As far as the Creation of The Grand Canal theme art is concerned, culture is the soul of the canal, and the canal is the carrier of culture. To construct and disseminate the culture of the Grand Canal in the context of contemporary Chinese aesthetic terminology, it is necessary to start from the two aspects of external cultural image and internal cultural significance, and create fine art works that form the theme of the Grand Canal. The "New Face of the Grand Canal" series of works takes the section of the canal flowing through eight prefectures and cities in Jiangsu as the theme of creation, explores the effective integration and expression of the canal art and cultural field, and explores a new dimension of visual experience about the theme of the canal.
All the works in the "New Face of the Grand Canal" series are both interrelated – together they constitute the complete content of the theme of "Jiangsu Grand Canal" and are independent of each other – and the painters each complete their creations from different angles without distraction. The creation of Chinese paintings that express the theme of the canal in a vertical axis is very different from the historical habit of the long scroll system, so many historical experiences are no longer applicable here. For the linear living cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, the linear narrative space of the vertical axis picture is very limited, which brings great challenges to artistic creation, requiring painters to conceive artistic operations under a new framework.
The Grand Canal flows through eight prefectures and cities in Jiangsu, eight locations vary from place to place, eight painters vary from person to person, and the eight works are different, the specific content of which is as follows.
Wen Hengjie " New Face of the Grand Canal - Xuzhou Section" 200cm× 100cm color on paper
Wen Hengjie's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Xuzhou Section" depicts the Grand Canal in Xuzhou City in pastels, and the main elements of the "S" shaped river direction on the plains form the main elements of the picture. On the one hand, it presents the winding form of the Grand Canal, and on the other hand, it highlights the modern scene of the city on the shore. The close-up view is a series of towering high-rise buildings, and the prosperous and developing urban landscape of Xuzhou constitutes the modern environment in which the Grand Canal is located.
Zhang Fan "New Face of the Grand Canal - Suqian Section" 200cm× 100cm Color on paper
Zhang Fan's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Suqian Section" uses ink and color to express the scene of the Suqian section of the Grand Canal. The Suqian section of the Grand Canal carries the vicuña lake on the bottom and flows into the Hongze Lake, with one river and two lakes, which maintains the original appearance of the canal to the greatest extent. The work uses a more traditional landscape painting technique to show the canal scene between the East Pass of Suqian and the No. 1 Bridge. The ancient city walls and modern buildings are nestled between the idyllic trees on both sides of the canal, rendering the idyllic poetry and ancient rhyme of the canal.
Luan Jian 《大运河新言-Huai'an Section》200cm×100cm Color on paper
Luan Jian's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Huai'an Section" is based on the close relationship between Huai'an City and the canal, and carries out an abstract and pure artistic expression of this "canal capital". Ancient and modern canal elements such as "Governor Caoyun Ministry", "Millennium Zhai", "Ancient Town River", "Qingjiang Lock", "Grand Canal Interchange" and so on were extracted, and symbolized and recreated in pure line form, making this picture of the work become the artistic business card of "Canal Capital".
Liu Nanping , "New Face of the Grand Canal - Yangzhou Section" 200cm× 100cm Color on paper
Liu Nanping's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Yangzhou Section" depicts the oldest section of the entire Grand Canal, with a broad picture and a hazy freehand interest with smooth ink. The mountains and towers that loom in the vista and mid-range make the meandering canal flow in a leisurely way. The red bridge and red flag in the close-up view create a warm atmosphere, and the Gangyang Bridge is bustling with vehicles and transport ships, heralding the flow of the Grand Canal from distant ancient times to modern society.
Sun Wei "New Face of the Grand Canal - Zhenjiang Section" 200cm× 100cm Color on paper
Sun Wei's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Zhenjiang Section" shows the picture of the Grand Canal crossing the Yangtze River and leading the Zhenjiang River south. The foreground is the boats passing in the canal, focusing on the landscape of xijindu yuntai pavilion with geographical indication; the middle scene is the urban building under the verdant green cover, and the grand canal passes through the urban mountains and forests; the distant view is the vast waters where the Yangtze River and the canal meet in the north, the picture space is dense and elegant, and the green color points are dyed with a Jiangnan image.
Zhang Dongqiao 《 New Look of the Grand Canal - Changzhou Section 》 200cm× 100cm Color on paper
Zhang Dongqiao's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Changzhou Section" intercepts a fragment of the Grand Canal scene in a modern city, with a close-up view of the wide river surface and water boats, and on the opposite bank is a superimposed display of Changzhou's old-style buildings and modern logo buildings. The whole work adopts imagery and montage techniques, and the environment of the Grand Canal is reflected in the new urban appearance of Changzhou, and the ancient cultural heritage of the Grand Canal and the civilization of the modern city are reflected in the picture.
