There was a garden in my home, which I had planned and designed according to my favorite Japanese garden, but it wasn't long before my father took care of it as a tohoku natural wind. The yard is full of fruit trees and weeds, which has a northern mountain atmosphere. Painting like a person, he also advocates a freehand painting style that can be naturally exerted in addition to his brushwork.
138×68 cm / Color on paper / 1986
As two important forms of expression of traditional Chinese painting, there is no distinction between brushwork and freehand. However, "there is nothing in the world, and the mediocre disturb themselves", but the art world has always had a tendency to depreciate the workman's penmanship. Gongbi and freehand are like water and ice, two forms of a substance, you have me, I have you, it is inseparable. Father likes nature, does not arrange things, and has a Taoist simple style. I like the rigor of the Germans, the rules of everything, and some colleagues in the Academy of Fine Arts laugh at me as "the flow of the lawyers". The family still has two personalities, not to mention the profound traditional Chinese painting? How do we understand the relationship between the two? Let's take a look at how Xu Qingteng, the originator of the freehand painting school, expressed it.
Xu Wei filled in the words for the Ming Dynasty painter Jiang Song's "Wind and Rain Returning to Fishing Map", and the original text is recorded as follows:
Long reeds with short hanging green maples. Ink splash crazy dye with baking.
Half of the wall vine Luo Xiong water mouth, a day of wind and rain rushing fisherman.
The stalks are heavy and the fishing rods are thick. The Office of Non-Teaching work is real work.
The city visitor mistakenly guessed Chen Wanli, but he recognized Jiang Sansong.
"Aoyama Intention" / 98.5×52 cm / Color on paper / 2012
"Not teaching the office is a real worker" can be described as the theory of the knower. Xu Wei believes that if a work only has techniques and no far-reaching meanings, then this kind of "work" is not "real work", it is only a list of words and details, and the painter also needs to focus on the outside world in addition to the technique. "Worker" was originally only a professional identity, and before Shifu painting became an independent language system, all people who took painting as a profession could be generally referred to as painters. Whether it is Wu Daozi, the "painting saint" of the Tang Dynasty, or the fourth master of the Song Dynasty, "Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan, xia Gui", in front of the royal employer, it is only one of the hundred workers. Obviously, the Tang and Song paintings that we are proud of today are the achievements of painters who we do not want to wait for. Therefore, "work" is not guilty, but what we need is "real work" with both technique and artistic conception.
"Moon Bend" / 70× 53.5 cm / Color on paper / 2011
What does it mean? Meaning and form are opposite, just like gods and instruments. In painting, visually visible elements such as images, positions, and colors are shapes and instruments. Beyond the picture, those mysterious components that belong to the "Ori Creator" are the intention and god. Shen Kuo quoted Ou Wenzhong's "Panche Tu" poem Yun in "Mengxi Pen Talk", "Ancient paintings do not paint shapes, and Mei Shi Yong objects have no hidden feelings." Those who forget the form and know the widow are not as good as seeing the poem. ”
"Mu Rain" / 116×52 cm / Color on paper / 2012
What is an ancient painting? The "ancient" in the Song population was at least as far behind the Jin and Tang dynasties, or even the Qin and Han dynasties. Judging from our archaeological discoveries today, during the Qin and Han dynasties, Chinese painting was still in the early stage of representation, and the painters had not yet mastered the complex means of modeling. To put it bluntly, it's not like the painting. During the Jin and Tang dynasties, painting has developed by leaps and bounds, and judging from the remaining works, the painters are obviously trying to exhaust the shape of poor objects. The true meaning that Ouyang Zhong wants to express is that the poetry and painting books are the same, and the conveyance of affection is fundamental. You are invisible, the intention is there, you are tangible, and the intention can be there. Otherwise, Zhang Shengxuan drew a dragon and how bitter he had to finish his eyes, and how Gu Kaizhi had the feeling of "conveying the portrayal of God, and is in the midst of a block".
"Red Leaves in Woods Warm Wine"/138×68 cm/Color on Paper/2012
Not only the ink should be contemporary, but also the meaning should be contemporary. Shen Kuo, Ouyang Zhong, and Su Dongpo's intentions are inseparable from the Tang poems and Song Ci, but they certainly will not concern Han Qing. A generation has its own generation of meaning, meaning ancient and modern, meaning right harmony, meaning something...
