"'The Deepest Concern' is a work I have just completed, which is full of my most sincere feelings and longings for my hometown and relatives, so I use the name of this work as the title of my exhibition of works returning to my hometown." From July 21st to August 5th, the "Deepest Concern - Wang Ke's Ink Painting Exhibition" sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the Weifang Municipal Party Committee, the Weifang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the Weifang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism was held at the Weifang Rotunda Art Museum. The exhibition exhibits more than 130 works of Wang Ke's paintings, including major historical works and sketches, sketches, freehand figures, and a small number of flower works and landscape works.
Exhibition poster
Over the years, he insisted on reflecting real life, paying attention to people's livelihood, caring for nature, and infused the spirit of freehand into realistic techniques, adding to the vitality of realist Chinese painting. He insists on going deep into life, carefully studying various creative themes, focusing on contemporary characters, and expressing the characters in various creative themes with deep and solid realistic modeling and exquisite and skillful brush and ink skills. Wang Ke has also undertaken many major national historical themes and thematic creation projects, praised the new era through the brush in his hand, and created a number of masterpieces with exemplary value, which have been fully affirmed and praised by all walks of life.
Thematic Creation: Expand the new space of pen and ink expression
Since the beginning of the new era, as an important part of modern art, the creation of thematic painting has received widespread attention and vigorous participation from the state and painters. When he studied at the Chinese Academy of Arts with Feng Yuan, deputy director of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History and honorary chairman of the China Artists Association, Wang Ke began to come into contact with thematic creation. Later, when he was hired by the China National Academy of Painting, Wang Ke followed the painter Long Rui to create a large-scale work "Red Flag Canal", which can be regarded as truly entering the door of thematic creation.
The scene of the opening ceremony
For Chinese painting, the modern transformation of traditional brush and ink is a difficult problem that needs to be solved urgently in the creation of contemporary themes. In the face of such a problem, Wang Ke does not avoid the natural contradiction between modern themes and traditional brushwork, but through long-term artistic running-in and accumulation, his works finally have a classic quality, and his creation of "The People's Good County Magistrate Gao Derong" is a good example. Ren Junwei, an associate professor at Capital Normal University, thinks. At the exhibition site, the huge creation of "Gao Derong, the People's Good County Magistrate" is more than 6 meters long and more than 2 meters high, which is very eye-catching, and Wang Ke uses realistic brushwork to vividly express the perseverance, simplicity, modesty and sincerity of the national model of dedication and dedication in the new era and the winner of the National Poverty Alleviation Award. This work is very distinctive, the style of the times and Wang Ke's personal artistic characteristics.
Seminar site
In the process of learning and practicing, Wang Ke has repeatedly tried and explored the creation of major national historical themes: on the one hand, he tries to re-explore traditional resources, and on the other hand, he strives to borrow new linguistic factors from Western painting, and finally achieve the integration of the two. In recent years, he has created large-scale thematic works such as "The Breakthrough of Daqingshan", "Qin Shi Huang's Unification of the Six Kingdoms", "Hong Kong and the Xinhai Revolution", and "The Study of Marxism in the Yan'an Period", all of which reflect this creative thinking and innovative consciousness, and also express his artistic interest and feelings for his family and country. In the opinion of art critic Jia Dejiang, "the creation of these huge works with epic and grand scenes shows Wang Ke's strong modeling ability and ability to control large paintings." His magnificent momentum and ups and downs show the painter's wisdom, comprehensive cultivation, abundant energy, tempered skills and a state of mind that can endure loneliness. ”
Guests visit the exhibition
Wang Ke said of his thematic creation: "Thematic creation is narrative. As the theme of historical painting, the creation must interpret the causes, occurrences, and results of events, and tell history relatively objectively and respect objective facts; In addition, to engage in thematic creation, you must invest in your own true feelings, and have your own attitude towards events and characters, so that you can express yourself differently from others. If you don't get into the role and don't have emotional investment, you can't draw a moving work. ”
Guests visit the exhibition
It is precisely because Wang Ke engages in the creation of these works with a deep and sincere love for his family and country, and his works shine under his tempering, which has been widely appreciated by all walks of life, and at the same time, he has accumulated valuable experience in the creation of figure paintings on major historical themes and created a new historical height. After seeing the exhibition, Huang Huasan, director of the China Artists Association and vice chairman of the Beijing Artists Association, said: "None of his thematic creations in recent years have been made with a few strokes, and each work has taken a huge amount of effort. From the quantity and quality of the works exhibited in this exhibition, it can be seen that Wang Ke pays extremely high time costs for creation on a daily basis. As a fellow painter, I clearly know that there is no shortcut to creation, only focus and hard work. ”
Impromptu character sketches: directly point to the truth, goodness and beauty of human nature
Boya and Zhong Zi Wang Ke
"Wang Ke was quite famous in Weifang many years ago, and when it comes to him, some people will always say, 'I know him, I like to draw old men playing chess'. Today, he is the leading figure of modern ink painting, and the successful creation of major historical themes can shine in history. But when he returned to his hometown and returned to Weifang, in addition to his masterpieces, the other half of the works on display were still his 'old man'. Dou Jie, deputy editor-in-chief and critic of Weifang Daily, paid attention to Wang Ke's "Peach Blossom Spring" at the exhibition.
