Dialogue character: Kwan Zeju
Dialogue characters
Guan Zeju, born in 1941 in Yangjiang, Guangdong, is a member of the China Artists Association and a famous Chinese oil painter. Graduated from the Affiliated High School of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and the Oil Painting Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. After graduating from the undergraduate, he was assigned to Live on Hainan Island for fifteen years, although the island life is far away from the city, but close to the sunshine and earth, he released the preference and sensitivity of light and color in nature and the delicate resonance of true love and goodness, and the paintings show a realistic style of sensuality and sincerity, the picture is bright and rich, the technique is delicate, the connotation is euphemistic and subtle, and it is full of vitality. Most of the paintings are about women.
From the late 1970s to the 1980s, his works such as "Lily Flower", "Time and Space", "Returned Overseas Chinese Girl of Cocoa Garden", and "Coco Garden" brought a burst of coolness and authenticity to the painting world, and were repeatedly published and published in newspapers and periodicals across the country.
In 1983, he entered the Guangzhou Academy of Painting. In 1988, he settled in the United States and became a professional painter. Living in the United States for more than twenty years, he is willing to be lonely, immersed in painting, his thinking is more focused and casual, and his painting subjects are wider. The series of human body paintings "Flashbacks: Ancient Paintings and Human Body" with ancient paintings as the background is the first in the history of Chinese oil painting, and the artistic effect is endlessly evocative. The works with ballet dancers as the theme are unique in the European and American painting circles, and the works are loved and collected by people at home and abroad.
On February 17, 2022, Peng Wenbin, artistic director of Guangzhou International Art Fair, executive editor of Fine Arts and honorary editor of Collection Weekly, made a special trip to Guangzhou Xiaozhou Art Village to visit Guan Zeju, a famous realist painter.
At the home of Teacher Guan Zeju, the two conducted an in-depth artistic dialogue, closely focusing on topics such as the process of artistic creation, artistic creation stories, artistic creation systems, and the international art market, which provided detailed information for Peng Wenbin to further sort out and improve Guan Zeju's personal documentation system.
At the beginning of the dialogue, Peng Wenbin and Guan Zeju discussed the current situation of contemporary art.
Peng Wenbin pointed out that the development of contemporary art lags behind the West, and the people who really have the foundation and education are not in the majority, many are not professional art backgrounds, more use of some comprehensive materials, installations, etc., and apply a little philosophical thinking, arbitrarily and willfully create works, they are handed over to relevant companies and capital operation speculation, packaging them into art masters, and then speculating their works into sky-high prices. In recent years, art has begun to return to rationality and classics.
One of the scenes of the art dialogue
Teacher Guan said in this regard: In engaging in contemporary art, not every painter can succeed, and only a few people are successful. But there are still many people who follow the study, think this is good, and take this shortcut, without spending enough effort and time in it.
Although many people have created "works" and sold them, this is a rare accidental phenomenon and cannot stand the test of time.
Subsequently, Teacher Guan shared his artistic creation story with everyone. Teacher Guan's wife (Teacher Qian Xiaoling) is a dancer, because of his wife's work, Teacher Guan lives in the song and dance troupe, open the window is the rehearsal field, you can often see the figure of the dancers practicing, and often some dancers come to the house to sit and help them paint portraits, which has accumulated rich materials for Teacher Guan's artistic creation.
At the end of 1978, after applying for Mr. and Mrs. Guan to move the room from the ground floor of the dormitory building to the room with a balcony on the third floor, although it was only twelve square meters, Mr. and Mrs. Guan were content because there was plenty of sunlight there, which meant that Mr. Guan could get rid of the forty-watt light bulb downstairs and create with the help of natural light.
Kwan Zeju, "Dressing Room", 112.7x147cm, 1999
The room was limited in size, so I tried to find a way to use the space. Teacher Guan found a few fir trees, first put them on the south wall, and then laid the bed board on it to make a big bed in the air. Then pull two thick bamboo sticks from the nearby construction site and make them into ladders. As a result, half a room was vacated in front of the north window, and this bright and bright half room became Guan Teacher's painting room.
