On January 30, the Academic Workshop of the China Calligraphy Association "Phenomena, Problems and Prospects: Creative Trends of the 2023 Calligraphy Exhibition" was held in Beijing. The academic workshop is divided into the first and second halves of the annual exhibition and the theme exhibition, with four major topics, and experts and representatives of the participating authors elaborate, debate and extend from different perspectives. Among them, "The Retrospective of Creation" is re-examined and self-analyzed by the participating calligraphers in combination with their creative situation; "Raising Questions" invites the judges of the exhibition related to the topic to summarize the value and significance of the exhibition, and sort out the outstanding problems and common phenomena existing in the exhibition; "Annual Exhibition Topics and Discussions" invites experts to respond to the key words of the 2023 annual exhibition: "both art and culture", "new with the ancient", "patriarchal Qin and Han dynasties", and "thematic creation". The "review" is set up for the annual theme exhibition, and the review experts make further corresponding analysis on the basis of speeches and dialogues.
Item 1
Both art and culture: formal constraints, homogenization and content expansion
In his speech, Yang Xiaogang, the author of the exhibition, introduced the idea of creating gold inscriptions according to the inscription styles and character evolution characteristics of different historical periods, as well as his specific experience in four aspects: distinguishing the origin of words, using new archaeological discoveries, avoiding excessive formal production, and how to find personal pen and ink language.
Wang Xueling believes that the pursuit of the cultural connotation of calligraphy is gradually becoming the consensus of calligraphers, presenting distinctive characteristics of the times, and then raises the question: how to preserve its cultural intrinsic nature to the greatest extent in contemporary creation? How do you embody personality and stand out in a sea of work? Nowadays, there are two phenomena of tangible and homogenization in calligraphy creation, and some couplets and handscroll works emphasize complex and redundant compositions, which not only do not have a thorough understanding of cultural concepts, but also have too many solidification and constraints on the cognition of art, and the deep reason for the homogenization phenomenon lies in the lack of correct cognition of calligraphy culture. In addition, the "handscroll exhibition" also shows certain limitations in terms of book style and content selection. An in-depth understanding of calligraphy culture is the premise for effective creation, writing classic brushwork, the content of the times, and one's own appearance.
In the "Topics and Discussions" session, Li Yi pointed out the problems of formalization and homogenization pointed out by the review experts and academic observers, which were attributed to the failure to achieve both art and culture, emphasizing art over literature, and emphasizing technology over Taoism. The art of calligraphy is based on the writing of Chinese characters, and excellent calligraphy works have the compound meaning of both content and form, the form increases the thickness of artistry because of the content, and the content shows its meaning more because of the artistic blessing of writing, and the richness of the overall sense of the work transcends both form and content. Theoretically, the content of calligraphy is not only the written content, but also inseparable from the temperament and interest expressed by dot painting, as well as the written content chosen by the calligrapher. Excellent calligraphy works are the unity of literature and calligraphy. The two forms of calligraphy, handscrolls and couplets, are suitable for reading scrolls and standing tastes, so we should pay more attention to the idea, words, and environment when creating, and pay attention to the unity of ideology, literature, and art.
Item 2
The Ancient is New: The Boundary Point of Copying
In his speech, Li Yi, a young calligrapher, introduced the creative experience of the work "Feng Shiying's Epitaph" in the third national calligraphy exhibition, as well as the common methods and experience of personal calligraphy, in the process of moving from "specialized" to "Bo", not only to learn the techniques and styles of the ancients, but also to further understand the philosophy, aesthetics, thoughts and emotions behind the calligraphy of the ancients. Xie Xiaoqing said that from the perspective of the works in the exhibition, the focus of creation has changed from the outside to the inside in the past ten years, and the excavation and absorption of traditional classics have become more conscious. Although there are also some phenomena such as Zhao Zhiqian's seal script, Huang Tingjian's cursive script, Sun Guoting's "Book Spectrum", Su and Mi Xingshu, etc., the author has an obvious rational judgment on the basic and traditional cognition, and has made great progress in the depth and breadth of traditional learning. At the same time, some phenomena and problems reached in the review are reviewed, pointing out that the most important thing in art is creativity, and in the dimension of history and the times, we need to integrate the classic consciousness, the characteristics of the times and the expression of personality well, and achieve the "new" created today with the "ancient" deeply rooted in the tradition. Zhang Ji said in the "Topics and Discussions" session that in the process of learning and creating calligraphy, mechanical thinking modes and copying methods are not feasible. Among the followers of calligraphy today, there are many who have studied the tradition in depth and accurately reproduced, but due to the lack of innovative spirit and means of changing the law, or lack of sufficient courage, they dare not take a step beyond the boundaries of their predecessors, so they are not able to create real creation. As for how to exert perceptual thinking in creation, Zhang Ji explained from four perspectives: the flexible use of ancient methods, the obedience to the times of ancient methods, the infiltration of the personality of ancient methods, and the humanistic integration of ancient methods, pointing out that "being new with the ancients" should rely on sensibility, understanding, and spirituality to achieve the "transformation realm" under the premise of deep cognition, new understanding, and true application, so as to enter the "Tao" from "technology", and take the integration of art's own law and society and humanity as a lifelong pursuit of artistic creation. Item 3
Yin Zong, Qin and Han Dynasties: Speculation on Formalized Tendencies
Huo Cui, the author of the exhibition, introduced the creative experience of the works in the exhibition, "Drawing from the Ancient for the New", "The Bright Moon in the Pine Room" and "The Way of Benefiting with the Times" from the selection of calligraphy, the change of knife technique, the ingenuity of the chapter, and the carving of the side paragraphs, indicating that the entire creative process of seal carving is the process of creating contradictions and resolving contradictions, and it is the negation of today's self to yesterday's self.
