Chinese painting "A Hundred Flowers Bloom", created collectively by Guangdong Painting Institute.
Chinese painting "Colorful Lotus Pond" by Ma Shulin.
Chinese painting "Purple Qi Comes from the East", by Xie Qing.
Chinese painting "Green Heron", by Wan Xiaoning.
Flower and bird painting is one of the three major traditional Chinese painting disciplines, and together with figure painting and landscape painting, it constitutes a complete system of Chinese painting. In the new era, flower and bird painters go deep into life on the basis of inheriting traditions, and actively expand their creative space, which not only gives flower and bird paintings new themes and contents, but also enhances their expressiveness. It also innovates techniques and forms to highlight the aesthetic taste of the times. In recent years, special exhibitions have been held around flower and bird paintings in various places to display creative achievements, deepen academic research, and promote excellent works. From breathtaking masterpieces to pleasant sketches, many excellent works together outline the new look of the times and show the unique charm of flower and bird painting.
Show a new atmosphere and praise the good times.
Traditional flower and bird paintings mostly express nature and praise life, carrying the artist's feelings and thoughts on supporting things. The famous painters of flowers and birds in the past dynasties have created a number of classic works and left a valuable artistic tradition by depicting rare birds and animals, auspicious flowers and grasses, or expressing themes such as plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum that highlight the elegance of the literati. Nowadays, with the help of flower and bird painting, it has become the important task of contemporary flower and bird painters to promote the core values of socialism and create works that the people like to see.
Looking at the new works of flower and bird painting in recent years, the number of works that convey feelings and praise the era of flowers and birds accounts for a relatively high proportion. The Guangdong Academy of Painting took half a year to create a huge work "A Hundred Flowers Blooming", which is 12 meters long and 7 meters high4 meters, the Lingnan School's unique flower and bird painting technique "water and powder method" is applied to achieve a rich layered effect. In the picture, representative flowers from various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are in full bloom, paying tribute to the thriving atmosphere of a great country. At the "Imagery of the Times: Academic Invitational Exhibition of Flower and Bird Painting Theme Creation of China National Academy of Painting (Shaanxi Station)", Lin Lan's "Spring Warmth of the Pearl River" and Ma Xinlin's "Annunciation" and other works all praise the beautiful era with fiery and vibrant flowers. Wu Yueshi's "Spring with Purple Ribbons" and Ma Shulin's "Colorful Lotus Pond" use auspicious wisteria and lotus flowers that symbolize harmony and beauty to express the ease in the chest and inherit the spirit of freehand. On the basis of artistic refinement of objective objects, flower and bird painters integrate personal emotions and aesthetic tastes into their creations, so that flower and bird paintings are not only pleasing to the eye, but also more enjoyable.
How to write the myriad weather of the new era with traditional pen and ink? Paying attention to national events, expressing the theme of the times, and sublimating ideas and ideas have become a new aspect of contemporary flower and bird painting creation. Chen Bosheng's "Ancient Porcelain Transmission of the Silk Road", which was selected for the "Flower and Bird Language - The 3rd Fujian Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition", is a representative work. In the close-up of the picture, all kinds of blue and white porcelain are placed, and next to it lies the camel, an essential means of transportation on the ancient Silk Road, and the background depicts exotic buildings in light ink. Ma Yuanbin, who was selected for the "Yunnan Gathering - 2021 National Exhibition of Flower and Bird Painting Teachers of Higher Art Academies", "Poverty Alleviation and Mutual Assistance-Jiliuba County Yangjiagou Chinese Bee Breeding Base", shows a new picture of modern agricultural bases with a novel concept. In the picture, Chinese bees fluttering their wings and flying reflect the freehand beauty of traditional flower and bird painting; New beehives, beekeeping technology books, etc., add a contemporary atmosphere to the works.
In their creations, more and more flower and bird painters have found a new way, placing traditional flower and bird paintings in a broader cultural vision, integrating the expressive advantages of flower and bird paintings with major themes, so that their works not only highlight the spirit of traditional culture, but also vividly reflect the atmosphere of the times.
Expand new content to reflect the colorful life.
How to get rid of the limitations of traditional concepts on the objects of flower and bird painting and achieve artistic innovation? Many creators go deep into life, take root in the people, draw nourishment from the colorful life of the times, and constantly expand the creative content of flower and bird paintings.
With the rapid development of a new generation of information technology such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing, people's quality of life is constantly improving. The close connection between scientific and technological progress and daily life has inspired artists to express new subjects with brushes. At the "Cultural Quality Tsinghua - 2023 National Exhibition of Flower and Bird Painting Teachers in Higher Art Academies", Jiao Yongfeng's "Payment, Please Scan ***" reflects the creator's concern for the development of the times. The visual subject of the picture is stacked with cabbage, and the tender green cabbage contrasts sharply with the black tablecloth. In the cabbage pile, an electronic payment *** reflects the convenience of contemporary life. Selected for the "Fifth Shaanxi Province Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition" Fu Xiaoqing's "Ordinary Life" is also a work of the same theme, the painter depicts the common delicacies in people's lives in the form of 12 group paintings, and cleverly combines several electronic payments with fresh ingredients, and the artistic conception is fresh and elegant. The integration of science and technology and life has become the finishing touch of the creation of flower and bird paintings.
