Wang Zhonggang, the founder of Zhongzhou, also has the pen name Clown, Liu Chengxing. He has been a police officer for decades and has made outstanding achievements, and his calligraphy is well-known in China and can be called a masterpiece of a generation.
Gushi is an important part of the Central Plains culture. It is located at the junction of Henan and Anhui, belongs to Dabie Mountain in the south, borders the Huai River in the north, controls Chen Cai, and takes Wu with Huai. The county was established in the Eastern Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, taking the meaning of "if you want to do a good job, you must first consolidate its beginning". This place has a long history and profound cultural heritage, it is the hometown of Chinese calligraphy, and it is the ancestral land of Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, Jiangxi and Hakka people and overseas Chinese, giving birth to Sun Shuao, a famous minister of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period, the founding king of Fujian during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Zheng Chenggong, a famous general of the Anti-Qing Dynasty, and Yu Chengbin, the founding general of New China, and many other historical figures.
The Central Plains culture, where Gushi is located, is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Nearly 10,000 years later, the context is long, the text and calligraphy have Jiahu bone carving, Cangjie characters, Anyang oracle bones, Longmen Wei tablet, Zhong Xuankai script, Feizhi tablet and Zhang Qian tablet Lishu and other classics. The famous scholar Wang Xuezhong once sighed that "cultural relics Zhongzhou Xinwu Division". Wang Zhonggang came from the cultural soil of Zhongzhou, the hometown of Chinese calligraphy, and "a history of Henan, half of the history of China" infiltrated Wang Zhonggang's soul and blood.
Wang Zhonggang was born in Tian Mo, his family was poor since he was a child, but he was deeply influenced by the ancient and modern celebrities, and was influenced by the new atmosphere of the rise of New China and the world. Since the age of six began to learn calligraphy, the first worship of the village and town two old calligraphers as teachers, first to Yan Liu Ou Kaishu, inkstone ploughing day and night, not to stop the cold and summer. After school, or in the fields, when he had a little spare time, he would race against time to practice calligraphy on the ridges of the fields and on the threshing floor with tree branches, or with hard clods of soil and broken bricks and tiles, and as he walked on the road, he used his fingers to practice calligraphy in the air. In the surrounding towns of his hometown, Wang Zhonggang, a young man who loves to write, is well known. Villagers often saw his mother go to supply and marketing cooperatives, health centers, grain management offices and other state-owned units to ask for old newspapers and practice calligraphy for clowns. Every Spring Festival, he writes Spring Festival couplets to many neighbors, which is widely praised and improves Wang Zhonggang's enthusiasm for learning calligraphy. Long-term unremitting study and hard practice have made Wang Zhonggang's calligraphy skills more and more solid.
Decades after Wang Zhonggang joined the work, he still kept his calligraphy in his heart and was unswerving, and he visited the monument whenever he was free. After worshipping the famous masters of the United States, absorbing the strengths of others, the two kings of the main Lin, especially the Lanting Order, the Holy Order, Wang Duo Xingshu, Zhang Qian Tablet, Cao Quan Tablet, Shimen Songli Book, etc., the art of calligraphy is refined.
If you want to attain the art of calligraphy, you must first have a profound cultural connotation of Chinese culture, and secondly, you must go through the four stages of reading, proximity, posting, and innovation, in order to achieve and innovate in the field of calligraphy. If you want to flow far, you must dredge its source. If you want a tree to be high, you must strengthen its roots. If you want to be good at the end, you must fix the beginning. The sage of ancient books, Wang Xizhi, once said that all books are precious and quiet, so that the intention is in front of the pen, the words are in the heart, and the beginning of the undone is completed. Mr. Qi Gong believes that the line of writing is like "the water passes through the people", and the knots are like "the cliff is placed in a prison". The former is talking about meaning, calligraphy creation should begin before the pen, the words are in the chest, and then the writing; The latter is talking about God, which is intended to emphasize that writing should be calm and relaxed, and between the dots, it seems to be a leisurely stroll, but in fact, there are soldiers and horses hidden inside, such as God is there, and the rules are not lost. Mr. Wang Zhonggang has a wide range of knowledge, and has both of the above methods, especially in the calligraphy of Lishu, focusing on Han Li, and pondering and grinding, gradually becoming his own style. The beauty of Lishu, because of the simplicity and nature, by the Zhengda to the sublime, the depth of the background, the atmosphere is long, cast into the immortal air of gold and stone.
