Original South Vista
Close-up of Mr. Hou Enru
In 2016, I happened to see Hou Enru's calligraphy works and related reports from relevant newspapers and periodicals in Xinjiang, and felt that his calligraphy, calligraphy and cursive writing had a fairly thick foundation, especially cursive writing can be superior, leaving a good impression on Hou Enru's calligraphy. Not long ago, I learned that Mr. Enru had settled in Chengdu after retiring from his post as political commissar of a regimental unit of the army, and had seen his new calligraphy with his own eyes, and was even more impressed by his academic excellence in recent years. The army is a big school and the cradle for the growth of all kinds of talents. Mr. Enru's calligraphic art path and artistic practice prove this once again.
(The following are all calligraphy works by Mr. Hou Enru)
Pen walking dragon snake no shortcut Iron stone grinding through the square began
Mr. Enru was born in Fufeng, Shaanxi Province, to a family of cultural people. His father was a junior high school graduate before liberation, and after liberation, he engaged in government copywriting and wrote well. Several brothers, all of whom have an indissoluble relationship with calligraphy. In the second grade of primary school, the teacher often took Hou Enru's brush writing homework to the fourth grade students for circulation. Even the triangles in math class were better drawn than the other students.
In 1976, because he could write a beautiful handwritten letter, Hou Enru was favored by the leaders of the receiving troops, thus becoming a glorious SOLDIER soldier of the People's Liberation Army. When he arrived at the army, his work was always associated with writing, painting and painting, from running a blackboard newspaper to writing official documents of the organs, his calligraphy expertise in Tong Zi Gong was fully utilized. For decades, he has been working in the propaganda department of the troops stationed in Xinjiang, dealing with writing for half a lifetime; even as a political commissar of a regimental-level unit of the army, he devotes most of his spare time to the art of calligraphy. He has written Countless calligraphy posters such as Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion", Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of Sacrifice to the Nephew", Liu Gongquan's "Xuan secret pagoda stele", Mi Fu's "Shu Su Ti", Wang Duo's "Wang Juesi Cursive True Handwriting" and so on. When he encounters a good calligraphy stone stele, he will shake his head and write with his "head" along the inscription, while his right hand will be drawn in his pocket until he is familiar with it.
Mr. Enru's love for the art of calligraphy reached the point of obsession, but he never wanted to be a calligrapher, nor did he deliberately join the relevant calligraphy organizations. Studying calligraphy was only an elegant way to enrich his amateur life, so his calligraphy art was little known. One day in 2009, a professor at the Xinjiang Academy of Arts saw several calligraphy works by Hou Enru, who had just retired, and his eyes lit up with admiration. He believed that Mr. Enru's calligraphy art level had reached a professional height, and suggested that he go to the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou for further study and collide with some modern calligraphy art inspirations. Accepting the professor's advice, he came to the China Academy of Art to specialize in calligraphy. Under the careful guidance of professional teachers, he once again carefully copied the calligraphy of Han Jian, Lishu, Tang Kai, Song Yuan, Ming and Qing, and other calligraphers of the past dynasties, such as Huai Su, Mi Fu, Wang Duo, Wen Zhengming, and others, and drew rich nutrition from the dignified and quaint elegance of Han Li, the majestic opening of the North Monument, the wind and current of Wang Xizhi, the danger of Ouyang Inquiry, the wild and uninhibited "Yan Jian Liu Bone" to the upside-down drunken su, the vigorous and bold of Su Dongpo, the unadorned "brush characters" of Mi Fu, the beauty of Zhao Mengfu, the chaotic paving streets of Zheng Banqiao, and so on. The concept of calligraphy has also been further updated, and then it has broken through the cocoon into a butterfly, reborn from the fire, and gradually stepped out of a calligraphy art road with its own personality characteristics.
In recent years, his calligraphy works have participated in various provincial, municipal, district and military calligraphy exhibitions and won many awards, and his inscriptions such as banners and plaques have been hung and engraved in many public places and private houses in Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places. "Snow" is collected by the Xinjiang Military Region and hung on the front wall of the second floor of the office building. In 2016, with the support of military leaders and relevant experts in Xinjiang's calligraphy circles, the "Hou Enru Calligraphy Works Exhibition" was successfully held in Urumqi and has been well received by industry insiders and calligraphy enthusiasts.