Here he created some of the most important works of the Hainan period: "Enthusiastic Sonata", "Maiden and Lily", "Returned Overseas Chinese Girl in Cocoa Garden", "Time and Space", "Coco Garden", etc., which were published and reprinted as soon as they were completed.
Teacher Guan is good at combining life and art, using a paintbrush to freeze precious memories and form a certain emotional resonance with the viewer. One day in 1981, Mr. Guan took the initiative to show his wife a sketch and said that he wanted to use a model.
Teacher Qian knows in his heart that the girls in the dance team will definitely help with this (because everyone knows Teacher Guan and even admires him a little, and they also respect and trust Teacher Qian).
Kwan Zeju, "The Girl Who Loves to Dance", 76x101.5cm, 2007
In this way, as long as there is no rehearsal, several girls in the dance team will take turns to come to Teacher Guan's house, pose for him, start from lying on the ground, and change the shapes one by one according to his requirements.
Mr. Guan himself tried to sketch the dynamics of each dancer on the canvas as quickly and accurately as possible, and his imagination was synchronized with the brush: realistic shapes and overlapping compositions were presented on the canvas at the same time.
The big composition of the whole painting is finally complete, but the girls still have to be on call. And those overlapping portrayals need to be completed by Teacher Guan himself with imagination and techniques, so he has to spend more time and effort.
Every night, Teacher Qian and her daughter climbed onto the hanging bed to rest, while Teacher Guan still created passionately underneath. Teacher Guan titled this work "Time and Space", in order to profoundly interpret the rich meaning of time and space.
In the early 1980s, Teacher Guan's third sister, Huiming, moved to the United States with her husband Yunlin. A few years later, the third sister took the initiative to complete the procedures for Teacher Guan to visit relatives in the United States, "The work of the eldest brother is so good, now that there is a chance, you should come out to see." The third sister said.
Teacher Guan was still a little hesitant at that time, but the opportunity was at his feet, why not go outside? Mrs. Qian also encouraged him to look at the outside world to broaden his horizons.
At the end of 1988, Mr. Guan obtained a visa to go to the United States and went to San Francisco, the United States, with a private passport. He temporarily lives in the home of the painter He An, whose father is Mr. He Kedi, a teacher who learned to paint when Guan was a teenager, and the family took great care of Teacher Guan.
He painted with He An for a while, played around with Teacher He, and saw a lot of local customs and customs. Of course, even less than visiting art galleries and galleries. Three months later, Mrs. Qian was also unexpectedly approved by the US Consulate to come to the United States with a family visit tourist visa.
Guan Zeju, "Side Curtain", 86x114cm, 2003
When they first arrived in the United States, Mr. and Mrs. Guan traveled to Washington and New York to visit the world-famous National Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and what impressed them most was the simple white appearance and spiral structure of the Guggenheim Museum, as well as the works of German Expressionist painters in the 1940s on display.
They gently walked on the spiral ramp, feeling the visual impact of strong shapes, colors, and lines, and this impact was continuously greeted by the spiral ramp. Teacher Guan stayed here for a long time to watch and could not bear to leave. It was March 1989.
Teacher Guan chose to stay in the United States and try a new way of life. The family is reunited in San Francisco, USA, and the burden of life falls on The shoulders of Teacher Guan.
Teacher Guan has to start with a stroke of color, win the value of supporting the family and being respected, and this takes time. No transition, no preparation or study abroad, or being a visiting scholar.
Guan Zeju "Violinist dressed in Black"
101.5x91cm, 1993
Teacher Guan didn't care to step across the ocean, just to see a fresh world, originally he didn't want anything from this world, and this world knew nothing about him, here, he had to start everything from scratch.
