The sun and the moon pass through the sky, the rivers travel the earth, ten years are in a hurry, time and space are thousands of miles, and he is still the painter of the stone pillow flow.
Teacher Fang Yan in his youth.
Fang Yan, a young man from a small town between the mountains and the wilderness, is also a graduate of the Chinese Painting Department of the China Academy of Art; He is a graduate tutor at the university and the founder of Thousand Bamboo Academy; He is an observer of the nature of heaven and earth, and an expounder of righteousness. He is a scavenger of thousand-year-old painting history, and he is also a preacher who connects the past and the present. He is both a painter and a teacher.
Today is the 10th anniversary of his founding of Thousand Bamboo Academy.
He was born in Anji, Huzhou, the place where the wind blows and the bamboo waves are thousands of layers.
In Anji, the bamboo forest is undulating, and swaying in the wind is a scene that can be seen everywhere. Bamboo symbolizes tenacity and nobility in Chinese culture, and the bamboo forest in Anji shows these qualities to the fullest, which also gave birth to the unique Huzhou Bamboo School in the history of Chinese painting. In spring, Hsinchu grows rapidly and is full of vitality; In summer, the dense bamboo leaves bring coolness to the earth; In autumn, the bamboo leaves turn yellow, showing a different charm; In winter, even in the cold wind, the bamboo still stands upright, showing tenacious vitality. It was his hometown. He was born there and grew up there; I also got to know nature there and picked up a paintbrush there.
Like all children who spent their childhood in the seventies, his initial paintbrush was just a piece of burning charcoal, his canvas was a brick wall, and the objects he imitated were Pegasus and red plums on cigarette boxes, tigers and characters in ***. His love and persistence made him a child who was often concerned about what new things were drawn by his relatives and friends in the village. This is the most true story behind the sentence in the encyclopedia, "He loved painting since childhood".
It's just that at that time, for him, "Chinese painting" was just a term he knew but was unfamiliar with in art books. It wasn't until high school, when I saw the white rice paper and the ink of Yidekaku for the first time at a classmate whose father was an art teacher, that I knew that I had to copy the "Mustard Seed Garden Painting" to learn painting. With the help of his classmates' painting scores and technique books, and the small corner of his classmates' rice paper, the gears of fate between him and Chinese painting began to turn.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled in an art class run by Anji Normal School to learn painting, and was fortunate to meet Mr. Bi Zhang. Teacher Bi Zhang gave them calligraphy for three days, and was quite impressed by him, and suggested that he could go to Hangzhou to learn painting in the future. This was unthinkable for him at the time. A strange city, a no-nonsense matter, a decision that no family member would support. And he saved his own money and set off on the road of study in 92.
And the road was surprisingly short. In the excitement and apprehension, he came to Hangzhou, found Mr. Bi Zhang, and participated in a night school on Hangzhou Stadium Road for amateur art lovers in society. However, after a month, he returned home, and he decided to take the China Academy of Art.
Teacher Fang Yan and Bi Zhang.
After a period of self-study, he got the third place in his major for the first time he applied for the exam. However, this is still far from his admission to the China Academy of Fine Arts. In our impression, it is always a difficult and tortuous thing to get into the Chinese Academy of Art, especially in that era, one of the big obstacles is English. And he didn't surprisingly take two or three more exams because of this. In the end, the China Academy of Art opened its doors to him.
This is followed by four years of undergraduate study. When asked what impressed him the most and helped him the most, he confessed that it was the ancient paintings and reproductions collected by the Erxuan Society. He traveled to all over the world, thinking about using his pen to set colors and harmonize compositions. Thinking about what painting is and what is brush and ink in copying. His personality and years of study habits have always led him to return to self-study. Just like the observation and thinking that he often emphasizes with his students today. This is how he learned, from observing nature to observing ancient paintings, thinking about the laws of expression of his predecessors, exploring the correspondence between brush and ink and nature, and forming his own way of expression. As the Song people often say, "learn from things". At that time, he realized that the brush and ink of Chinese painting must conform to the laws of nature, and that the brush and ink that do not conform to the laws of nature are meaningless. He also wrote this sentence in his exercise book, and he has practiced it to this day.
