The term "Book of Heaven" comes from the Simple Scripture of Morality: "Man offers Heluo, asks what is it, and Hao knows the Book of Heaven." ”
Meaning: Someone offered the River Map and the Book of Luo, and people did not know what it was, so they asked Taihao for advice, and Taihao replied that it was the "Book of Heaven."
All along, the "Book of Heaven" refers to the River Chart and the Book of Luo. For thousands of years, countless talents have devoted their lives to studying them. On November 11, 2014, with the approval of the State Council, the "Legend of the Book of Hetuluo" was approved to be included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Han Meilin also created a "Book of Heaven", which is not a river map, nor a Luoshu, or even an ancient Chinese character in our traditional sense. But it is also related to ancient Chinese characters, because they are derived from ancient Chinese characters that are earlier than we know.
Now we Chinese, no matter where we come from, east, west, north, and south, and what dialect we speak in our mouths, as long as we write them out, everyone can know and understand them. And this is thanks to Qin Shi Huang, who implemented the "book and text" after he unified China, so that we are still enjoying dividends today.
Before Qin Shi Huang unified the script, although the Chinese character system was all hieroglyphic, there were huge differences in details, which were well reflected in the "Oracle Bone", "Hou Ma MengShu" and "Jin Wen". For example, a "horse" word is written in dozens of ways.
The source of Han Meilin's "Book of Heaven" is the Chinese character elements before the Qin unified script, including "oracle bone", "Moya stone carving", "bamboo Jane", "wooden mu", "ancient rock painting", "ancient pottery", "bronze", "knotted rope chronicle", "stone drum text" and so on. Those lines are words, more likely pictures, they are the ancients "looking up at the astronomy, looking down at the geography, taking things from afar, taking the body near", carefully observing, carefully refining, and then "the perfect expression completed in an abstract form". Because of the long time and the weakening of people's ability to observe, we can only recognize the existing writing system, and it is becoming more and more degraded.
With his unique curiosity and persistence as an artist, Han Meilin has traveled all over Helan Mountain, Table Mountain, Black Mountain, Cangyuan, Yuanjiang, Malipo and other places in Yunnan, collected and sorted out a large number of oracle bones, wooden Jane, stone carvings and Dingyi inscriptions, stripped away the cocoon, sorted out a clue from it, peeled out half a clue, found out sporadic inspiration, returned to the beginning of Cangjie's character creation, explored the source of Fuxi painting, gathered sand into a tower and integrated a vast "Book of Heaven" and presented it to us.
If it only appears in this way of lines and books on paper, the result must be the plaything of a small number of artists, and it is difficult to get out of the study hall, out of the studio, into the public vision, into the homes of ordinary people. Mr. Han Meilin combined these "heavenly books", let them change, integrate them into the wind and dust of the times, in the organization of points, lines, blocks and surfaces, in the distribution of thick, light, dry and wet, in the pattern of emptiness, white, virtual and real, in the light, heavy, slow and urgent operation, so that they have the breath of life and life, casting the ancient clumsy, childish, frank, atmospheric today's style.
This is not to mention, Mr. Han Meilin also combined them with folk culture, expanded to ink, ceramics, purple sand, printing and dyeing, wood carving, iron art and other fields, so that the "Book of Heaven" followed by "earth qi", increased the dimension of their existence, improved the breadth of people's understanding and acceptance, and gave the spiritual connotation of the times.
Han Meilin was very confident in the "Book of Heaven" he had created, and he took them and their derivatives to the Noon Gate Tower of the Forbidden City. They are divided into five parts: "Thousands of Miles Road, Ten Thousand Books", "View their Completeness, Know Their Pass", "Take What Is Appropriate, Cast the Present Wind", "Travel in Art, Compete for Freedom", "Boundary Is Not Bounded, Ren West and East", which are displayed in the Goose Wing Tower and the Main Building.
In fact, this "Book of Heaven" does not need to be interpreted, and perhaps children will have more understanding than we do when they see it, because they themselves come from nature, from nature. When we empty ourselves, let our thoughts diverge and play, and listen to the call of art from ancient times, we will feel its charm and beauty, connect ourselves with the original connection between heaven and earth but artificially separated by us, and awaken our long-buried artistic sensitivity and true spirit.
This is my feeling after reading the "Na Tian Wei Shu - Han Mei Lin Tianshu Art Forbidden City Exhibition", please criticize and correct. I look forward to your high-quality sharing.