Life begins in sixties - read Yang Liansu's calligraphy and painting exhibition
Zhao Zongbiao/Wen
I have known Mr. Yang Liansu for decades and feel that he is a talented and capable official. The former bears witness to his calligraphy, while the latter draws from his impressions of several official contacts and the evaluations of others.
From a poor peasant family, through his unremitting efforts, from the most grass-roots civil servants to the chief official of a place, relying on his own strength. What impressed him deeply was the cultural accomplishment and elegant demeanor he showed in his dealings with his Japanese friends, and he surprised the four with his calligraphy art and won their admiration.
However, Mr. Yang Liansu can draw, which is indeed a bit unexpected. Before this exhibition at the Wang Dehui Art Museum, he never talked about it. So many works, whether they are large-scale productions or exquisite sketches, give people a refreshing artistic enjoyment. It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that it is a blockbuster, but such a large-scale exhibition of calligraphy and painting gives people a surprise, but it is real.
Mr. Yang's calligraphy, strong and grand, shows a magnificent and thick masculine and frank atmosphere, with the wind of Huang Zhong Da Lu.
The Chinese painting works are more beautiful and bright, showing the softness of the apricot blossom spring rain jiangnan, although there are bold landscape works, but the most moving, or the color of the small bridge flowing water and flowers and birds interesting works, showing the deep affection and wishes for the hometown. If calligraphy shows the depth of Yang Liansu's yearning for the Majestic Mountain, then his paintings are more close to the softness of the small bridge and the flowing water, and have more charm.
These two reflect the two sides of his spiritual world as benevolent and wise. The richness of a person's soul can be fully expressed through calligraphy and painting, just like the spirit of an era is also reflected in the literary and artistic works of this era.
Mr. Yang Liansu claimed to be a person of the "Three Selfs". First, inferiority, because the family is poor, people are short, there is no backing, so from the age of seven to school, that is, very hard, with the first place and the position of class leader, to overcome inferiority. The second is conceit, because he has been studying hard and working hard, whether in school or at work, his grades or performance are able to overwhelm his peers, win applause, and therefore conceited. The third is self-awareness. No matter what you do, you will consciously go all out, try to figure out the mysteries, and spend more time studying. Whether it is learning calligraphy or painting, it is to identify the goal, diligently read and learn and practice.
Psychologist Adler said: "Each of us has different degrees of inferiority complex, because we all want to make ourselves better and make ourselves better." I think that among Yang Liansu's "three selfs", many people in the first two will have, the most important thing is "self-awareness", self-consciousness is persistence and hard work, which is the fundamental reason why he has achieved all his goals.
Yang Liansu loved to paint since childhood and showed a high artistic talent, but he has not been able to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. Childhood dreams often become lifelong goals. Yang Liansu was able to realize his long-cherished wish by holding a calligraphy and painting exhibition in the year of Ershun, in fact, it took half a century of "conscious" efforts.
The achievements of art and the composition of technology are not many, but more are the accumulation of knowledge, the savings of learning, the expansion of insight, and the broadening of horizons. Beauty is a spiritual choice and the inevitable result of civilization.
Before the age of sixty, as a public servant, his main energy was on work. After the age of sixty, when he was light and light, he devoted himself to painting. All the original artistic qualities, especially the skills of calligraphy, have become the ladder to enter the hall of Chinese painting and art. In terms of his artistic career, his life began at the age of sixty. This time, more than 100 wonderful Chinese paintings are the result of his ten years of sword grinding.
The transformation from an official to a calligrapher and painter is a good thing to celebrate in terms of the development of cultural undertakings, and it is also our local cultural tradition. Historically, Tiantai is the cultural highland of Taizhou, from the Han to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there are 4096 Taizhou celebrities recorded in the historical records, including 1041 Tiantai nationality, 781 Taizhou native Wenyuan people in the past, and 201 Tiantai nationality, both of which occupy the first place. Among the contemporary academicians, there are also many Tiantai nationals, including Jin Yaoji, Chen Zhongwei, Qi Kang, Chen Shiyi, Peng Ping'an, Ge Shirong, and so on.
As a small county in population and economy, it has always been a large cultural county, and the formation of this cultural phenomenon has a lot to do with the fact that after the retirement of Tiantai officials in history, they all lingered on the Tiantai landscape and actively returned to their hometowns to devote themselves to cultural undertakings. For example, Xu Yikui of the Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to work at the Hanlin Academy, he repeatedly pleaded for early retirement and returned to his hometown to write books and run a college. Qi Zhaonan, the highest-ranking official in Taizhou in the Qing Dynasty, as Qianlong's cabinet scholar and ceremonial attendant, also took it as his mission to go to his hometown to run a academy and educate his fellow villagers.
Mr. Yang Liansu is now a retired person, gorgeous turn, fully invested in the creation of calligraphy and painting, which is for himself, is the realization of his childhood dream, in the society, is the guide to the fashion atmosphere, is the promotion of cultural undertakings, but also the inheritance and glorification of local traditions, is worthy of praise in the art world.
Human life has multipleities, and it is not easy for natural life to last for a hundred years, but man's spiritual life can remain in the tunnel of time for a long time. The pursuit of this spiritual eternity has in fact become the goal of many. I believe that these calligraphy and painting works of Mr. Yang Liansu will flow in the long river of culture in his hometown together with his "conscious" style.
Yang Liansu's artistic life, if you count from the age of sixty, is only ten years, it is a young man with a magnificent style, and his artistic road is long. In this exhibition, there is one of his calligraphy couplets: "The painting of the years is old, and the fish and dragon pen are noisy." "I think this may also be Mr. Yang's self-motivated words." I am looking forward to such a painter.
( Source: Taizhou News Zhao Zongbiao/Wen )