As a painter, Teacher Guan can only sell paintings, so Teacher Guan and his wife took three paintings, translated by their brother-in-law Yunlin, to see if there was a gallery willing to accept their own paintings, and the paintings sold by the gallery at that time were mostly landscapes, still lifes, and few characters.
But a lady standing behind the director exclaimed when she saw Teacher Guan's painting, and the director looked back at her, and she stopped talking, but she was already in tears.
Teacher Guan did not say much, he was always confident in his paintings, and when he returned home, his sister HuiMing was not convinced, she did not believe that no one would like the paintings of the eldest brother.
Guan Zeju, The Painter and the Model, 117x86.7cm, 2005
My friend, Mr. Wu Jianmin, is a senior electronics engineer from Hong Kong, a Doctor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford, who speaks elegant English. After hearing the gallery's reaction, Mr. Wu drove from Silicon Valley to San Francisco and walked into the same gallery again with Mr. and Mrs. Guan and the same three paintings.
He was gentle and elegant, claiming to represent the painter Mr. Guan. After a brief conversation with the director, Mr. Wu translated the director's opinion and said: The gallery agreed to try, please leave the painting behind.
After two weeks, the director called to say that two paintings had been sold, and the remaining one was collected by the gallery owner Frank himself, asking Guan to send some more paintings.
Later, Mr. and Mrs. Guan became friends with the gallery director, and he also invited Mr. and Mrs. Guan to his wedding, and the bride was the lady who stood behind him and exclaimed, and she told Mr. Guan that it was Several paintings of Mr. Guan that day that moved her to tears. Afterwards she also convinced her husband Adam – why not give it a try?
Fishing on the shores of Lake Duana Photo - Ah Tim
The gallery is located in the famous fisherman's wharf, where sometimes Mr. Guan and his wife take a bus to deliver paintings, and sometimes their brother-in-law Yunlin or Mr. Wu drive them there.
The gallery faces the bay, it's windy, and it's a bit of a walk to get off the bus. If the angle of the painting is not right, the painting will become a sail, and it will be blown in circles by the wind, and Teacher Guan will hold the painting above his head and cut the wind away, and the lady makes fun of his appearance, but also reaches out to support it.
It was a relaxing moment, and they would go into the roadside coffee shop to order a cup of coffee and a portion of fries, and Madame only took a sip or two of coffee, because she knew that money was important at this time, so she would rather go home and drink tea. They have to slowly adjust to this kind of life where there is no longer a salary every month.
In 1989, he sketched on the outskirts of the state capital, Sacramento
It was raining, and He Dong held up an umbrella
In 1991, the gallery held its first exhibition for Ms. Kwan in San Francisco. Most of the more than twenty paintings on display were purchased, and two days later, the gallery owner Frank invited Mr. and Mrs. Guan to a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf to drink wine to celebrate, and he patted Mr. Guan's shoulder and excitedly said: "Close! Huge success! Subsequently, he handed Mr. Guan a check and explained that the painting money had not actually been collected, "But I hope to see you happy!" ”
In this way, Mr. Kwan settled down in San Francisco, USA.
In the mid-1990s, the gallery was in a bad state of operation, and slowly began to default on the payment of paintings, and the paintings that had been sold did not send checks for a long time, which made Mr. and Mrs. Guan uneasy.
Gallery director Adam has left his job at the Wainstein Gallery. He and his wife, Reese, would have dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Guan at regular intervals, so he was well aware that Mr. Guan was having a problem, so he suggested that Mr. Guan leave and find another gallery agent.
But Mr. Kwan told him that when he first came to San Francisco, it was Frank's gallery that accepted him, and now that the gallery had encountered difficulties, it was always a bit uninteresting to leave, so it dragged on for another year or two.
Art Dialogue Scene No. 2
However, the operation of the gallery still has not improved, and the paintings have been delayed again and again. Later, with the help of Adam, the agency rights of Mr. Guan's works were transferred to another gallery.
The Art Market in the United States is very fair, for example, when an artist's work is sold in one gallery, another gallery must not convince the artist to cooperate with itself, which is the market rule that every practitioner of the art industry must abide by, otherwise it will be eliminated by the industry.