The first upsurge of the workers' movement · Wang Ke
Twin Wonders at Sea Wang Ke
Wang Ke's figure painting creation is relatively comprehensive, not only able to control the heavy and broad thematic creation, but also to create the most interesting sketches. He likes to wander in northern Shaanxi, Qinghai-Tibet, Gannan and other places, Jia Dejiang introduced, Wang Ke likes to eat, live and breathe with the old folks there, and truly feel the living state and spiritual outlook of those laborers who are "facing the loess with their backs to the sky". There is no precedence of the theme, no intervention of thought, just a fetish, an emotional resonance, that is, I want to paint them, I want to express people, human nature and the essence of human beings. His heels are firmly rooted in the land of real life, and his heart is filled with the suffering of those ordinary people who are like relatives, not pity, not sympathy, but heartfelt love, touched from the heart. He doesn't care what others think or do, he only paints what he sees and thinks that makes him feel moved and emotional, and he is only interested in those original and simple life situations. With such in-depth and intentional observation, in the opinion of Zhang Peng, a professor at Capital Normal University, "the ordinary people with different identities in his paintings burst out with the brilliance of perseverance and righteousness and the masculine and full emotional tone, bidding farewell to the mechanical and pale 'formal praise', and relying on his sincere human feelings and keen grasp of the themes of the times and the laws of art that accompany him at all times, he presents a natural eulogy of truth, goodness and beauty that directly points to the inner part of human nature." Feng Yuan once said: "Wang Ke is good at capturing and expressing the image characteristics and facial characteristics of real-life characters and objects in his creation, and achieves both physical and spiritual performance when carrying out emotional exchanges with objects." ”
Shan Liwa Wang Ke
The magical snowy region of Wang Ke
"The Deepest Concern" depicts Wang Ke's strong nostalgia - the feeling of worrying that his children will not be able to find a home after they return, the elderly parents squatting in front of the old cave and unwilling to move out, the old-fashioned furniture, clocks on the wall and old photos in the depths of the picture tell the mottled years and the past of this family, and the picture with a great sense of substitution instantly captures the softest part of the viewer's soul, making people stop and linger. "'The Deepest Concern' was just completed this year, and I've been intending to create such a painting for many years. At that time, I had just moved into a big spacious and bright house, and on the day I moved in, my wife suddenly said, "It would be nice if both of my parents were still alive." In a word, my eyes moistened. At that time, I began to think about painting such a painting, but due to various reasons, I was unable to start writing, and this year I finally fulfilled this wish. Although the protagonists of this painting are not my parents, they are the epitome of thousands of parents. Wang Ke said. Zhang Qifeng, deputy director of the Education Committee of the Chinese Calligraphy Association, was already moved by Wang Ke's nostalgia when he first saw this work, and after seeing the key words such as "population aging" and "declining fertility" written by Wang Ke on the painting, after understanding the background story of the creation, he was deeply touched by Wang Ke's responsibility of the times and the feelings of his family and country. In the eyes of Zhang Yi, director of the China Artists Association and vice chairman and secretary general of the Shandong Artists Association, Wang Ke's paintings are full of the traditional literati's style and family and country feelings that Weifang people are surging in the blood, and the language expression is simple, sincere, and the temperature of the times, which permeates into the catharsis of ink and wash in the two things.
The context is flowing Wang Ke
Fire fighter Wang Ke
In Wang Ke's figure paintings, Zhang Peng believes: "Whether it is a huge construction of a major theme or a casual portrait sketch, we can strongly feel the mellow and long 'world' in the picture." It is embodied in the artist's stance of looking at and drawing social life, and it is also outstanding in his conception and brushwork. Yang Dawei, a member of the Art Theory Committee of the China Artists Association and a professor at Zhejiang University of Media and Communication, said: "The biggest difference between good paintings and ordinary paintings is that they do not make the audience feel tired. The painter relaxes, so that the audience also relaxes, this is Wang Ke's ability to brush and ink, and more importantly, his talent. ”
Hong Kong and the Xinhai Revolution Wang Ke
The deepest concern for Wang Ke
Today, Wang Ke, who is skilled and famous, is still silently exploring the innovative path of Chinese painting, and consciously "takes the people as the center", he regards the people as the main body of literary and artistic expression in his creation, and takes "serving the people" as the lifelong duty of literary and artistic workers.
(Source: China Art Newspaper Author Qiuru)
Artist Profile
Wang Ke, a native of Weifang, Shandong. He is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Capital Normal University, a member of the 13th and 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the China Artists Association, a member of the Chinese Painting Art Committee of the China Artists Association, and a member of the National Art Creation Committee of the China Artists Association.