet, and I was taught by professors such as Jin Shangyi, Sun Weimin, Chao Ge, Yang Feiyun, Ding Yilin, Yu Ding, Huang Yong, Li Xiaolin, Hu Jiancheng, Sun Xun, etc. They are not only famous artists and theorists, but also outstanding educators. The teachers' requirements for me are not about style, but about practicing our painting skills such as modeling and color, expanding our horizons, and improving our aesthetics. The postdoc was honored to be able to study with Professor Fan Di'an. The most important influence of the teachers on me is their love and devotion to art, their sincere care for their students, and their pursuit of constantly climbing the heights of art.
Material innovation and spiritual inheritance
Material Innovation and Spiritual inheritance Inheritance
I've experimented with many materials, I've studied dampera, I've painted on silk, I've painted on paper, and I've even tried to combine it with sculpture. During my teaching at the School of Chinese Law, I often exchanged ideas with teachers from different majors to expand my thinking. Nowadays, with the gradual rise of comprehensive materials, which is closely related to the changes in society and technology, how to tap the expressive and visual impact as much as possible is an important topic in the new era. Painters need to break through the limitations of materials and pursue the innovation of visual experience, but also need to maintain the charm of the ontological language of painting, which needs to be balanced.
About artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence intelligence
Artificial intelligence is an algorithm, and the basic logic of its image generation is based on the classic materials fed to it in various art histories, and then integrated and reconstructed, so it is still derived from the achievements of human beings. Although the general trend is irreversible, as an artist, we should remain vigilant. The advantage of AI is that it can quickly generate images and complete tasks. The disadvantage is that it cannot touch the core level of art, and expresses indescribable emotions and beauty. The word "painting" is as important as "painting". Many paintings do not become classics because of the images produced, but the painter achieves a perfect combination of heart, hands and eyes in a specific context to produce shocking works of art. For example, Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript for the Sacrifice of Nephews" is a kind of draft at the time of grief and indignation, and the calligrapher must have forgotten all the calligraphy conventions at that moment, but he also put his years of pen work and aesthetic experience with emotion. Figurative painting is the same, both to describe the image and to "cross" the image.
Study advice
Learning advice
My advice to students is twofold: the first is to keep the love, and the second is to lay a good foundation. At the undergraduate level, you must fully delve into life, find your own interests, and invest in your passion. On the other hand, it is about building a solid professional foundation, which determines how far you can go in the future, and putting it into action is key.
Teacher Bai Bingyang used students as models for sketching and in-depth communication
(Source: Huannan 1099)
Artist Profile
Bai Bingyang is an associate professor and master's supervisor of the School of Art and Design Management of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (Sino-French), a postdoctoral fellow of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a doctor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a master's degree of the Chinese Academy of Arts, a bachelor's degree in the first studio of the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.
His works have been selected for many national exhibitions such as the National Art Exhibition, the National Youth Art Exhibition, the Beijing International Art Biennale, and the China Oil Painting Exhibition, and have won the Excellence Award for Theme Creation of the Central Axis, the Talent Award of the 100 People's Association, the Beijing Literary and Artistic Works Award, the Studio Art Inheritance Award of the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and have been collected by the National Art Museum of China, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, the Beijing Political Consultative Conference, the Beijing Artists Association, the National Academy of Sciences of China, the Hebei Art Museum and other institutions.
His theoretical articles have been published in journals such as Fine Arts and Art Observation.