The expressive objects of contemporary flower and bird painting have gradually broken through the traditional category of flowers and birds with broken branches, and the exploration of flower and bird paintings with urban themes has become a new highlight in his creation. For example, Lin Chenxin's "Spring Garden" exhibited in the "Flower and Bird Language - The 3rd Fujian Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition" takes the city flower shop as the object of creation, and creates a warm flower room space through the romantic depiction of various flowers. At the "Hundred Flowers to the Sun - 2021 National Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition", Liu Hongwei's "Pinglin in Sight" uses the city's buildings and street lamps as the main elements in the lonely winter, and trees and birds are interspersed to form an ethereal urban theme flower and bird painting. In the "Jincheng Flower Language - National Gongbi Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition", Wu Minjie's "Counting Trees Crimson and Light Yellow" and Xue Xingjun's "Campus New Era" and other works integrate new things such as express cabinets and intelligent sweepers into their creations, making the works closer to contemporary life.
The beautiful home of birds and flowers is the common yearning of human beings. Expressing the harmony between man and nature through his works and spreading the concept of ecological civilization has also become an important theme in the creation of contemporary flower and bird paintings. Held in conjunction with the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the exhibited works focus on the rich animal and plant resources of Yunnan, present the beauty of biodiversity in different artistic languages, and guide the public to respect, conform to and protect nature. Among them, Zhao Fang's "Song of the Moon" depicts three wild elephants walking in the moonlight with fine brushwork, creating a hazy aesthetic conception through the weak contrast of colors. "Starting from Keyuan - Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition" is based on the creative tradition of Lingnan flower and bird painting, and invites painters from all over the world to express nature with brush and ink. Wan Xiaoning's "Green Heron", Wang Qingli's "Happy Home", Deng Hailin's "Bamboo Forest Gathering Birds" and other works all focus on the life situation of animals in nature, highlighting the beauty of harmonious ecology. In other exhibitions, Xiao Zhimei's "Secret Words Among Flowers" and Liang Dongfeng's "Happy Residence" vividly interpret the theme of harmony between man and nature with free and delicate brushstrokes, focusing on the relationship between people, pets and plants in urban life.
The development of the times has given flower and bird painters more new thinking. They integrate what they see and feel into their brushes, expressing a deep understanding of nature, life, art and life, and also giving new life to traditional flower and bird paintings.
Exploring new forms that highlight a modern aesthetic.
Since the reform and opening up, the pursuit of formal beauty in flower and bird paintings has gradually become prominent, especially since the new era, flower and bird painters have paid more attention to embodying the beauty of form in multiple ways. The exploration of formal beauty in contemporary flower and bird painting is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the formal exploration at the level of pure technique, and the other is the innovative combination of content and form.
The innovation of technique and form is the embodiment of the professional level of flower and bird painters. Whether the works of flower and bird paintings are excellent or not has long been not at the level of whether they are painted like, beautiful or interesting, but must have a sense of painting and reflect the pursuit of contemporary aesthetics. This requires the creator to continue to follow up on the exploration of the sense of form in the picture. "Boneless New Style: Boneless New Exploration Exhibition" brings together many new works of modern boneless flower and bird paintings, showing the creators' new practices in understanding the learning context, building layout, and expanding the subject matter. Among them, Li Encheng's "Early Spring" skillfully integrates the traditional boneless flower and bird painting and freehand spirit with modern composition and vocabulary, making the work natural and flexible, highlighting the beauty of wilderness. Chen Li's "Still Water Flowing Sound No.2", which was selected for the "2021 Rain and Flowers in the Sky - National Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition", divides the picture through black and white blocks, and then uses black tadpoles and white lotus stems to create a trend of interweaving points, lines and surfaces, making the work full of form.
Not satisfied with pure technical language innovation, flower and bird painters strive to promote the organic integration of content and form, so that the works are new. Some painters use the expression of time and space to express their thoughts on the present and the future, which makes their works full of artistic tension. In Peng Hanzong's work "Wandering in the Mountains", under the spotlight, the white horse stands on the top of the mountain, looking at the water together with the apes climbing trees among the pines and exploring the water, which has both classical charm and transcends reality, conveying curiosity and imagination about the world. The same is true of Luo Xiang's "Happy Valley". Combining reality and imagination, the artist depicts a group of wild animals appearing in a city subway car, triggering the viewer's deep understanding of the relationship between nature and industrial civilization, animals and humans.
In recent years, many art galleries and museums have combed through the resources of flower and bird paintings in their collections and launched special exhibitions, opening a new window for traditional flower and bird paintings to enter contemporary life. For example, "Beauty in the 'Appreciation' - Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition from the Collection of the National Art Museum of China", "Blooming with Flowers, Flowers and Feathers in Spring-Exquisite Exhibition of Flower and Bird Paintings from the Collection of Beijing Fine Art Academy", "Everything Calmly - Exquisite Exhibition of Flowers, Birds and Animal Paintings from the Collection of Shandong Art Museum for the New Year", etc., focus on the exhibition of flower and bird paintings by famous artists such as Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Lin Fengmian, etc., which not only help art benefit the people, but also provide nutrients for the growth of young painters, so that they can have a deeper understanding of the development process, cultural connotation and diversity of flower and bird painting, so as to promote the development of contemporary flower and bird painting.
At present, new artists and new works are constantly emerging in the flower and bird painting world, and the painters feel the pulse of the times with full enthusiasm, continue to deepen the connotation of the theme, the content of the theme, the art form, etc., and constantly promote the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional flower and bird painting. In-depth excavation of the value of flower and bird painting, and long-term contribution to creation, exhibition, research, etc., will provide a new perspective for the public to understand Chinese painting and approach traditional culture, and bring new opportunities for the prosperity and development of flower and bird painting.
The author is a professor at Guangxi University of Arts).
Author: Li Yongqiang.
*:People**.