The meaning is more large and small, the meaning is larger than cangsheng, and the small meaning is pen and ink. My father said of his creation of "Stuffed Autumn": "I have always wanted to show the romantic side of autumn. If this 'bear' is to be painted as a 'tiger', I tried it, and it is not as appropriate as the environmental atmosphere set off by the 'bear'. In addition, the 'bear' is hibernating in winter, which makes people feel the silence when winter comes. The mood I want to create is a sense of life in a silent environment, and as soon as life appears, the realm of the picture feels different. ”
"Tucked Autumn" / 186× 213 cm / Color on paper / 2003
What he has been pursuing is the meaning of life, which is a portrayal of that generation.
What is writing? True, grass, seal, and subordinate are all written. Therefore, freehand paintings may not all have to be undressed, and the momentum is like a rainbow. Try to write freehand with the italic and seal methods, how about it? In the history of painting, there are two well-known discussions on the relationship between writing and painting. I. Tang Dynasty Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" Yun": Lu Tanwei also made a stroke of painting, continuously, so he knew that calligraphy and painting used the same method with pen. Second, Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty inscribed on his "Xiushi Shulin Tu", "Stone is like flying white wood, writing bamboo is also in the eight laws." If there are people who can do this, they know that calligraphy and painting are the same." Obviously, the theory of the relationship between writing and painting is also developing. Zhang Yanyuan emphasized that "using the pen is the same method", the pen is a trace, a structure, and a movement. The same method of calligraphy and painting is largely derived from the same tool - the brush. In contrast, Zhao Mengfu's argument is more macroscopic, directly crossing the specific pen and bluntly saying that "calligraphy and painting are the same". He believes that books and paintings are not only technically similar, but even on an aesthetic level, they are isomorphic. Therefore, painting can be like writing, not with portrait as the only purpose, and the pen and ink form itself has the value of independent existence. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang further developed Zhao Mengfu's theory, and he combined the results of psychology to connect penmanship and mentality. This makes Dong Qichang's painting practice completely transcend the objective object and move towards the subjective world. Dong Qichang's paintings can have nothing to do with reality and have a certain abstract meaning, how should we understand his "writing"? The ancients could peer into the leopard through Zen thought and Wang Yangming's theory, and our generation could also explore it from the perspective of dark matter.
"First Moon Rise" / 180.5× 96.5 cm / Color on paper / 2014
We explored the relationship between writing and painting along the vertical axis of ancient and modern times, and the horizontal axis of things needs our attention. The object of writing is writing, and the Chinese script is hieroglyphic characters with image components. The unique composition of Chinese characters also influences our way of thinking. The American semiotician Susan Lange believes that "the use of symbols is human instinct, and this act has contained a certain abstract, conceptual activity, which no longer stays on the individual, and it goes through a process of abstraction from the individual to the general." Language as a symbol, of course, is also true. ”
Pillow Flow Poems/ 138×68 cm / Ink on Paper / 2011
The visualization of language is both text and naturally symbol. From this level, "calligraphy and painting should be the same" should also have another dimension worth exploring, that is, abstraction. Traditional Chinese painting is deeply influenced by the idea of moderation, and we do not pursue the extreme. In our tradition, there is no super-realistic, photorealistic painting, nor cold abstraction, hot abstract painting. But when Zhang Yanyuan, Zhao Mengfu, and Dong Qichang began to explore the relationship between calligraphy and painting, there were already abstract buds. Therefore, the core of freehand is to strengthen the meaning outside the image through abstract generalization.
"Sending Hope to Lin Quan" / 102×29 cm / Color on paper / 2012
Abstraction is first based on knowledge, which can be achieved through thinking or practice. A good freehand painter is either extraordinary in perception and able to respond accordingly. Or it is through long-term observation and practice, and abstract results are obtained in a gradual way. Or as talented as Qingteng Baiyang and Bada Shanren, epiphanies gradually become enlightened. His father was deeply influenced by the ascetic school and made up for his clumsiness. Gongbi's creation has made him familiar with the tiger's living habits and structural characteristics. The poet's sensibility hidden deep in my heart makes the appearance of the freehand tiger come to fruition. In addition to this theme, he is also fascinated by the traditional performance of the three friends of the year and Mo He. These are the traditional mantle he inherited from Mr. Li Xiaoru.