Linjiang does not envy the flying sail posture Under the pen length is the sound of torrential rain
Mr. Enru's calligraphy is very wide, and the true grass is capable of all kinds of bodies and has a variety of styles. Xiao Kai is strong and square, neat and elegant; the book is rigid and soft, and it is vigorous and powerful. Based on the calligraphy, its cursive writing is unrestrained and elegant, atmospheric and resolute, integrating his understanding of the rhymes of Erwang, Huaisu, Mi Fu and Wang Duo and the aesthetic pursuit of brushwork, rhythm, line and structure, and at the same time integrating the masculine and heroic atmosphere of the Great Northwest soldiers, which makes the viewer refreshed.
The dot lines are very powerful. The sense of power is the feeling of the force evoked by the dot-drawn lines in the viewer's mind. The emergence of a sense of strength is the product of the combination of the calligrapher's inner temperament and paper and pencil. Cai Yong, a great calligrapher of the Eastern Han Dynasty, made a special discussion on the sense of power of the dot-drawing lines in the "Nine Potentials", he pointed out: "Hide the head and protect the tail, the force is in it, the next pen is forceful, and the skin is beautiful." Therefore, it is said that the momentum is unstoppable, the momentum is unstoppable, but the pen is soft and strange. Mr. Enru is well versed in this principle, at the beginning of the study of the book, that is, in strict accordance with the traditional norms, with the pen to want to be left first right, want to go up and down, hide the head and tail, so that the strokes can be retained, the line can be opened, and the points are accumulated into lines such as "house leak marks"; in the process of writing, the concentration is calm, the pen is sent, and strives for the effect of "cone painting sand"; at the turning point, the proposal is clear, and never vainly produces a corner. Such a long-term persistence, the lines of the pen are vigorous and old, round and pure, gentle but not soft, the force is contained in it, and it shows a strong and simple bookish personality in the inadvertent soaring and jumping.
Enru Kaishu and Xingshu use pens to focus on the center, with the side edges between; square pens, round pens, lifting, pressing, and sudden setbacks are flexible, and one is natural; the turning or dark with the round pen, going down the trend, or wrapping the front with the dun pen to complete the reverse pen, lifting, making the turn, the square circle, and the rapid changes. Cursive writing is sprinkled, then the emotions go with the pen, wanton and wild, or graceful and slow, or lightning and swift, the composition is eclectic, vertical and horizontal, unpredictable, showing a majestic momentum that shakes people's hearts.
Many of his works, such as "Two Poems of Tang Dynasty" and "Preface to the Pavilion of The King of Teng", etc., the ink color changes from thick and light, from light to dry, wild but not wild, strange and not strange; occasionally with bald pens, thirsty pens, pens and paper contact time and strength are just right, staggered, rigid and soft, odd and positive, the lines are vigorous and spicy, unrestrained and smooth, it seems to have the power of a thousand jun, giving people a sense of upward mobility and magnificence.
The knot shape highlights a sense of harmony. Chinese characters are still shaped, and calligraphy is also known as "morphology". The knot shape is the basis of the aesthetic beauty of calligraphy. Yuan Zhao Mengfu's "Lan Ting Bao" said: "Calligraphy is based on the use of the pen, and the knot must also be used." "Mr. Enru's calligraphy is precisely the beauty of "work". He has created thousands of calligraphy works in the middle, fan, fan, banner and couplet works created by him over the past few decades, strictly following the writing principle of "stable center of gravity, uniform white cloth, tight and appropriate, and extended main pen", and arranged the long, short, thick, thin, pitched, lean, shrunken, extended, wide, narrow, high, low, humble, positive and other elements of the strokes properly arranged, so that the glyphs are elegant and energetic, and the beauty is beautiful. At the same time, he integrated the taste of the line into the book, and the limited space was creatively divided and combined, so that the knot body was full of changes and realized the harmonious beauty of the shape.
