In the article "The Carelessness and Nature of Chinese Painting: The Rise and Fall of an Ideal" (Art Studies, No. 1, 2009), the famous art historian Mr. Gao Cahill discussed the literati painting concept of "carelessness and nature" advocated by Su Dongpo in the Song Dynasty, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the amateur atmosphere of many literati painters who "thick branches and leaves, sloppy and sloppy", they were criticized by critics such as Li Rihua, which led to a return to the ancient model. Perfect skill and a desire to take elegant subjects seriously. The pursuit of different styles of brushwork and freehand by professional and amateur literati painters in painting schools has become a process of interesting and continuous debate in the history of Chinese painting. In this regard, the philosopher and painter Fang Yizhi of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties made a wonderful comment: "The author of the world's eye craftsman is hindered by the law; the author of his eye text is hindered by the law; the author of his eye text is hindered by the obstacle." "Craftsmanship is easy to stagnate, writing is easy to be empty, and to this day, it is still the professional lifeline that many Chinese painters have not been able to overcome."
Wuqing Shengjing / 97×89 cm / Ink on paper / 2019
Childhood/192×501 cm/Color on paper/2006
The exploration of the painter Feng Dazhong in recent years can be seen as a Contemporary Answer to this historical dilemma by a Chinese painter. Feng Dazhong, a native of Benxi, Liaoning, has long been famous in the contemporary Chinese painting world. At the 6th National Art Exhibition in 1984, at the age of 35, he collaborated with Mr. Song Yugui on "Awakening", which won the silver medal. In the 1985 International Youth Art Exhibition, his masterpiece "First Snow" also won a silver medal, showing his profound artistic potential. However, since then, Feng Dazhong has not made frequent appearances in front of the public, holding solo exhibitions, but has been immersed in creation for decades, and his artistic ideals and pursuits point directly to the basic aesthetics and pen and ink language of Chinese painting creation, and regard the perfect elegance of traditional Chinese gongbi painting and the casual and natural nature of literati painting as his comprehensive artistic pursuit. In recent years, his creations have made extraordinary expansions in the fields of brush and ink, composition and color in Chinese painting in the fields of traditional theme research, large-scale landscapes and animals he is good at, showing Feng Dazhong's aesthetic ideals of moving in and out of the brush and freehand, walking freely between flowers, birds and landscapes, and integrating tradition and innovation.
"High Mountain View" / 192×503 cm / Ink on paper / 2008
As the backbone of contemporary Chinese painting, Feng Dazhong and a group of outstanding Chinese painters are, to some extent, "rare animals", who survive in art institutions such as the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts, and are protected by this social environment and art system. The care of society and their own vision make them not satisfied with merely becoming painters who make a living for their daily lives. People hope that they will directly touch the history of Chinese painting itself, so as to shoulder the heavy responsibility of innovation in Chinese painting. In fact, the situation of this group of Chinese painters is a double-edged sword, which sometimes limits the growth of painters' sense of innovation. Because this system has a kind of maintenance of group value, many painters think that they are people in this system, and they will have a subconscious maintenance of this system and its value system, and this maintenance is often easy to ignore the value pursuit of other different artistic creation genres and styles.
Frost Forest Autumn Water / 210×620 cm / Color on paper / 2008
However, in the development trend of contemporary Chinese painting, there are always artists and innovative trends like Xu Wei, Bada, and Shi Tao who take innovation as their responsibility, which is not limited to the origin and social identity of the painter, but is reflected in the artist's ideological concept and creative practice. Regardless of the group and genre of the painter, the demand for individuality and innovation has been elevated to an unprecedented position. For example, the overall consciousness in the Landscape of the Song Dynasty, whether it is the Panorama Of the Northern Song Dynasty or the Small Landscape of the Southern Song Dynasty, reflects a distinct aesthetic consciousness of wholeness, and the individual's aesthetic freedom and creative space are implicit in the overall framework. However, under the torrent of personal liberation since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emphasis on freedom and the display of individuality, especially the germination of a modern consciousness like the Eight Monsters of Yangzhou, is to emphasize personal creativity as a modern artist and a breakthrough in the entire system and model of tradition. Therefore, Shi Tao began to emphasize differences, rather than pursuing similarities, which was far away from the mainstream standard of traditional Chinese painting that first sought good and then new (that is, judging quality first and then judging differences in style and type).
Spring Thunder / 69×105 cm / Ink on Paper / 2019
Feng Dazhong chose "one hand to reach out to tradition, the other hand to life", explore innovation on the basis of tradition, and expand the lonely road of pen and ink language on the basis of sketching. In the past decade, the Chinese painting market has been overheated, pens have become popular, and production has surged, but progress in terms of artistic quality and innovation expansion has been slow. After 2004, "contemporary art" entered the market in large numbers, and the focus of attention in the art media also turned to oil painting. In Feng Dazhong's view, he just used this time to think about art, and he spent nearly two years immersed himself in the study of the classic works of ancient people such as bada Shanren and drew inspiration from them. After experiencing the major changes in the early death of his relatives, Feng Dazhong's understanding of society and life has become deeper, and in his recent works, flower and bird paintings show the harmony of life in nature, while landscape paintings show more of the clear state of heaven and earth. If we say that before 2005, Mr. Feng Dazhong's creation was a lyric poem-like work that focused on personal emotions, and the works after that increased the sense of history and the attention to the origin of life, plain and natural, expressing a kind of eternity of the world and the sky. (Yin Shuangxi, famous art critic, executive editor of Fine Arts Research)
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.