With the release of the main visual of the 2022 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a golden tiger full of animation has attracted everyone's attention. This tiger has sharp teeth, slightly raised corners of the mouth, round eyes, and a cute "silly tiger", which makes people feel joyful at a glance, which is the "MengBao TIGER" (hereinafter referred to as "MengBao") created by Mr. Chen Xiangbo, director of Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum.
Chen Xiangbo, director of Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum, and "Mengbao TIGER".
As the "blueprint" of CCTV Spring Festival Gala's main visual Tiggo, Chen Xiangbo, the creator of "Mengying", has received a lot of attention recently. As the director of Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Mr. Chen Xiangbo, who is also the chairman of Shenzhen Artists Association and the master tutor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, is a well-known symbol in the art circles of Shenzhen and even Guangdong, and is also recognized as a "labor model" in the industry.
Over the years, Director Chen has also been committed to the revitalization of art in rural areas, and through his Chen Xiangbo Art Public Welfare Fund, he has popularized art education to the majority of rural teachers, and helped rural cultural construction with art empowerment.
How did such a traditional culture master create a playful "cute" image?
Holding hands with the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the "fate" is not accidental
In fact, this hand-in-hand CCTV Spring Festival Gala is inseparable from Mr. Chen Xiangbo's profound accumulation of artistic practice over the years.
It is understood that since 2016, Mr. Chen Xiangbo has carried out a series of creations with the theme of the zodiac every year, which has achieved a good response within a certain range. This is the sixth consecutive year that he has held the corresponding exhibition, and on January 25, he just held his own Exhibition of the Year of the Tiger at the Quyin Mountain House of guan Shanyue Art Museum, showing dozens of works of art created by the Zodiac Tiger this year.
In addition, in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the State Post successively launched Chen Xiangbo's Chinese painting zodiac works "Rui Dog Yingchun", "Golden Pig Yingchun", "Rui Rat Yingchun", "Golden Bull New Year" After the New Year postage postcard. This year, the State Post (official edition) once again launched the 2022 "Tiggo Reward Blessing - Chen Xiangbo Zodiac Works Selection" a set of 6 postage postcards with a prize, together with an envelope for a total of 7 paintings.
On January 25, Chen Xiangbo held his own exhibition of works in the Year of the Tiger at the Quyin Mountain House of Guan Shanyue Art Museum.
Because he is in Shenzhen, Chen Xiangbo has always taken the initiative to maintain a link with his artistic environment and creative community. "The emergence of this work is certainly not accidental, first of all, we in Guangdong, as the forefront of reform and opening up, in such an innovative and innovative atmosphere in Shenzhen, I have come into contact with some young people who do game art." They said that the current game is dominated by Japanese wind, Korean wind, European and American wind, and Chinese style has not become a phenomenon. Their thinking about game art gave me a lot of hints and inspiration. ”
Chen Xiangbo recalled his creative experience in this way: "I have been thinking about the transformation of Chinese cultural traditions into modernity over the years, especially at the Wen Dynasty conference, the Writers' Congress and other meetings held this year, the general secretary particularly emphasized the innovative development of excellent traditional culture. I thought about this year's Tiger Zodiac creation, can I try to find an expression that young people are more willing to accept? I tried to absorb some cartoon elements. At that time, Chen Xiangbo casually used a pen to sketch out a small tiger that was still slightly rough, and after painting, he felt very different from his previous creations, which was very interesting to watch. Chen Xiangbo shared it with the young friends around him, and gradually came up with the idea of "playing with the tide" in the exchange, and after several subsequent optimizations, there is today's "Meng Bao".
"Cute" around.
After the birth of the prototype tiger, Director Chen casually shared it in the circle of friends, and unexpectedly attracted the attention of a CCTV Spring Festival Gala director team staff. After seeing the sketch of Meng Hu in the circle of friends, he immediately contacted Director Chen and asked if he could use it as the main visual element of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, chen Xiangbo was very happy and immediately agreed. It is this "inevitability of chance" that has achieved the most eye-catching "Shenzhen element" on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala today.
Talking about this "fate", Director Chen also had another feeling: "First of all, of course, I am very happy that such a symbol and voice of guangdong and Shenzhen can appear on the national stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. He said, "Originally, we were not specially created for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, but it was just the right time to catch up with this good time." In the end, the main vision of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala was optimized on this basis, and then CCTV also retained the status of the main image creator for us, which I think is a progress on the road of respecting intellectual property rights, and it is also a symbolic move of our country's mainstream media in the construction of intellectual property rights, which makes me very moved. ”
Cultural innovation should break through itself, but also respond to the needs of the times
The cute tiger designed by Chen Xiangbo this time, on the basis of retaining the "mighty" of the tiger in traditional Chinese paintings, tried its best to highlight the "stupid cuteness" of the tiger. He strives to retain the meaning of the tiger in traditional culture as a beast that drives away evil spirits, suppresses ghosts and disasters, and is auspicious, using simple geometric lines and cartoon elements to include people's expectations for the Spring Festival, adding a cultural accumulation in addition to cuteness.
Chen Xiangbo painted a tiger on the spot.
Chen Xiangbo said when talking about the "cross-border breaking of the circle" this time that the aesthetics of the times are moved with the development of society, and with the improvement of living standards, people will naturally pursue more interesting and vivid expressions. After solving the problem of food and clothing, the pursuit of fun will inevitably become an aesthetic quality of the times. He said, "I think that cultural innovation itself is also a breakthrough on the basis of inheriting excellent traditional culture, rather than blindly subverting, otherwise it is a denial of self." ”
The birth of this cute tiger image just reflects this aesthetic thinking of Director Chen. In Chen Xiangbo's view, it is neither a painting method that blindly expresses authority and pursues mightiness in traditional Chinese painting, nor is it a product that is consciously designed in full accordance with the norms of modern design. "It is a combination of the people's expectations for an auspicious and festive new life after experiencing the epidemic and the aesthetic tastes of the young people of our time." He also mentioned that when he cartooned the tiger, he deliberately retained the detail of the tiger's tooth in order to convey to the public a good wish that "the tiger is a tiger in the year of the tiger, and is not afraid of hardships".
This "accidental" crossover also gave Director Chen many new experiences and thoughts, allowing him to have a new perspective on trends, networks and technologies.
Chen Xiangbo and "Mengbao TIGER" group photo.
From the birth of Meng Hu to the official visual image of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, in fact, there is only a short month, and the arrival of the Spring Festival is also close at hand, whether it can make "Meng Bao" "out of the circle" faster, let Director Chen's heart have no bottom. Unexpectedly, under the advice of the young people around him, he and the team of Guan Shanyue Art Museum tried for the first time to use the form of online micro-store pre-sale and launched the cultural and creative peripherals of the "Mengbao TIGER" series of IP, and achieved unexpected success.
He said: "I feel that the appearance of 'Meng Bao' this time is like a very special performance art. After the birth of this image, from the announcement of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala to the dissemination on WeChat to the follow-up social assistance, the government, social, public welfare, including commercial, various fields of power through different ways and channels, together to promote the innovative dissemination of our traditional culture. I found it to be a very interesting experience. ”
Chen Xiangbo introduced that during this year's Spring Festival, he will hold a "Mengbao" Tiger Year Zodiac Exhibition at the Gao Jian father memorial hall in Guangzhou, and all profits will be donated to the Chen Xiangbo Art Public Welfare Fund to continue to contribute to the revitalization of rural art.
Video/Photo: Nandu reporter Liu Wei Zhang Chi
Written by: Nandu reporter Long Fei