Text/Feng Haitao Painting/Shi Tao
In the creation of Chinese painting, as long as it does not take the conventional road and does not enter the vulgar realm, it will have the spirit of a scholar and a transcendent style. The conventional road is the only way for painters to learn, and the vulgar atmosphere is an inevitable process when first painting. Therefore, to go out of your own way, not in the routine; if you want to get rid of the vulgar atmosphere, you must have the charm of elegance.
Works by Shi Tao
No matter how steep the mountain, as long as you walk more, there will be a road to the peak. At that time, the steepness of the mountain became very ordinary, and even if you climbed to the top, you did not have the glory and state of mind that had once challenged the steep mountain. Because the road to the top has become a regular road, it has lost the meaning of challenging the mountain. The road also became a path to the top of the mountain. The creation of Chinese painting is the same as climbing a steep mountain, and the pleasure in the heart comes from conquest, from being the first to reach the top, or finding a way to reach the top of one's own. For the viewer, you are walking on the road of others, you are just a person who goes up the mountain to cut firewood or travel. The same is true of painting and painting other people's styles, but it is only a depiction of copying the work of others.
In the creation of Chinese painting, another way is that everyone who learns to paint must have the knowledge and cognition. Although beginners will take the path of the predecessors, but when they go back, they cannot go to the head in front of their eyes, so the biggest achievement of learning is that you are "little so-and-so". Instead, on the road, I wondered why my predecessors chose this path and the trajectory left on this road, what logic and rhythm there was, and so on. And this kind of learning is the beginning of not taking the conventional road. This is called "the conventional road is not conventional, go to the middle of the mountain and have your own road"
The mundane world and the spirit of the people are like someone climbing a steep mountain for conquest, for exploration, for discovering the beauty of nature that ordinary people cannot discover. And some people climb mountains, just to climb the mountain, because they climbed the mountain only to hear that there is a mountain there, very steep, beautiful scenery, come to travel. The road taken is also a conventional road that is stepped on by thousands of people, and what you see is also the scenery seen by the public, as for the steepness, it is only walking on the road, lying on the chain next to the cliff and lamenting that this mountain is really high. Painting is the same, taking the path of others, even if your master teaches you hand in hand, you will not appreciate the joy of creating works from the heart. Your greatest enjoyment is nothing more than that I have drawn a painting, which is similar to that of the master. Imagine how mechanical plagiarism and depiction can generate morale among the literati. Only works that contemplate nature, originate from the heart, and express themselves in their own pen and ink language will have the spirit of a scholar.