After graduating from the China Academy of Art, he became a teacher at Zhejiang Normal University and studied for graduate studies. Years of learning and teaching have brought him into contact with more and more painters, and he feels that the way of painting has changed, and it is difficult to find a good teacher. For a painter, a good teacher has a good guiding role. But if you can't touch it, in his opinion, as long as you like to study, then it is more important to be able to think independently.
Talking about his own thoughts on Chinese painting, it sounds refreshing. For many years, he has adhered to the way of brush and ink that he found while studying, emphasizing that the brush and ink should conform to the laws of nature.
He said that the art of Chinese painting is divided into two parts, one is the formed painting, and the other is the connotation carried in the painting, including the social culture of the time, the personal cultivation of the painter, and so on. One is within reach, and the other is out of reach. This is a picture view.
For learning to paint, there are also two parts, one is commonality and the other is individuality. In his view, individuality determines appearance, and commonality determines height.
What do you mean? The first step is to understand individuality and commonality. Personality is a person's style, interests, and emotions, which determines the external appearance of the work. Commonality is the inner truth of the picture, which is related to thought, spirit, and culture, so commonality can determine the overall height of the work.
Fang Yan's work "The Picture of the Hidden Guard".
The painter is a person with a personality, and he has formed a specific work due to a specific environment and a specific emotion, and these belong to the personality. It is concrete, objective, realistic, and will perish, and at the same time it does not need to be copied and cannot be copied. A person's emotions, cognitions, and feelings are all fluid and changing, and they are only established in the moment of painting, so it is impossible and meaningless to replicate individuality. Later generations imitate this personality, just like the Chu people in the carved boat. Time is like flowing water, and individuals are like boats on the water in history, and in today's position to trace the mark when the sword falls, it is a bamboo basket to hit the water. The commonalities are quite different. The commonality in the paintings lies in the artist's understanding of nature and brush and ink. The painting should be vivid, and the painter's brush and ink should conform to nature. And this is exactly what the painter should really practice and analyze when copying.
Everything follows the physics of nature, we live and observe according to the principles of nature, and we also express them according to the principles of nature. These laws and principles have entered the eyes of different people, and they have been expressed with different names. Just as the flow speed of the mountain and stone streams should be different, the stones on both sides of the bank have different sizes, which are expressed in the eyes of scientists as the principle of mechanics; into the eyes of the geographer, the role of the geostrophic deflection force expressed; In the eyes of the painter, it is depicted with brush and ink, so that the expression of his paintings is more in line with natural properties and vivid and expressive.
And how to practice such a way of pen and ink. He said that we should first look for classic cases to analyze, which is how we learn to copy, find out the inherent and inevitable laws in the copying, and then go to the social nature to verify, sketch, and practice. In the end, we have mastered the law, and then apply the law to innovate.
Therefore, the most important thing about a painting is not its surface technique and style, but its internal laws and principles, which are timeless and worthy of our continuous research and pursuit.
Fang Yan's work "Guanyin Bodhisattva".
As a part of traditional Chinese culture, the inheritance and innovation of Chinese painting has always been a hot topic.
When it comes to this topic, he remembers the experience of holding an exhibition in Changsha many years ago. When an old man talked to him after seeing the exhibition, he confessed to him that the problem he had found was that the painting style of the students of Qianzhu Academy was traditional. He explained to him in the primary school math curriculum that when you enter the first and second grade classes of primary school, you will find that their math problems are all addition and subtraction within 100. That's how they learn.
Copying, observing, exploring various laws, and carrying out simple simulation applications are the process that beginners should have. In inheritance, establish commonality, increase height, and then talk about innovation. Just like what the dean of the Academy of Fine Arts said when he first entered the Academy of Fine Arts, innovation needs height, and what does not have height is meaningless even though it is new.
Therefore, in his view, inheritance is the foundation, and how to inherit is the problem. Just like the way of pen and ink practiced by Qianzhu Academy, through copying the famous paintings of the past dynasties, exploring commonalities and laying a solid foundation, this is inheritance. And the importance that Qianzhu Academy attaches to inheritance can be seen from the old man's question. But that doesn't mean we don't value innovation.
Innovation is an important driving force for the progress and development of things. In recent years, everyone is talking about innovation, and they are talking about innovation everywhere, including in the field of Chinese painting, as if the purpose of learning painting is to innovate and paint their own personal appearance. Fang Yan has his own opinions on this.
