THE SPRING EQUINOX
Chen Xiu'e
Painter Profile
Chen Xiu'e, born in 1944, a native of Tielu Township, Lintong District, Xi'an City, is an ordinary rural woman. In 2016, he took a brush and painted on rice paper for the first time, and his works were simple and introverted, and his feelings were pure. In the same year, 6,000 yuan from the auction of his works was donated to Hope Primary School, which was commended by a charity in Shaanxi.
Today, nearly eighty years old, she still lives in the rural areas of Lintong, and in addition to housework and labor, she still paints continuously and enjoys herself.
The scent of earth – remembering my mother's paintings
Text/Liu Xing
My mother's painting, which should have been discussed by others, seemed fair and objective; if I were to be called, it would always seem a little inappropriate. If you say it well, it will annoy people, and others will say that you praise your mother's painting yourself; if you say it badly, of course, I am not happy, it will show that I, as a son, lack the minimum reverence for my mother. However, this time the theme is "mother's painting", and the editor-in-chief said that it is up to the children to talk about their mother's paintings, so I can only obey the fate.
My mother's paintings are 100% of the kind of "plain people" paintings that people often call them. The so-called "literati painting" is relative to "literati painting", which refers to those works that have not received cultural education, or have a low level of education, have not received any professional training and have not been influenced by any famous works, but only from her interest and intuition, they groped and painted the image of flowers and birds that they thought were good. I remember that thirty years ago, Mr. Lang Shaojun published an article in "Fine Arts Research" specifically about "plain painting". My mother's situation was that she had only attended elementary school. When she was in elementary school, she studied very well, especially in art class, and in calligraphy class, her brush writing was also the best in the class. Unfortunately, my grandmother's family was too poor to support her to attend middle school, so my mother did not go to school after primary school. When she was seventeen, she married my father. When she was nineteen, she gave birth to me. Now, my mother is seventy-nine years old, and I am about to be sixty, and I have worked hard for most of my mother's life for her children and grandchildren, the hardships she has experienced, the grievances she has suffered, and everything I have now vividly remembered and engraved in my heart. I have a very good memory, and I remember exactly what happened in the village and what happened at home when I was more than two years old. I remember that when I was not yet in school, my mother was the famous "smart daughter-in-law" in the village. Probably in murake, no matter whose women want to embroider pillows, curtains, belly wraps, or flower shoes, they all come to my house and ask my mother to paint the pattern. Most of her patterns were drawn on paper in pencil in the style of white drawings, and then colored out the color distribution, and then let them take it and embroider it according to the way my mother drew. Murakami would steamed flowers and buns for new year's festivals or red and white celebrations, such as tigers, chickens, fish, chrysanthemums, peonies, etc., and they would also come to my house to invite my mother to take charge. This kind of work undoubtedly exercised my mother's certain image expression ability, and also urged her to pay more attention to observing the flowers and plants in life, birds, butterflies, insects, fish, etc.
In the Spring Festival of 2016, a friend of mine who is very fond of calligraphy and painting came to my house to chat, and he had to ask my mother to paint a picture for him during the tea room. He said, "Auntie, your son is a painter, and you must have a considerable artistic cell..." My mother repeatedly explained that she could not paint, and after several times of resignation, she could not refuse the stubbornness of my friend. So I coordinated and said, "Mom, just draw one!" You can paint as you like, and you can paint as much as you want. If you really can't do it, just follow your impression of embroidery in the past and paint according to the set of embroidery. In the first picture, she could not grasp the effect of the brush dipped in ink on rice paper, and she drew it into an ink ball. So, I went up to show her how to control the brush and ink so that the brush would not overflow after the brush was on the paper. By the second one, it got better. In the third picture, a painting similar to Cui Zifan's style, with a very clumsy pen and very full and thick ink, was painted. It was a surprise to me! That feeling of simplicity, childishness, innocence and freshness is amazing! This is a miracle I never imagined! From this day on, after another summer, my mother painted more than a hundred paintings in one go. Its subject matter involves many of the flowers and plants that she has been exposed to and familiar with in the countryside for decades. In particular, she painted dandelions, peach blossoms and dahlias, which I like the most.