Wang Zhonggang is quite resilient and perceptive, and has studied a variety of Han Li inscriptions, widely collected and learned from the Zhang Qian Monument, which is known for its strengths and simplicity, and the "Yiying Tablet" and "Shi Chen Tablet" that are dignified and square, and the "Good King Tablet" and other inscription essences, which absorb and digest the essence. Keeping pace with the times, he followed the ancients, carefully figured out the strengths of modern and modern calligraphers such as Yi Bingshou, He Shaoji, Sun Qifeng, etc., and melted them into his own creative practice, forming the characteristics of Wang Zhonggang's works that are magnificent, square, unrestrained, broad, and indulgent, and more of the times.
Looking at Wang Zhonggang's Lishu works, after decades of grinding, the words have a source, the pen has a new one, there is no cheesiness, dryness, with "delete the complex and simplify the three autumn trees, and lead the new February flowers with different standards" to describe the most appropriate.
Wang Zhonggang's works have six major features:
First, the structure is rigorous, simple and elegant. Wang Zhonggang's calligraphy works have a regular stroke structure, strict and steady, and the pen walks the dragon and snake, elegant and smart, with ups and downs. The penmanship is exquisite, the lines are smooth, there is the charm of the "Ritual Tablet", the knot is rigorous, the posture is beautiful, Chiang Mai is vigorous, the movement is still to the back, simple and elegant.
The second is thick and dignified, and the momentum is magnificent. Wang Zhonggang's calligraphy works have a calm wrist strength, strong pen power, majestic momentum, strong and dignified, and shocking. With the pen is old and spicy, the pen is with the gods, the force penetrates the back of the paper, and the ink is fragrant, and the face is curling. There is a round, astringent, strong and unrestrained, magnificent image from the "Good King Tablet".
Its three are dignified and beautiful, and the layout is harmonious. Wang Zhonggang's calligraphy works are warm, soft and comfortable. The chapter is properly arranged, the overall beauty is beautiful, the glyph is dignified, and the lines show the graceful elegance of the line. There is the "Yiying Monument" character momentum development, pitching is caused, the back is clear, the rules are just beautiful, and the charm of the word gesture is opened.
Its four charms are vivid and far-reaching. Wang Zhonggang's calligraphy works are smooth and natural, vivid, exciting, and profound. The lines are also ancient and clumsy, the chapters are loose and gathered, the ink is also thick and dry, the meaning is stretched, the opening and closing are moderate, and there is the simple beauty of "Zhang Qian Monument", which naturally integrates the Taoist way into the work.
Its five winds are strong and innovative. The pen of the work is tight, and the turn is round and beautiful, such as a cone of paper, which is ingenious. The word is round, like steel and iron, with unique charm and unique style. "Chunhua Dictionary" said: The backbone is sharp, like an iron painting silver hook. It has the characteristics of Yi Bingshou's strict, unbridled, broad and indulgent calligraphy.
It has both six forms and gods, both rigid and soft. The beauty of form and content of Wang Zhonggang's works is a perfect combination, with a strong and powerful appearance, and a soft and tactful interior. Rigidity and softness, opening and closing, containing. He understands the language of pen and ink, grasps the skills of pen and ink, and uses the inner accumulation and keen perception of the art of calligraphy to create the latest and most beautiful calligraphy.
Culture and art are the banner of the times, the vane of social and cultural development, and the guide of human aesthetics. Wang Zhonggang has been working for decades, and his work experience has covered most of China, including Central China, South China, and Northwest China, and he can be described as traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books. Not only is the work equal, but also the calligraphy is unique, it is really a pioneer of literature and art in the new era, which is admirable and respectable!
People are old, and they are full of spring. In the years to come, I look forward to Mr. Wang Zhonggang dedicating more and more beautiful masterpieces to the Chinese book world.
The poem says: Wang Zhonggang, a genius in the Central Plains, has an iron pen and a pistol in one hand. Thousands of miles to eliminate evil, 17 times to set up medals. Splash ink to chase the ancient style, and the official book has a new and true chapter. Lao Ji is as angry as a rainbow, and he writes a chapter with great effort. May 2, 2024 in Jinghua (Guo Fan, calligrapher, writer, poet, art critic)
Editor in charge: Ding Yuan