Feng Ban, a Qing dynasty, said in the "Pure Yin ShuJiao": "The knot is used by the Jin people, the Tang people use the law, and the Song people use the intention." The "reason", "law" and "intention" are not only reflected in the writing of calligraphy, but also in the creation of calligraphy and cursive writing. Mr. Enru integrated the "reason", "law" and "meaning" of the Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties, and made a useful exploration in the knot shape of the xingshu and cursive writing, first of all, to deal with the relationship between "main" and "secondary". For each word in the book and a few words in cursive, he will grasp the main pen or support point and focus on writing the main pen, strengthen the demeanor of this word or group, and arch for the remaining pen, so that the word and the word or group have a close echo relationship. Establish the main pen, and the rest are breathing together. Second, handle well the relationship between "欹" and "positive". Focus on writing the pen on the side of the pen, want to be left first right, want to promote and suppress, increase the ups and downs of the wind posture and the spirit of the fast flying, and then with the help of the pen of Pingzheng "like a straight anyway", drum up its momentum and smooth its momentum, curb its momentum and save its fall, and then achieve new balance and harmony in a larger scope. Third, properly handle the relationship between "violation" and "peace." The so-called "violation", that is, the length, thickness, and square circle of the dot painting in the word are uneven and different from each other; the so-called "he", that is, the calligrapher uses the pen to influence and correct the dot painting of the "violation" to achieve the purpose of "he". Mr. Enru's writing and cursive writing creation abandons the fixed-trend thinking of "seeking stability and fearing chaos", creating a certain dangerous state in the middle of the peace, and seeking a certain orderly change in the unity, thus creating a "violation" situation; then, through the method of "harmony", the excessive "violation" pen and "violation" stroke are restrained, and finally the artistic effect of "violation without committing" and "harmony and difference" as Sun Guoting said was achieved. It is precisely because he correctly handles the above three relationships, his calligraphy, on the basis of pursuing the finesse of stippling, realizes the unique interest of the body, so that the work presents a strong and lively overall style.
The chapter layout highlights the sense of rhythm. Jiang Ji, a Qing dynasty man, said in the article "Continued Calligraphy": "The length of the chapter is the first, the fortune is the virtual, the reality is the spirit, the virtual is the real, and the interruption is continuous." Looking at the books of the ancients, there are pens outside the words, intentional, powerful, and powerful, and the magic of this chapter is also wonderful. Mr. Enru has put a lot of effort into the "magic of the rules". Before creating, he first planned the overall black and white division of the paper to do a good job; in the process of creation, he comprehensively used the methods of "gesture connection" and "posture connection" to express the written content on rice paper. For example, in the work "Nian Nu Jiao. In Chibi Huaigu, the words "great rivers go east" rely on the coherence of writing to "connect" the content of the book; while the words "picturesque in the rivers and mountains" rely on the interspersing, misplacing, and integration between glyphs, breaking the limitations of single words and integrating several words into one of the "posture connections". Other words and phrases are flexibly generated randomly by two connection methods, thus forming a colorful undulating change, while forming a smooth and beautiful rhythmic rhythm.
The use of "body posture connection" to form rhythmic passages is a major feature of Mr. Enru's cursive writing. For example, the works "Will Enter the Wine" and "Liangzhou Old Man" are examples of the use of this method. "The Old Man of Liangzhou" forms a combination of "posture connection" paragraphs such as "Jiang Han was a guest", "Every drunken return when they meet", "After the floating clouds parted", "Ten years of flowing water", etc. through multiple pen pauses or ink dip pauses. The whole work is not "gesture connection" in the form of a single word, but a continuous lead belt to form a smooth "posture connection" paragraph; many paragraphs complement each other, the breath is connected, the size of the glyphs is uneven, the ink color changes, the intricacies are staggered, the old and the young are helped, and the works are formed into an organic whole with a sense of rhythm and rhythm.