Yan Ming 《New Face of the Grand Canal - Wuxi Section》, 200cmx100cm Color on paper
Yan Ming's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Wuxi Section" depicts the scene near Wuxi's most characteristic Qingming Bridge. Nearby are the traditional houses of Jiangnan in the white-walled Dewa, which are staggered on both sides of the canal, and the middle scene is the wuxi new city lined with high-rise buildings, and in the distance is the vast sail shadow of Taihu Lake. The trees on both sides of the canal are shrouded in a golden yellow, and the warm colors like the light of the sun are reflected on the water surface of the canal, forming a canal landscape with romantic fairy tale colors.
Feng Hao " New Face of the Grand Canal - Suzhou Section" 200cm× 100cm color on paper
Feng Hao's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Suzhou Section" depicts the open scene of the Grand Canal section of suzhou with fine brushstrokes and light pastels. From a high vantage point, the picture has the style of a map of mountains and rivers. The main body of the picture is the classical garden-style environment of the ancient city of Suzhou, including ancient pagoda archways, riverbank houses and other buildings, creating a cultural memory space with rich historical significance for the Grand Canal. In the distance above the picture, the painter simply outlines the towering modern landmark buildings in Suzhou, pointing out the current time and space environment, and also forming a vivid contrast between classical and modern.
Combining the characteristics of the different paintings in the "New Face of the Grand Canal" series above, we can summarize the following points of understanding.
01
Fragmentary graphic representation. Historically, the long scroll system and scattered perspective of Chinese paintings are more suitable for expressing the theme of canals. The "New Face of the Grand Canal" series of fine art works is divided into eight fragments according to the Flow of the Grand Canal through eight prefectures and cities in Jiangsu, and is created by eight painters. Each work is a uniform-scale vertical axis picture system, showing only a certain fragment of the Grand Canal. On the one hand, a rich artistic outlook has been formed, and different works have deduced the characteristics of the Grand Canal in different regions from different perspectives. On the other hand, because the Grand Canal is a linear living cultural heritage, the fragmentary picture also causes this linear separation and expression limitations.
02
Diverse picture landscapes. The "New Face of the Grand Canal" series of fine art works are written by eight different painters, corresponding to eight different urban styles, forming different picture styles. The eight painters worked or wrote, or color or ink, using various techniques such as transmission and displacement molding, form composition, image reorganization, etc., to complete the creation of the Grand Canal theme art in their respective regions. In the works, we can see both the traditional high and flat perspectives, as well as the modern aerial aerial perspective, which can be described as exploring the various possibilities of the grand canal art creation from all angles.
03
Canal view of modernity. This is a set of pictures that represent the modern Grand Canal landscape, mainly new rather than old, mainly landscape and no characters. It is difficult to awaken the cultural memory of the canal with a completely new look, and it is difficult to express the relationship between the canal and people without characters. Comparing and watching the historical features of "Qingming on the River Map" and the many characters, you can clearly appreciate the difference between the two. The primary and secondary relationship between the canal and the city is uncertain, or the canal is hidden in the buildings, or the buildings are scattered on the banks of the canal. Therefore, in some pictures, the new look of the canal serves the new look of the city, and the canal is only part of the modern urban landscape.
China's Grand Canal has a living, circulating and endless cultural system, how to shape the outer shape of the Grand Canal and shape its soul inside through fine art works? This is inseparable from the shaping of the cultural image of the Grand Canal, as well as the creation of the cultural field of the Grand Canal through the medium of picture space to paraphrase the cultural landscape rather than the natural landscape: Luan Jian's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Huai'an Section" gathers a number of representative memorial places and cultural symbols such as "Ancient Town Under the River", "Millennium Zhai", "Governor Caoyun Ministry" and so on, trying to awaken the cultural memory of the people and build a close cultural and psychological connection with it; Feng Hao's "New Face of the Grand Canal - Suzhou Section" Presenting the unique geographical features of mountains and rivers from a high-altitude overlook, the canal passes through it, and the main body of the picture is a historical and cultural space constructed by the classical architectural garden environment of Suzhou.
As a unique memory site and cultural carrier of traditional culture, the Grand Canal has formed a cultural field with close contacts and inclusiveness, and a unique Grand Canal culture has been nurtured and produced in this cultural field. The cultural field of the Grand Canal includes not only the culture of the canal itself, but also the spatial environment of the canal and the historical geographical and ecological environment. From the perspective of art creation, it is necessary to pay attention to the concentrated performance and characteristic distinction of the cultural field of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, so as to evoke the viewer's cultural memory and activation of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
This article is excerpted from China Fine Arts, No. 6, 2021
"Construction and Artistic Expression of Cultural Fields in Grand Canal Theme Art Works: A Case Study of the "Grand Canal New Face" Series of Works"
Chinese Art, No. 6, 2021