In order to make my mother happy, I sent some of my mother's paintings through the WeChat circle of friends, and I did not expect to be highly praised by my peers in the national calligraphy and painting circles. Mr. Mei Mosheng, a painter and famous art critic of the National Academy of Painting, said that the paintings of the elderly Chen Xiu'e were "simpler than Ren Bonian and softer than Wu Changshuo.". Mr. Lin Mu, a professor at Sichuan University and a famous art theorist, said: "The old man Chen Xiu'e who lives in the countryside, with his feelings and interests, draws the flowers around her by nature, which is clumsy and simple and naïve, and the biggest feature is that there is no routine, which is inspired by the professional painters who have a hard time in the set and unwinding." He Zepo, a Chinese-American painter in San Francisco, said: "The paintings of the elderly Chen Xiu'e are elegant, fresh and natural, which is really rare... She is a painter who honestly draws herself in her heart, and has a very natural sense, there is no vanity, no worldly atmosphere, and she can smell the smell of earth more in her paintings, which should be where I learn. Mr. Liu Huaiyong, a professor at Tsinghua University, said: "Tang Zhang Yanyuan: Husband painter ... Originated in nature, not by narrative. Mother Chen's paintings are purely natural, like a Zen practitioner, focusing on spiritual practice, as for painting well and painting badly, we can't say, once we say it, we are wrong. This is the true nature of Zen... Mother Chen's painting is rare to have a quiet word, so quiet that there is no anger at all. This is a sharp contrast with the current fiery painting and calligraphy world. "Wait, these comments are really unexpected, I didn't take them seriously, but this motivates me to seriously study and study my mother's paintings."
Once, a good friend of mine, Mr. Zhang Fan, had gathered more than twenty friends to visit my "painter mother" in my hometown, and as soon as they arrived at my brother's house, they took my mother's hand and greeted her warmly, and everyone had to take a photo with her. Several friends also bought several of her paintings on the spot, which encouraged her enthusiasm for painting. A few years ago, a media outlet also made a general introduction to her works, and her paintings were published. Several art institutions also invited her to auction more than a dozen works online, and the results were very good, and once the auction proceeds of a few thousand yuan were donated to Hope Primary School, and she got a medal. I often think that the greatest filial piety of children is to make the old man happy. Mother likes to paint, then support her to paint, as long as her old man is happy.
I love my mother's paintings. Since she painted, every painting she painted, I have asked someone to carefully frame it, carefully storing it in my study as a treasure; in the future, I will pass it on to my children and grandchildren... This emotion, others do not understand, but as a son, the mother is my God.
My mother said to me several times: "I didn't expect to live so well now..." This may be the source of motivation for my mother's painting. At the same time, she has suffered a lot and suffered too many grievances in her life, all of which have unconsciously penetrated into her pen and ink. This, only I can read and understand, and only I can understand it very deeply...
(The author is the son of Chen Xiu'e, associate professor of the School of Fine Arts, Shaanxi Normal University)
Appreciation of works
Chen Xiu'e "Oleander" is colored on paper
34cm x 34cm 2016年
Chen Xiu'e "Dandelion" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Spring Wind" is colored on paper
68cm x 34cm 2016年
Chen Xiu'e's "Spring Color" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Butterfly Loves Flowers" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Red Amaranth Flowers" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Lamei" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Qiu Ju" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Okra Flowers" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "March Peach Blossoms Everywhere Red" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Peach Blossoms in the Mountain Temple" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Yu Meiren" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Jade Hairpin" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Jade Hairpin Flower" is colored on paper
Liu Xiu'e's "Peach Blossom" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Yu Meiren Flower" is colored on paper
34x 34cm 2016
Chen Xiu'e "Sketching Flowers" Color on paper
68cm×34cm 2016年
Chen Xiu'e's "Moon Season Flowers" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "In This Mountain" is colored on paper
Chen Xiu'e's "Farmhouse" is colored on paper
34cm x 68cm 2016年
Zheng Weibin, editor-in-chief of Chinese Painting Weekly
This article is from the T02-T03 edition of Culture and Art Newspaper on March 12, 2022