Traditionally, the space of landscape painting is called three-dimensional space, that is, the expression of lofty, far-reaching, and flat-reaching, that is to say, the picture emphasizes the three-dimensional vision of near, medium, and long views. I combine decades of sketching of real landscapes with traditional Chinese philosophy, and use today's composition concept to change the three-dimensional space in the traditional composition method into a two-dimensional space, and strengthen the virtual reality and rhythm of brush and ink in the two-dimensional plane composition, subverting the traditional way of expression of the mindset, creating my own language style, this change in aesthetic concept is also a confirmation of the combination of artistic practice and the aesthetic context of the times.
Today's society is moving towards a new information age, whether it is the progress of scientific and technological information, or the diversity of material life, all of which make the aesthetics of contemporary people more "contemporary" than traditional aesthetics, and the humanistic spirit is also more and more abundant. Being in this era, I feel that this era has had a huge impact on my artistic aesthetics, and the great changes of the times have affected me and changed my way of thinking. As an expression of aesthetic taste, the creator of art must get rid of the shackles of objects, that is, he must not let his senses be subject to what he sees and hear, and his mind cannot be bound by symbols. Painting is a dream in a dream, and it is also a dream when you wake up, which seems to be real and illusory. Born from the heart, the environment is created by the will. Meaning is the creation of the spirit, and the environment is the reproduction of the mental image. Intention and context are inseparable communities, but they have their own connotations. The purpose of our creation in the art form of ink is to give full play to the charm of its artistic conception. Therefore, artistic conception is not only the root of the life of a work of art, but also the source of the state of mind of the artistic creator. If we want to create an interesting and fascinating realm, we must get rid of the shackles of concrete objects, expand the thinking space, seek a broad vision, excavate and explore more mysterious ideological realms, and convey infinite aesthetic connotations with a more earnest artistic language. That's what drives me to change from 3D to 2D.
In the process of painting, we often encounter two problems, one is how to draw, and the other is how to draw. The two are complementary and mutually reinforcing. How to paint is a matter of concept, which refers to what kind of thinking and what kind of cultural way of thinking to use to convey personal consciousness and reflect personal will. How to paint is a technical issue, what kind of painting methods and materials to use. The means include the use of pen, ink, method, method and method, and the material includes paper, ink, pigment, etc. Ideological concepts and ways of thinking determine the techniques and forms adopted by painting, and the form is the carrier of content. If it only stays in the form without rich connotation, then the form is empty, and the work is pale and weak, and cannot impress the viewer. However, if you only pay attention to the performance of the content and lack the external form and skills, you will not be able to show the artistic conception that it should have, which will also lose the meaning of creation.
After observing life for a long time, I realized that neither the scattered perspective of traditional Chinese painting nor the focal perspective of Western painting can fully express the feeling of the unity of man and nature. As my thinking deepened, I adopted the traditional method of responding to the eyes and minding to express my perception of nature. With the concept of "mountains and rivers are me, I am mountains and rivers", we express the changes of natural mountains and rivers such as smoke and daisiness, the composition of complex and simple objects, the contradictions and unity between them, and the form of harmony between the life vitality of all things in the universe and the self. A painting is a mass of qi, a whole. My current painting language focuses on the charm and rhythm of imagery and weather.
What we usually call freehand is imagery. In my opinion, the freehand of Chinese painting contains two forms of expression: one is inclined to the aesthetics of objective objects, and the other is to convey spiritual ideas through brush and ink. Both are categories of meaning, but they differ greatly in their way of thinking. The first type has seven points of realism and three parts of imagery. The freehand of the second spirit is to use a certain thought as the support to create an artistic conception with the theme of the spirit, the objective image is only a carrier, freehand accounts for seven points, and realism is three points.
Qi has rich connotations in classical Chinese philosophy: first, Qi has yin and yang, "Taihe so-called Tao"; Second, the ups and downs of qi can incarnate all life forms in the universe, and Zhuangzi said that qi "penetrates the whole world and has one ear", and "living beings blow each other with one breath"; Third, qi is the most primitive ontology of all things in the universe, Zhang Zai said: "too void and formless, the ontology of qi"; Fourth, qi is the physical existence of the human body, such as the "qi and blood" and "qi veins" mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine, and the spiritual character cultivated by human beings, such as Mencius said, "I am good at cultivating my haoran qi"; And all that. In the category of aesthetics, there are aesthetic standards such as Xie He's "vivid charm", Du Fu's "vigorous vitality", Wang Xu's "majestic and majestic", and Zhu Xi's "meteorological harmony". Therefore, Qi embodies its unique rhythm of life in Chinese aesthetics.
Qi is a kind of aesthetic realm, with its view of things, all things have vitality and are endless; In its view of things, everything is a chaotic whole with the flow of life. In this way, it is a meaningful form of expression with pen and ink. Write with affection, write with meaning. The spirit of Chinese painting is a part of Chinese spiritual culture, I take Lao Zhuang's Taoist aesthetics as the purpose, and apply the spiritual purpose and "gasification" aesthetics of "heaven and earth coexist with me, all things are one with me" to the composition form of Chinese landscape painting, so as to derive the picture of the symbiosis of all things, and what is presented in the picture is the artistic conception of vigorous vitality and eternal life, which is the feeling that I am in the mountains, bathed in the green mountains and verdant green mountains, and all things are showing. How to transform the vigorous atmosphere of all things into artistic language and then present it with brush and ink is the goal I pursue. If we want to create a realm of fun and transcendence, we must get rid of the shackles of specific objects, expand our thinking space, seek a broad vision, excavate and explore more mysterious realms of thought, and convey infinite aesthetic connotations with a more earnest artistic language.
Of course, the Confucian concept of the unity of heaven and man and the idea of "nourishing qi" have also influenced my perception of the world of all things. Sketching in the field and dialectically unifying the self in life is the best way to broaden my imagination and innovative horizons.
Whether it is the Taoist view of the unity of all things or the theory of the unity of heaven and man, both of them are the ideological basis for the formation of my artistic concept.
(Written by Wang Yongliang.)
Artist Profile
Wang YongliangBorn in 1958, he is a native of Anhui Province. He is currently a researcher at the China National Academy of Painting and a national first-class artist. Chinese landscape paintings have participated in dozens of national art exhibitions and international exhibitions. He is the author of theoretical monographs "Chinese Painting and Taoist Thought" and "The Inheritance and Rheology of Chinese Landscape Painting" (National Social Science ** Art Project). The national art ** project "Dabie Mountain Red Culture Series Paintings" has been completed.