Liu Hongyang introduced the specific embodiment of this exhibition in terms of exhibition concept, evaluation orientation and artistic orientation, with the theme of "Yinzong Qin and Han Dynasties", which is pioneering and pioneering, and integrates the new thinking of "taking the past as a disciple and turning the ancient into me", reflecting a high degree of confidence in cultural ideals, cultural values and cultural vitality. The artists in the exhibition are more conscious of the traditional excavation and absorption, more open-minded and more rational in thinking, maintain a high sensitivity in the selection of works, and have a strong ability to reproduce, and are quite talented in the tempering of knife skills, and the expression of the overall works is more accurate and delicate. There are still some tendencies in the creative concept, style and method of contemporary seal carving art, which are worthy of vigilance: first, the creative motivation has a tendency of "utilitarian and short-sighted"; second, the creative style has a tendency of "convergence and craftsmanship"; Third, there is a tendency of "simplification and modeling" in the method of creation. Can not simply carve on the seal carving, but also should strengthen the knowledge of cultivation, cultural accomplishment, if blindly in a few pieces of the competition on the repeated creation, it is easy to fall into the "ingenuity".
Zhu Peier believes that the seal carving in the new era has developed greatly, but it is also facing many problems such as the loss of tradition and the single method of taking. "Yinzong Qin and Han" is a concept and a concept, but the Qin and Han dynasties are not simply the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, it is a large category and cannot be simplified. The ancient seal of the Warring States period is also an important component of the "Yinzong Qin and Han dynasties". The creative aesthetics of seal carving are not only "Yin Zong, Qin and Han dynasties", but also "printing from the book" represented by Deng Shiru and others, "printing from the knife" represented by Zhejiang School and Xiling Bajia, and "seeking printing outside India" represented by Zhao Zhiqian and others; Where to go in the development of seal carving art, depends on the integration and penetration of a variety of creative concepts, such as Gao Fenghan, Ding Jing, Deng Shiru, Huang Mufu, Wu Changshuo and others, in addition to "printing from the book" and "Yin Zong Qin and Han", they are more integrated into their own thoughts and personalities, into their own expression of seal carving art in that era.
Item 4
Thematic Creation: Classical Consciousness and Contemporary Standpoint
In his speech, he traced the creation process of the "World of Bamboo Slips" Hubei Slips Investigation and Inheritance Exhibition, and shared the practical experience from self-composed poems, seal transformation, copying training to theme creation, re-examining the model from a contemporary perspective, and giving the model a new way of expression.
Liu Yantao, the author of the exhibition, shared his experience in the creation of calligraphy in the east of Huayuanzhuang: writing complete classic poems in oracle bone script is a difficult problem that plagues and restricts the creation of oracle bone calligraphy. This creation strives to inherit the oracle bone inscriptions written by the Qing Dynasty with small seals and gold scripts, and inherit the artistic exploration achievements of contemporary calligraphers such as Sha Manweng and Liu Shun. Strive to strengthen the oracle bone knife method due to the situation, use the pen naturally, and strive to achieve the artistic conception of "knife" and "pen" seeing each other, and the symbiotic interest of "carving" and "writing".
Ye Peigui said that the interpretation of the curatorial concept of the exhibition is not only an understanding of the literal keywords "new China" and "new discovery". The overall characterization of contemporary exhibition activities is that they move horizontally from the exhibition hall to the society, and use texts to stimulate life; Vertically, we continue to explore the depth of history to ask the questions of the times. From the perspective of the implementation results, the exhibition fully demonstrates the comprehensiveness of calligraphy and the special stickiness between ancient and modern, including cross-field and multi-party cooperation, the on-site sense of in-depth life and historical scenes represented by the on-site investigation and discussion of "The World of Simplified Scrolls", and the multi-level dialogue of "original works-inscriptions-copying-creation" in the exhibition structure. This has led to further thinking in the direction of academic theory, selection process, curatorial logic, etc., so that the comprehensive effect brought by the exhibition can better affect all authors in the calligraphy world, and more actively participate in the overall development of calligraphy and the resonance of the times.