"Close, I've been waiting for you for a long time!" As soon as the conversation got to the point, Lauren, the owner of the new gallery, said to Mr. Guan. It turned out that Lauren had long been interested in Teacher Guan's works, but he always followed the rules of the market and waited for opportunities.
Guan Zeju "The Bird Girl and the Violin"
122x91cm, 2001
In the U.S. art market, buyers and creators are more obedient to the market order and will not lightly bypass the gallery to close privately. Galleries hold art salons and exhibitions from time to time to engage creators with collectors, while galleries list collectors to creators.
In the list of collectors submitted to Mr. Guan, there are many people from many countries such as film and television stars, aristocrats, and royal families.
On the other hand, the U.S. art market is also very reputable. Taking Teacher Guan as an example, Teacher Guan only has peace of mind to create, after the delivery of the work, the gallery will make a detailed report of the price of the work and the sale price and hand it over to Teacher Guan, and there will be no high-priced sale of the work, but the settlement at a low price, and the price of the work is increasing every year.
In this regard, practitioners in the American art industry are very ethical and ethical.
In the new environment, Mr. Guan's "Ballet" series has become the most unique and popular work, even if the dancers are all Chinese girls.
The characters are not conceptual symbols for Mr. Kwan, and he strives to present dancers on the canvas in rehearsal halls, dressing rooms, and stage side screens, seeking the expressiveness of combining the subtle feelings of air, sunlight, lighting, skirts and ballet in specific environments.
It is also in this regard that Teacher Guan brings the viewer to the level of painting aesthetics. As a result, each of his paintings was sent to the gallery and was quickly purchased.
Guan Zeju, "Red Exercise Dress", 101.5x76cm, 2000
In 1994, Mr. Kwan's ballet works began to use professional ballet dancers as models. The first person to model Ms. Guan was Kobayashi , a chinese student from the San Francisco Ballet School , who, although young, was sensible and friendly, and this was the first time that Ms. Kwan had observed a ballet dancer so closely under the stage in the rehearsal hall.
A year later, Kobayashi graduated and left San Francisco, and although her appearance was short-lived, it was a turning point in Kwan-sensei's ballet character creation. Since then, every year when he returns to China, Guan guan will cooperate with professional ballet dancers, which has become an important part of his return to China every year.
Painting a portrait of Tan Yuanyuan
Since 1996, thanks to the help of the Guangzhou Ballet, Mr. Guan can go to the rehearsals and performances, and can also freely choose the right dancers.
What he can't forget most is his friendship with Tan Yuanyuan, the principal star of the San Francisco Ballet, since 1997, Mr. Guan has watched the famous ballet plays she starred in for more than ten years, which has given him a deeper understanding of ballet and ballet dancers.
Exhibition in San Francisco in 2004
With Tan Yuanyuan and the guests who collected this painting
Therefore, the distinct personality of the "Ballet" series of works allows Teacher Guan to walk alone in the Western painting world.
In October 2003, Mr. Guan, together with Mr. Lin Yong and Mr. Cao Guochang, held the "Three Old Classmates" exhibition at the Guangdong Museum of Art, which was the first exhibition he returned to hold after 15 years of absence.
In that exhibition, Mr. Guan exhibited ten of his own works on new themes, "Flashbacks: Ancient Paintings and Human Bodies".
These paintings were all created in San Francisco, USA. When he first arrived in the United States, no one came to visit, and Mr. Guan did not go out, he focused on his artistic creation, often painting for more than ten hours in a row, and creating all night. Although he is in the United States, Mr. Guan often buys materials related to Chinese paintings to study and research.
One day, Teacher Guan suddenly thought: can we combine ancient paintings with figures, use Chinese paintings as a background, set off the human body in front, and make a comparison in the perspective of painting.
