We should realize that a national exhibition like the "National Fine Arts Exhibition" is different from a general art exhibition, not only because of its large scale and the large number of artists involved, but also because it needs to be selected to enter the exhibition, but also because its curatorial concept is also obviously different from other exhibitions, and the overall style of the exhibited works should have obvious recognition.
Chen Zhi Wu Xin
Spikes
230cm×160cm
Traditional chinese painting
In recent years, in addition to the five-yearly "National Fine Arts Exhibition", there are many fine art and calligraphy exhibitions sponsored by the China Artists Association or the China Book Association, which can be regarded as the primary version of the "National Art Exhibition" or "National Book Fair", but these similar exhibitions are similar and the degree of recognition is not high. The paintings exhibited in the National Exhibition have many common points, such as rich and diverse subject matter, so large that people need to look up; figure paintings are mostly group portraits or large group photos, trying to attract people's attention with a large number of people; flower and bird painting and landscape painting are densely winded, and the depiction of branches and leaves is tireless; basically they are dense and full of composition, generally paying attention to the formal sense of the work, seemingly paying attention to real life, but the intention is relatively superficial. Once the resulting recognition of the national exhibition is solidified into an unchangeable model, on the one hand, it may obscure the artist's own artistic style and personality, and on the other hand, it is not conducive to the improvement of the overall level of the national exhibition. The number of works in the national exhibition is larger, followed by more homogeneous works, less personalized and creative elements, the recognition of individual works is generally not high, and the audience will have aesthetic fatigue due to déjà vu when watching the exhibition, and these works are difficult to impress people.
Lee Eun Sung
Fanghua
180cm×180cm
Some authors with obvious styles have carefully speculated about the form and content of the selected works in order to go to the national exhibition, and the national exhibition model has been deeply rooted in these painters, affecting their creative concepts and expression methods. This has led to the creation of some painters, as Jia Pingwa said: "I have seen some painters who only paint two kinds of paintings, one is a commodity painting, and the other is a painting participating in an art exhibition. Commodity paintings are sloppy and repetitive, and those who participate in art exhibitions are extraordinarily large, and they all cater to politics and trends. In fact, artists create with the mentality of striving to be selected, which is a problem in itself.
Speaking of the recognition of artists' works, we can not only understand the difference in personal style, this degree of recognition is also reflected in the choice of subject matter, the use of techniques, the difference in ideas, different perspectives and other levels, should be different from others of an individual difference, reflecting both the artist's ability to innovate, but also reflects their value pursuit. For an artist, a unique style can certainly improve the recognition of his work, but once it is solidified, it may also become an obstacle to his creation, which is not necessarily a good thing.
Sun Juanjuan
dialogue
220cm×180cm
Specific to the "13th National Fine Arts Exhibition of Chinese Paintings Exhibition", looking at his works, there is still no major breakthrough under the so-called "national exhibition model", the works with obvious recognition and impressive impression are still a minority, and the homogenization phenomenon of subject matter and techniques still exists. Many authors still hope to win with the complexity of the picture, but such complexity, because the subject and focus are not prominent enough, it is difficult to leave a deep impression on the audience, from the perspective of the viewer, when viewing a painting, it is unlikely to remember dozens or even hundreds of characters at once, because the subject is not prominent enough, the result is that the impression left on the audience is basically a chaos. In fact, those works with unique perspectives and closely related to people's cognition can attract the attention of the audience. For example, the same is to reflect the life of the times, the perspective of "Peak Food Carving" is more unique; the same is a flower and bird painting, "Rare Bird Diagram" reflects a sense of environmental protection, "Fanghua" is elegant in simplicity; the same is the expression of historical figures, "Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin" can give people a sense of intimacy, reflecting a certain cultural taste; the same is a realistic theme, "Dialogue" is also unique in the selection of topics and expression techniques... Unfortunately, such works are only a minority.
Huang Rongbo
Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin
240cm×194cm
It is not an easy task to see all the works in the "13th National Fine Arts Exhibition of Chinese Paintings", let alone carefully study each work. It is not easy to think that the judges have to face more works than this, and then evaluate the exhibited works in them. The lack of recognition of the exhibited works is of course related to the orientation of the national exhibition selection, but the more important reason is in the authors themselves, who pay attention to the tastes of the judges while ignoring their own personalized unique experience, and lack depth in the performance and understanding of the theme.
Luo Jianhua
Rare bird diagram
228cm×192cm
"Just because I looked at you more in the crowd, I never forgot your face again." That's because that "you" is different and "I" is moved. To improve the recognition of works of art and touch people's hearts, artists need to be able to continuously go deep into life, actively practice, and have the courage to innovate. In fact, the formation of the national exhibition model is not a bad thing, the key is that this model cannot be set in stone, but needs to be constantly updated and developed, can accommodate and reflect the diverse styles and pursuits of different artists, and under the premise of following the inherent laws of artistic creation, develop with the times and breathe with the people.
Source: Fine Arts Newspaper