The art of calligraphy must have a glamorous spatial beauty in order to achieve a general staggered and evocative viewer. The beauty of space is mainly reflected in the "counting white when black" of the layout of the chapter. In Mr. Enru's cursive writing creation, in addition to handling the cloth-white relationship between words, the blank treatment between lines can also be remarkable. He often uses exaggerated techniques to correct, size, thickness, and elasticity between words and words, combinations and combinations, horizontal and dense, each with its own stakes, up and down, left and right, eight sides and four directions, like a layout; at the same time, through clever blank space between lines and seal embellishment, forming a continuous, picturesque rhythm of up and down left and right, so that the static paper and ink show dynamic beauty, the whole work strokes are coiled, ups and downs, the air rhyme flows and the dragon vein is continuous, and the rhythm and passion of the music are irrepressible.
Thousands of streams return to the sea Art was originally a family
Calligraphy, painting, music, dance and even swordsmanship, tai chi, etc., are inextricably linked. Du Fu recorded in the "Guan Gongsun Da Niang Disciple Dancing Sword Instrument Line and Sequence": "In the past, the Wu people Zhang Xushan cursive writing posts, several times in Yi County, saw the Yun Gongsun Da Niang dance Xihe sword weapon, and since then cursive writing has grown. When Yan Zhenqing created the "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript", blood and tears dripped under the pen, the vastness filled the text, the size of the glyphs was uneven, the lines were thick and mixed, the feelings rushed and surged, and the manuscript was like a symphony of fate. These true stories that have been recorded in the annals of history fully illustrate that art is essentially connected. Music and dance can inspire the art of calligraphy, and calligraphy painting can also give artistic nutrition to music and dance.
Mr. Enru has a wide range of interests and versatility, not only has a deep knowledge of calligraphy, but also has a certain involvement in painting, music and other art disciplines. These artistic elements are integrated in him, and the sense of rhythm of music effectively promotes the refinement of his calligraphy art; the virtual reality of calligraphy art, ups and downs, like the art of music and dance, expresses the ups and downs of the calligrapher's emotions at a higher level, moves himself at the same time, and evokes the emotional resonance of the viewer.
Mr. Enru also likes to collect Qin bricks and Han tiles, especially the exquisite writing, strange animal images and gorgeous and eerie patterns on these antiques. He often made these exquisite patterns into rubbings for the decoration of calligraphy works; for his favorite Qin Dynasty portrait tiles and Han Dynasty tiles on the green dragon, white tiger, suzaku, Xuanwu and various animal and plant patterns, such as turtle patterns, mosquito patterns, leopard prints, crane patterns, jade rabbit patterns, flower and leaf patterns, etc., he would combine his artistic elements to hand-paint the seals. These seals not only condense the essence of visual art and spatial art between the square inches, but also express the momentum of the punching knife in the process of engraving, the straightness of the line and the accumulation of the knife into a line, the disintegration and fusion of the knife marks, and the interlacing of the lines, forming a strong sense of gold and stone. He placed these elaborate hand-painted seal motifs on top of rice paper or elsewhere, enhancing the pale antiquity and special charm of his calligraphic works.
Calligraphy is a regrettable art, especially for an artist like Mr. Enru who pursues perfection, and there is no satisfaction to masturbate. Over the decades, he has devoted countless energies to creating countless works, but he can pick out almost every one of them, and all the works that have been completed he considers unsatisfactory. As a result, he can always let these imperfections toss him to sleep. As a bystander, the author does not think that this is the artist's pretense, but recognizes that art is endless. Compared with the calligraphy in history, there is still room for improvement in the sparseness of the layout of the chapter and the flexibility of the use of seals.
Appreciate Mr. Enru's insatiable gratitude for his calligraphy art. Pray that he will forge a new path in his exploration of the art of calligraphy.
October 18, 2021 at the ancient capital of Xianyang on the shores of the Weishui River
Hou Enru, born in 1957 in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, was a political commissar of a certain department of the Xinjiang Military Region and a famous military calligrapher. Influenced by Qin culture since childhood, he started from copying the inscriptions, learned the rules of the ancients, took various genres of style, and created his own calligraphy rhythm. Xiao Kai is strong and square, neat and elegant; the line of writing is rigid and soft, vigorous and powerful; cursive is atmospheric, free and free, full of rhythm. His works have been selected for several calligraphy exhibitions inside and outside the military and won awards, and his artistic achievements have been publicized and reported by major domestic media, and the "Collection of Calligraphy Works of Hou Enru" has been published.