The Italian sinologist Pietro de Laurentis found in the catalogue of "Continuation: New China's Newly Discovered Calligraphy Theme Exhibition" that many cultural relics are materials for the history of calligraphy and cultural history often mentioned in research treatises, and the excavation and discovery of these works have a great role in our accurate understanding and interpretation of the classical tradition of ancient Chinese calligraphy. Rigorous analysis and comparison of the calligraphic form and textual content of the new materials, and logical evidence-based reasoning through hidden clues, can outline a reliable landscape of ancient calligraphy history. They are a huge repository for further understanding of ancient calligraphy culture, and they are also precious objects that cannot be ignored by researchers and creators. Calligraphy appreciation is inseparable from calligraphy collection, calligraphy collection is inseparable from the collection of ink and rubbings of the sages and today, and ultimately involves the scale of the collection and the depth of interpretation of the object. It is expected that in the future, exhibitions and academic activities similar to the Continuation Exhibition will be able to dialogue with other artistic traditions outside of China and produce positive aesthetic collisions.
Zhang Jianhui said that the continuation of the exhibition through the inscription, temporary creation, problem solving and other forms to reflect the spirit of the times and the traditional classics of the in-depth fit, which shows some problems and the current situation of the development of Lishu in recent years, mainly in the pursuit of personality performance at the level of ignoring its inherent commonality. For this reason, the creation of contemporary Lishu urgently needs to sink down, comprehensively understand the resources of Lishu and refine it in many ways, showing the spiritual tension behind the form, the rich expression of the meaning of pen and ink and its humanistic spirit. At the intersection of ancient and new history, it is necessary to dialogue, communicate and integrate with the ancients from a modern perspective, and stimulate creative inspiration and inject fresh calligraphy into the era with a kind of in-depth inheritance of "moisturizing things silently" and a deep understanding of the spirit of the times.
In view of the summary of the phenomena and problems of the annual exhibition and the theme exhibition, the evaluation expert Cong Wenjun said: To learn the calligraphy of the ancients, it is necessary to have a certain cultural knowledge reserve and learning, so as to better understand the various text relics and selected works, and clarify how to choose and learn from them. Today, many authors rely on learning time and relying on word search books to collect words, and they will conceptualize and vulgarize the originally colorful calligraphy. Most people today lack a clear sense of style, and do not know how to use techniques to achieve a given style. In this regard, the ancients had a large number of analysis and explanations, which are worth summarizing and learning to guide today's provisional posts and creations. The problem is that if you don't understand the style of the work and its beauty, you can only take the shape of the post, but not the vividness, which is equivalent to buying the pearl and returning the pearl; The post is not like, playing with pen and ink with imagination, and the number is said to be pro, but in fact it is tantamount to copying, losing both form and spirit, misleading oneself and others; The so-called reference, mostly from their own writing habits, arbitrary trade-offs and stitching, and even use the exhibition hall effect fashion to dominate the writing, the results can be known. Without a clear sense of style, calligraphy will not go far. If you don't have imagination to learn calligraphy, you can't read ancient calligraphy, and if you can't read it, you can't learn and learn from it. Without imagination, calligraphy is only a shriveled skill. The beauty of calligraphy is by no means a skill that can be competent, and the ever-changing skills of calligraphy are all determined by their hearts, "not by the spiritual platform, there will be a lack of spirit", all of this, the key lies in the quality of the calligrapher. Quality is synthetic. That is, in terms of aesthetic ability, today's people emphasize the form of lines, but the style is insufficient, and they do not understand why the life form of calligraphy will be vivid and expressive, and why it will symbolize personality. All kinds of problems existing in contemporary calligraphy can be summarized from the perspective of words as their people, and only by jumping out of the utilitarian domain can it be possible to make calligraphy clear from its original source and have a hope worth looking forward to.
Li Gangtian, an expert in the review, believes that it is very meaningful to study the context of the development and change of contemporary calligraphy in the context of a deep understanding that prosperity and development is the main theme of contemporary calligraphy for more than 40 years, and it is consistent and coordinated with the background of contemporary calligraphy - the rhythm of changes and development of various undertakings after the reform and opening up. In the historical period led by the exhibition, our thinking should be to affirm and expand the achievements of calligraphy creation in terms of techniques and forms, as well as the aesthetic atmosphere of creation, on the basis of affirming and expanding the achievements of calligraphy creation for more than 40 years, to enhance the cultural awareness in calligraphy creation, to further deepen the tradition, and to enhance the deep understanding of tradition. On this basis, we will study and think about how to strengthen the cultural nature of calligraphy creation in the exhibition era. It is not simply a return to the classics in terms of creative forms and techniques and even aesthetic tendencies, but to maintain and develop contemporary calligraphy on the basis of new and significant achievements in art forms and creative techniques, and to strengthen the internal support of traditional cultural spirit for calligraphy. "Classic consciousness, the spirit of the times" is the core idea of the exhibition creation, this workshop takes several exhibitions held by the China Calligraphy Association in 2023 as cases to further in-depth research and interpretation of tradition, and makes value judgments and creative trade-offs from a contemporary standpoint. The transformation of aesthetics and the change of form are the inevitable development of calligraphy under the conditions of today's era, and the search for natural authenticity and freedom in the creation of calligraphy in the exhibition era is a topic submitted to contemporary calligraphers.