Fang Yan's work "Deer Shooting" Fang Yan's work "Deer Shooting".
In painting, true innovation is not limited to the change of external materials, tools or techniques. The innovation of ideas is the deeper and more meaningful innovation.
In the field of art, experimenting with different materials and tools can lead to new effects and experiences, but this is only a superficial innovation. For example, changing the painting material or using a different medium can bring new visual effects, but the intrinsic value of the work does not increase as a result. Just as a person's change in appearance does not affect his inner qualities, the true value of a work of art lies in his inner thoughts and concepts.
The promotion and innovation of ideas are the key to promoting the progress of the whole era. Historically, many great artists and thinkers have pushed the times forward through their conceptual innovations. For example, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is not only the use of brush and ink, but also his understanding of nature and calligraphy, which has brought calligraphy to a new level.
Of course, individual cultivation and understanding can also promote the improvement of individual works. However, if we only focus on the innovation of external materials and tools, without thinking deeply and challenging the internal concepts, then the significance of such innovation is limited.
In short, real innovation is based on conceptual innovation. It is only when an artist or thinker thinks deeply and challenges existing ideas that truly meaningful innovation can be generated.
Fang Yan's work "Autumn Mountain Xiao Temple".
In recent years, there is a popular saying on the Internet, saying that people who have been drenched in the rain always want to hold an umbrella for others. Fang Yan always remembered his experience of learning to paint. In that poor era, I liked to paint, but I didn't have a good teacher, no financial conditions, and no family support. In such a negative situation, he was able to come out of it, with difficulty and luck. Now he hopes to help those who really have their own persistent pursuit of painting. The establishment of Senzhu Academy is such a simple wish.
He still remembers that during a class break more than ten years ago, he chatted with students and said that in the future, he wanted to set up a public welfare art college, which could teach those calligraphy and painting lovers who were not qualified to learn painting and could not go to professional colleges to appreciate and paint Chinese paintings, and to teach more professionally and systematically. He also encouraged his students to draw well and to come to his school as teachers.
It wasn't until the Lantern Festival in 2014 that the idea came to fruition and was named "Thousand Bamboo Academy".
He hopes that Qianzhu Academy can gather a group of people who really have pursuits, ideals, and responsibilities for painting, and are willing to spend energy in this area. Let them learn, communicate, research and progress in Qianzhu Academy, improve their personal ability, and then promote the progress of the overall appreciation and creation level of Chinese painting.
Fang Yan's work "Plum Crane Shuangqing Picture".
There is no beginning, and there is an end", he and his Qianzhu Academy have been in the past ten years, and their hearts have not changed.
Since its establishment, Qianzhu Academy has maintained the habit of holding teacher-student exhibitions, which are a demonstration of his and his students' past teaching achievements and the most direct interpretation of their philosophy of Qianzhu. From Changsha to Hangzhou, from Hangzhou to Gaotai, they summed up the past, took out their best works for exhibitions, and published 6 editions of albums. At the same time, the exhibition also attracted many colleagues in the art of painting, reading their brushwork, understanding their concepts, facing their works with them, using brushwork as a guide, exchanging and learning, and pursuing progress.
Qianzhu Academy held a number of exhibitions of works by teachers and students.
In the past ten years, the concept of Qianzhu has also been known, recognized and disseminated by more painters. They gathered around Qianzhu Academy, from offline to online. Since the original 2014 Jinhua Summer Vacation Workshop, a total of 995 students have been trained in 22 offline classes; A few years ago, it was inconvenient to travel, so at the invitation of Qianzhu students, online courses were created, and since the launch of Little Goose, more than 1,200 courses have been put on the shelves, with a total of nearly 64,000 student users and a total of 66,622 online courses.
Fang Yan's work "Luohan Picture".
He has always felt that only by going to nature can he truly understand the world; Only by constantly thinking can we make progress. Therefore, he organized student study tours to guide students to observe and understand the classics of the past dynasties and broaden their horizons. In the process of touring the mountains and rivers, the natural laws and the characteristics of objects are analyzed, and the aesthetic level and thinking ability of students are improved. So far, the teachers and students of Qianzhu Academy have traveled from north to south, from Shandong to Jiangxi, from Gansu to Shanxi, and from study tours for 800 miles; Last year, they also went to watch Song Yun in the painting together, traveled to study martial arts, and in the real brush and ink of the famous paintings of the Song Dynasty, they traveled to the world and experienced the way in the painting.
