Learn from Guan Gong, practice great fortune, worship Guan Gong, and form a good relationship
Conversation: May 10
Dialogue character: Han Meilin
● Biography
Han Meilin, born in 1936, is a native of Jinan, Shandong. He is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, deputy director of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University, and doctoral supervisor. He is a highly influential contemporary Artist of China, whose works involve painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, design and other fields, designing the mascot of the Beijing Olympic Games, and is known as the "Father of Fuwa". In 2015, Han Meilin was awarded the title of UNESCO "Artist of Peace".
● Dialogue background
The 81-year-old Han Meilin is known as the "old naughty boy" in the art world, which can be described as a veritable name.
This childlike old man, when talking about his familiar fields of painting and design, will always habitually find paper and pencil, and explain while painting; when it comes to art without borders, he can open his mouth to a piece of Peking Opera and opera. At this moment, the cruel time also seems to become gentle.
The statue of Guan Gong, which stands on the moat of the ancient city of Jingzhou, is mighty and elegant, and is Han Meilin's large-scale city carving and sealing mountain. In his lifetime, he created 58 large-scale city sculptures, which are located in the United States, Japan, Singapore and various parts of China, and are well-known at home and abroad. This time, the statue of Guan Gong made him very excited, "Guan Gong is the guardian deity, and he is full of righteousness, that is, to make the thieves afraid when they see it." ”
On May 10, han Meilin visited Jingzhou again, and Han Meilin brought the creation of red rabbit horses. He took a trip from the global tour exhibition and other affairs to the homeland of the Three Kingdoms, compared the drawings in his hand, and found the best location and angle for the red rabbit horse. The group sculptures accompanied by Guan Gong and the Red Rabbit Horse will make the city more vivid.
To be an artistic "old scalper" may be a weapon for Han Meilin to fight against time.
1. Can't forget the war horse story of 70 years ago
Reporter: When the Guan Gongyi Garden opened in June last year, the statue of Guan Gong that you designed stood in the ancient city of Jingzhou. After a year, you "led" this red rabbit horse again.
Han Meilin: This is a group sculpture, and the red rabbit horse will stand on the left side of the Statue of Guan Gong in the future. Guan Gong made great military achievements, the red rabbit horse is indispensable, thousands of miles to ride a single can not be separated from the stoicism and endurance of the red rabbit horse, to Jingzhou single knife to the meeting is also a person, a horse, a knife. Legend has it that after Guan Gong's death, the Red Rabbit Horse went on hunger strike and died, so Guan Gong's "benevolence", the "courage" of the Green Dragon Yanyue Dao, and the "righteousness" of the Red Rabbit Horse are indispensable.
Reporter: Do you have any emotional special stories about the creation of the Red Rabbit Horse?
Han Meilin: I was very impressed about horses. When I was 11 years old, my mother and I sent my brother to join the army, crossed the Yellow River to Jiyang County, and just happened to meet the troops participating in the war to rest and deal with war horses. Many horses lacked arms and legs, and could no longer go to the battlefield, nor could they push and pull carts, but could only be shot. The breeders cried, the trumpeters cried, and even the fellow villagers and our children cried with them. That scene was so tragic that I will never forget it in my lifetime.
We always say "hard work", and the contribution of horses to mankind is really speechless. I have a lot of works about horses, the largest in the Great Hall of the People. I'm also willing to design a red rabbit horse.
Reporter: The red rabbit horse is the "standard" of Guan Gong, and its body shape is much larger than That of Guan Gong.
Han Meilin: If you do it according to the actual proportions, Guan Gong will be small and the horse will be bigger, but he will die. This time I am going to use the illusion to design, far and near small, as long as the position and angle are selected, the proportion of Guan Gong and Red Rabbit Horse in people's eyes will become coordinated. I designed three versions for The Red Rabbit Horse, and now that I have selected the third draft, we will do a second enlargement draft and finalize it within a year.
2. Guan Gong represents Jingzhou and also represents China
Reporter: The statue of Guan Gong in Guan GongYi Garden, 58 meters high and weighing about 1,200 tons, is the largest bronze statue of Guan Gong in the world. When you first designed, were you deliberately striving for the highest and the largest?
Han Meilin: I didn't think about it so much when I created it. When I was a child, my family was very poor, and I lived in the Guandi Temple, and I wanted to make a good portrait of Guan Gong. Guan Gong not only represents Jingzhou, but also represents China, and has been an image of positive energy from the past to the present. Guan Gong is the guardian deity, a righteous spirit, I just want to do it so that thieves are afraid to see it.