Therefore, Teacher Guan used oil paint and acrylic as a medium, using oil brush and Chinese brush, Western painting method and Chinese gong brush painting method, three-dimensional and flat at the same time on the canvas to outline, happily sprinkling a picture that is out of touch with the usual, and the series "Flashback: Ancient Paintings • Human Body" was born.
Teacher Guan Zeju and the birds "Feed" 2002
When Teacher Guan unveiled the cover to Lauren in his studio, the first four paintings of the newly completed "Flashbacks: Ancient Paintings and Human Body" series, "Ancient Impressions", "Ancient Hooves", "Millennium Afterglow", and "Relatively Speechless", Lauren was so surprised that he couldn't help but blurt out: "Don't let people steal your ideas!" Paint it to me! ”
A few years ago, when Lauren first met Mr. Guan in the gallery, he said with keen artistic appreciation and understanding of painters: "You are Chinese, you can paint Chinese." ”
Lauren probably couldn't imagine herself saying this to make a horse so excited! Yes, a man, as his name suggests, is a foal, "a three-year-old horse is called a foal."
Peng Wenbin pointed out that the presentation of Teacher Guan's "Flashbacks: Ancient Paintings and Human Body" series, although there was no clear intention at the beginning of the creation, the final picture created a far-reaching artistic conception of ancient and modern dialogue, which is very amazing, of course, this is also the creative influence of Oriental philosophy and art on the essence of Teacher Guan.
Building a car behind closed doors is bound to make a good work of art. In addition to going deep into life and experiencing life, Mr. Guan will also go to museums in various countries to see the world's classic masterpieces, such as European classical oil paintings, Impressionism and works of various genres.
Teacher Guan pointed out that in the process of learning from the outside, you must not change the purpose of your painting at will (such as converting your realism into impressionism, etc.).
The feeling of painting is innate, which is related to their own circle of life, nature, cultural heritage, etc., everyone's energy and time are limited, it should be to grasp a point, and continue to cultivate here, to do this matter deeply.
2011 In the small fishing port of Half Moon Bay in California Photo - Xiao Ling
"The emergence of different art forms has its own value and meaning, each with its own strengths, but we can't look at one and learn one." Everyone's subjective consciousness, hobbies, and life experiences are different, and it is not advisable to blindly learn other people's things. The painter must paint what he likes, do it spontaneously, and feel it. ”
Teacher Guan said that he was very happy that his ballet works were understood and loved by collectors, but his thinking was not constrained by this. At the same time, he also depicted scenes painted by Chinese ethnic minorities, such as bai bazaars.
A collection of creative images
In addition, Mr. Guan has also created many paintings on family themes, and he aims his brush at his wife and daughter, hoping to carry the memories of the family in an artistic way.
In addition to the artistic creation of oil painting, Teacher Guan also has a lot of research on classical Chinese poetry and calligraphy, as long as there is a feeling, Teacher Guan will write poetry with a pen, which is also a proof of his spontaneous writing and feeling.
On the common topic of art, Peng Wenbin pointed out that the cultivation of art creators is extremely important, and when the cultivation reaches comprehensiveness, it will be universal.
For example, Picasso is very interested in Chinese painting and calligraphy, and discusses Chinese art with Zhang Daqian, etc. The focus of the creation of excellent works of art is not on technique, in qi rhyme, in the unity of form and god.
In 2009, he sketched in Sanya, Hainan Island
With the wisdom of the thinker and the acumen of the creator, Teacher Guan expresses his heart to the fullest, faces life directly, and always maintains his own personality and sincerity in artistic creation.
It is not difficult to see that his works reflect his life background, growth experience and emotional memory, which is a picture with a personal background mark.
The frozen memories are worth cherishing, and now Mr. Kwan basically does not sell his original works of art. Next, Guangzhou International Art Fair will vigorously promote Mr. Guan's series of signature prints and share the artistic value with more people.
I believe that everyone can gradually discover the memory imprint and sincere emotions of Teacher Guan, and gain spiritual strength here.
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