Study tour of Qianzhu Academy.
*In addition to the online and offline courses, in order to facilitate the learning review of Qianzhu students, and also to provide convenience for more people who want to learn painting. Since 2014, he has published 25 editions of various books, textbooks and collections. From landscapes to flowers and birds, the subject matter is carefully selected, and strives to analyze the structure of objects and images through the combination of first-class methods, clarify the correspondence with pen and ink, and give readers effective guidance.
Books have been published by Qianzhu Academy.
He has always done his best to think about those who have no guidance and nowhere to study painting like he once did. In his day-to-day teaching, he always collects the best teaching tools for daily teaching work to help students learn and progress, such as replicas of the original university, ancient methods of making ink ingots, etc. Later, many students often asked him about the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone he used. In order to facilitate the purchase and use of students, help students check the learning tools. In addition to disseminating the teaching of the way of observing the world and conveying the way of pen and ink by teachers and students, in order to assist the students' creative practice, the academy has launched the Qianzhu Study Series to meet the daily learning needs of students. For these study products, he always traveled all over the countryside, and personally visited the masters many times to seek advice, starting from the production of raw materials to track the implementation, until the product output, but also to carry out inspection, often one thing is two or three years. Among them, what is condensed is the perseverance and pursuit of him and the assistant teachers of Qianzhu Academy over the years - when encountering a thing, distinguishing and reasoning. It's the same with drawing, and it's the same with what you do.
On the occasion of the anniversary of Senzhu Academy, he often makes special models as commemorations. It is hoped that the objects on the desks of these painters can always remind the students of the unremitting pursuit of "understanding and reasoning" of Qianzhu Academy, and encourage them to continue to think and study.
Some products of Qianzhu Study.
After ten years of teaching, discussing the source along the waves, observing the taste of the image, and improving the brush and ink, a group of outstanding painters have emerged in Qianzhu Academy, who have a solid foundation and unique personality. From August 1, 2015 to June 17, 2023, a total of 44 micro-auctions were held, with 947 works auctioned. After years of accumulation of experience, the selection of Qianzhu came into being, and in the face of the works of many painters, the best of the best was selected and auctioned. From November 10, 2023 to January 26, 2024, there have been three performances, and all 27 works have been auctioned by different collectors.
Qianzhu ten years, his ten years, from a person alone to the Taoli gate wall, the road is long, looking back; The future is far away, and the diligence is endless.
In his ten years, he attended classes and painted, and sat for half a day, and time was always like a breeze in the bamboo, inadvertently blowing between the pen and paper. Many people think that he is always quiet and busy. But he still has a life of his own, he likes to draw, he also likes calligraphy, seal carving, wood carving, and perhaps more surprisingly, he also likes football. Someone once asked what the benefits of playing football would be good for drawing. Maybe it's to improve the coordination of the limbs? He smiled and said that he didn't think about it.
But in the face of his hobbies, he has one thing in common. As far as he is concerned, if you like it, you have to study it, and if you understand it, you have to understand it. He is usually quiet and silent except for teaching, but when he talks about football, he also talks endlessly. He summed up his experience of playing football and watching football games, studied its role on the football field one by one, and analyzed whether the key to the competition on the field was to shoot or pass and run to control the field. This kind of exploration of the truth of things themselves is the same as the concept of "understanding and reasoning" in painting.
World-renowned people, in the present practice path. Reluctant to work hard, my way is not completely lonely. Ten years later, he is the painter of the stone pillow flow, and he is also the teacher of the dreaming night.
Qianzhu Academy's pursuit is far, wide, and high, and it is concerned about Chinese painting, and it has only started in ten years. As Lin Sanzhi said in "Talking with Zhuang Xizu": "Huaisu's "Self-Narrative Post" may not be able to be written after studying for 20 years; If you go in, you may not be able to write for another twenty years. "One in and one out, one learning is forty years, calligraphy and painting as a whole, learning to paint can not be quick success, the famous masters of the past generations have solid basic skills and beyond the cognition of ordinary people. One is indispensable.
Teachers and students walk together, the road is not completely lonely, and work together to continue to sail towards the ideal side, and believe that there will be a day when we will dock.