Reporter: When you created the guan gong sculpture, you highlighted the spirit of freehand, and Guan Gong's costumes have a sense of movement that flutters with the wind. How does it feel to look at it after nearly a year?
Han Meilin: After the statue of Guan Gong was completed, this was the first time I returned to Jingzhou. After nearly a year of wind and sun, the sculpture looks a little red. It is estimated that in another four years, it will be able to return to its original color and will look better.
Jingzhou City is an ancient city, and such a large Statue of Guan Gong is absolutely attractive. The little mermaid statue in Denmark, which is more than a meter high, attracts many people to see it; the Belgian child statue is not as big as a mermaid, how many people go to see it. In comparison, There are more stories about Guan Gong, and I am definitely optimistic about the future.
Reporter: It is said that this set of sculptures of the Guan Gong Statue is your large-scale city carving and mountain sealing work?
Han Meilin: I am 81 years old, and now I am busy with the world tour exhibition, I have gone to Italy, France, and then I have to go to Japan and the United States, I am tired enough, even if I have the energy to do this kind of large-scale city sculpture.
3. Chinese and Western cultures should respect each other and learn
Reporter: In 1980, you held solo art exhibitions in 21 cities, including the United States and Boston, and the Manhattan district of New York also set up a "Han Meilin Day" for this purpose. Now that you have conducted international exchanges through global traveling exhibitions, how has the response from foreign audiences been?
Han Meilin: The response was overwhelming. For example, in Venice, Italy, the closing ceremony came with hundreds of fans, plus other audiences, and I couldn't squeeze through. When I stood in the middle of the audience, I felt something moving around my waist, and when I looked down, it turned out to be a little friend holding Fuwa. I signed him and he jumped up with joy. China is the center of oriental art, Italy is the center of western art, and I hope that Chinese and Western art can communicate more.
Reporter: There are many Chinese artists who go out to learn the expressive techniques of Western art.
Han Meilin: Chinese and Western cultures must respect each other and learn from each other, and more importantly, the combination of art. For example, "Madame Butterfly" and "The Noble Concubine Drunk" (he sang a few sentences each), one is an opera and the other is a Peking Opera, both of which are very good, but the singing method is completely different. Even if they all come from the West, Italians are hard at ballet dancers, France is soft, and Russia is not soft or hard. Someone asked me, "How do you know so much?" I said, "I don't know so much, how do I study people and how do I create?" ”
Reporter: Your good friend and famous writer Feng Jicai also said that your art is very extensive. Like this global tour exhibition, there are many types of works on display, including iron, ceramics, purple sand, wood carving, etc., like a miscellaneous family.
Han Meilin: In my works, there are carved and carved, yin, yang, wood, stone, grass, metal. I once told my phD students that as long as the image is solved and the process conditions are adapted, which material to use is not a problem.
4. The artist's vocation is to show the good
Reporter: I heard that when you are busy, you only sleep for four or five hours a day, standing and painting for several hours in a row. Such a working state, is not tired?
Han Meilin: Not tired, it's a pleasure. If you want to compete with others, you must work hard every day. Every day, I deliberately paint without repeating the pattern, painting and drawing new things that come out of my head. Art emphasizes individuality, independence, and nationality, without which it would be fun.
Reporter: The Fuwa and "Monkey Race" Kang Kang that you created before have caused a lot of controversy, what do you think?
Han Meilin: Whether it is an ordinary person or a celebrity, it is normal that they may be praised, praised, whipped, and even kicked. As artists, we should continue to move forward on the road of artistic creation, take out as much energy as we want, and I don't care what others say.
Reporter: Your sculpture "Mother and Child" is very warm, and the animals you paint such as puppies and red pandas are very lively. In fact, you have suffered cruel physical and mental torture in your life, why don't you feel these shadows in your work?
Han Meilin: I am a grandfather, and I never nag when I have suffering, and I don't frown every day. The artist's vocation is to show the good, not to throw his own troubles and resentments at others. Everyone's life, sweet and sour, bitter and spicy joy and sorrow are indispensable, if you don't find something refreshing, isn't it too tired to live?
Reporter: When do you plan to actually retire?
Han Meilin: I am an old scalper, and I will continue to work.
Source: Chutian Metropolis Daily