Exhibition Preview Thick Earth, Long Song, Meng Qinggang, Wang Zhaodian, Hou Jun s Chinese Painting

Mentoring unitsShandong Artists Association.

OrganizersShandong Institute of Chinese Painting Creation and Linyi Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

OrganizersLinyi Artists Association Linyi Cultural Center (Art Museum).

Co-organizersHuaihai Economic Zone Art Alliance, Linyi CPPCC Painting and Calligraphy Institute, Shandong Oriental Commercial Development Group.

Opening time10 a.m. on December 10, 2023

Exhibition Hours:December 10-21, 2023

Exhibition Venue:Linyi Art Museum.

Preface. The homeland is deep

Since the new era, several generations of painters have been born in the land of Yimeng, who have followed the ancient context, absorbed the nutrients of the new era, and moved towards the modernity of brush and ink in an open cultural atmosphere. While continuing the cultural context, they created a distinctive brush and ink language belonging to this era, injecting brush and ink elements from the land of Yimeng into ancient Chinese paintings.

Yimeng culture is a rich, diverse, three-dimensional cultural structure, with both traditional Confucian culture, red culture, and open culture of the times. The structure and ecology of culture determine the cultural structure, artistic concept and aesthetic vision of the painters in this region. Heaven and earth have their own internal laws, one side of the water and soil to support the other side of the people. There is no doubt that the painters of this land are naturally endowed with the cultural character and artistic temperament of the land of Yimeng.

Painters Wang Zhaodian, Meng Qinggang, and Hou Jun are all the middle forces of the painters in the Yimeng area, and they are the young Zhuang school with rich practical experience and creativity. The courage and diligence of artistic sentiment, as well as the aesthetic spirit that inspired them by the times, made these three painters naturally resonate, formed an interaction, and naturally came together, using their brushes and inks to depict and eulogize the magical land of Yimeng, and jointly practice and display their art.

It is worth emphasizing that the artistic language of the three painters echoes in form, content and spiritual style, although this is not a convergence, let alone a similarity. They are harmonious and different.

Hou Jun's brushwork is loose and charming, and the landscape painting emphasizes the artistic conception of the quiet and distant Yimeng style, telling the charm and beauty of the Yimeng mountains and rivers. The first is the theme of Gaoshi, Arhat, sage, maid and other themes in traditional figure painting, and the second is to pay attention to the expression of the natural and innocent character of Yimeng characters, especially rural children. His flowers and birds have a distinct modernity, whether it is a large-scale work or a fan sketch, it is a brushstroke, fresh and warm, and full of poetry. The three types of genres are not only the affectionate externalization of Yimeng's landscapes, but also the endorsement of beauty, both traditional and modern.

Wang Zhaodian's brushwork is heavy and enthusiastic, still emphasizing "expressiveness", but focusing on the narration of Yimeng characters and historical events, and seeking the convergence point of the deep spirit of Yimeng people in the modeling of brush and ink, which is the contemporary narrative of traditional figure painting. Between the narrative of home and country and personal emotion, look for an artistic language that can be transformed. It should be said that this is the fulcrum of his aesthetics. Wang Zhaodian's figure paintings are often grandiose and numerous, and the appearance of many people together not only tests the painter's grasp of the figure modeling, but also tests the painter's specific understanding of "brush and ink should be in line with the times".

Meng Qinggang is the son of Qingzhou Mountain, his brush and ink have both a masculine side and a subtle charm side, which is an organic fusion of the two, stocky, clear and handsome, reflecting his life understanding and philosophical observation of traditional landscapes, flowers and birds. Meng Qinggang has worked the landscape, copying many classic masterpieces in the history of painting, especially in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, and has a rich experience of using the brush and creating artistic conception, so that his landscapes can be verified in the tradition and presented in modern life. His paintings of flowers and birds have a solid foundation in line drawing, and his depictions of large trees such as pines and cypresses and chestnut trees can be described as ingenious. His figure paintings also have their special features, such as schematic management and the use of pen and ink, which are full of modern meaning.

Three painters, harmonious but different. They all love Yimeng, they all love tradition, they all love sketching, they all revere nature, they all respect brush and ink, and they all pay attention to the role of art in building people and the times. Their pursuit of art has created a difference in their artistic outlook. However, they influence each other, promote each other, observe each other, intertext each other, follow the call of beauty, meet in the hot land of Yimeng for thousands of years, pursue the pulse of new life, and express the endless cry based on the torrent of the times, which is the original intention of this exhibition.

is for the preface. Dafeng

November 23, 2022 at the Stone Cottage.

Meng Qinggang's works appreciation.