In ancient times, there was a peach Taoist monk Liu Yuxi, and there may be more Feng Gong trees in the future. My family has a yard, and in order to accompany nature every day for easy observation, my father began a spring tree planting campaign. Whenever a guest came, he taught the sutra of planting trees. In the northeastern mountain city where the temperature can often reach minus 28 degrees, planting trees is also a contest between knowledge and action. He has repeatedly lost battles, and has proved with experiments that Qingsong can withstand the test of the northeast, and the other two of the three friends of the cold can only survive the winter in the greenhouse. What is even more amazing is that he actually successfully fed the lotus flowers that can survive the winter in the outdoors of the northeast. One day, my mother called me to go back to my hometown quickly, saying that my father was a demon at home (being a demon is a northeastern dialect, referring to trouble). I went home to see, good fellow, the old man dug down the koi pond, which was originally only 50 centimeters deep, more than 3 meters deep. Carefully studying the reason, because he occasionally found a lotus pond in the suburbs, after consulting, he learned that as long as there is living water under the ice, the lotus flowers can survive in the northeast. Freezing three feet is not a day, three meters deep naturally will not freeze through, so there is what my mother calls the "demon" project. Since then, a scene has been added to the home - "Hexia Sketch". After several years, my father finally had a lesson, he said: "Planting lotus has taught me this subject." (Feng Haitao, son of Feng Dazhong)
The works of Bada Shanren mainly moved me most, in terms of form of expression, composition and the relationship between pen and ink, including the relationship between scenery and blank space on the screen. For example, when I read his paintings, I found that he drew a lotus leaf neck painting as long as it seemed to be unable to support it, but he suddenly drew a stone, which was just propped on the lotus leaf. From a mechanical point of view, the lotus leaf is stabilized, which is the ability to grasp the picture under the control of a potential consciousness. You can't understand this experience without reading it carefully. You see he's straight, that's curved, the leaves are right on top of the stone, and this is leaning up, supporting, and that's his subtlety. (Feng Dazhong)
Appreciation of Feng Dazhong's works
"Imitation of bada mountain mermaid and duck figure" / 57× 148 cm / ink on paper / 2006
"Imitation of eight double birds" / 68×62 cm / ink on paper / 2006
"Sighing Autumn River Cold"/76×68 cm/Ink on paper/2006
"Imitation of bada mountain people's penmanship" / 87× 60 cm / Ink on paper / 2006
"Imitation of the Lotus Flower of the Eight Mountain People" / 176×57 cm / Ink on paper / 2006
"Lotus Pond Listening to the Rain" / 136×60 cm / Ink on paper / 2006
"Imitation of the Lotus Flower of the Eight Mountain People" / 220× 100 cm / Ink on paper / 2006
Cool World/ 82×50 cm / Ink on paper / 2015
Junzi Pavilion / 82× 61.5 cm / Ink on paper / 2015
Pond Mist / 30×50 cm / Ink on paper / 2015
Dancing Wind/ 77.5×67.5 cm / Ink on paper / 2015
Lotus Red/82×50 cm/Ink on paper/2015
Autumn Breeze / 92.8×80 cm / Ink on paper / 2015
Painter Profile
Feng Dazhong, born in 1949 in Liaoning, is the owner of Fuhu Caotang. He is a deputy to the 10th, 11th and 12th National People's Congress, the former president of the China Gongbi Painting Society, the deputy director of the Chinese Painting Art Committee of the China Artists Association, the vice president of the Chinese Painting Society, the director of the China Artists Association, the vice chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Artists Association, the national first-class artist, and an expert enjoying special allowances from the State Council.
Feng Dazhong's works "Awakening" and "Mother and Son" were selected into the "Complete Collection of Chinese Art"; his works "Awakening" and "Frightening Dream" were selected into the "China Centennial Painting Exhibition" and "China Centennial Painting Collection"; 18 works were collected by the National Art Museum of China, and dozens of works were collected by important art museums, professional institutions and collectors at home and abroad.