As night falls, the moonlight sprinkles on the African savannah, the baobab trees stand quietly, and several elephants pass by. An iron worker sits cross-legged in the bucket of the loader, smiling comfortably at his phone. At the end of the screen, he misses his family every day, and next to him is the mooncake sent from his hometown. On this day, during China's Mid-Autumn Festival, the puddles under the forklift reflect the large and round moon, which draws out the homes of the builders outside; the deep ruts left on the soil on both sides have carved the persistence and dedication of Chinese laborers.
In the oil painting "Same in the Moonlight", the author Li Jingan uses delicate brushstrokes to outline the scene of the "Belt and Road" builders of China Railway Construction spending the Mid-Autumn Festival in a foreign country, allowing grassroots workers to walk from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, so that their stories can enter the spotlight and be seen by the world.
Perhaps, they are accompanied by dust and noise every day, and they are working away from their relatives except for sleeping, but it is undeniable that In the construction of the "Belt and Road", Chinese workers play a huge role. Construction of the main stadium of the Qatar Football World Cup, construction of the M101 Ferris wheel project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, operation of the Light Rail in Mecca, Saudi Arabia... As one project after another has taken root overseas, tens of thousands of grassroots workers have gone to all parts of the world, using their youth and dedication to build a community with a shared future for mankind on behalf of the people of the motherland. "They are very simple, hard-working, and if they want to do a good job, they must take it down, and they have a kind of hard work." Li Jingan said.
Construction workers outside were very touched when they saw the painting and rushed to forward it in the circle of friends and WeChat groups. "I also sent the painting to my parents and wife, and she took it and told the child who the father was, what he was doing, and why he didn't come home." Co-worker Che Yanfeng sighed that this form of artistic expression is too expressive and paints the daily life of our construction workers.
The laborer is the protagonist on the canvas
Because they have shining points that can't be hidden
Li Jingan is an enterprise employee of the 19th Bureau of China Railway Construction and an academic member of the Oil Painting Society of the Dalu Artists Association, and the grass-roots workers have always been the protagonists on his canvases. "The environment of field construction is harsh, and the workers eat and sleep all year round, but their attitude towards life is positive and open-minded." Li Jingan, who has been working in the front line for a long time, felt the shining point that could not be hidden in the laborers in the day and night.
Inspired by life, the beautiful qualities of grassroots workers made Li Jing'an can't help but pick up a paintbrush and hope to depict their stories. But he knew that painting by inspiration alone was not enough, and innovation in the artistic perspective was equally important. Inspired by Wang Yiguang, chairman of the Art Association, Li Jingan thought of painting with "reverse thinking"—that is, first observing relatively abstract elements, forming a hazy composition, and then interspersing the content of the reality. When looking around for ideas for composition, he happened to see such a picture: "there is a big circle" and "the figure is leaning on the circle" in the picture. The extremely impactful element suddenly caught his eyeballs, and Li Jing'an suddenly appeared and initially determined the composition direction of "Together in the Moonlight".
"Painting must not only ensure that the image is not distorted, but also make people shine." In order to achieve the goal in his heart, Li Jingan returned to the Liaoyang base to look for materials. Riding a bicycle every day, holding a camera, and looking around became the norm of his life. In order to accurately determine the time point of the night scene and present the real state of the night construction, Li Jingan took a number of night scenes of different colors on the night with moonlight. He carefully polished every part of the picture here, staying for more than half a month.
In order to find a suitable character image for "Together in the Moonlight", he set his sights on the construction site. Many of the sites were closed to outsiders, and he rode more than 10 miles before finally obtaining the consent of management at a site that was about to be completed. A moment later, a young man of about 20 years old, carrying a shovel in one hand and a water cup in the other, strode from the construction site. This man was about one meter and eight tall, with two large hands that appeared particularly powerful, broad shoulders, a strong chest and back, an angular face, very sharp eyes, and a simple grin, "the kind of freedom of an iron construction worker." Li Jing'an's heart moved: It was none other than him!
"Construction is often full of muddy water, and workers have no place to rest, so they sit directly in the bucket." Li Jingan recalled that he had also been in the forklift, lying in the bucket and seeing the moon, so he interspersed it into the painting. Long-term work in the front line has accumulated a lot of materials for his creation, when conceiving this painting, sitting in the forklift resting, talking on the phone with his family and other images of various workers naturally popped out of his mind, scattered elements penetrated into the composition little by little, making the picture rich.
Bring out the truth from the details
Surprises are hidden in life
After collecting materials, Li Jing'an returned to Beijing to complete the final creation. Rather than thinking while painting, he prefers to think clearly about all aspects before lifting the pen: the costumes, movements, expressions of the characters, the rut marks around them, mud puddles, forklifts, gadgets, picture layout, tones, light surfaces... He does not let go of every place, and strives to be real and vivid.
The picture must be different from the novelty, but also can not be divorced from reality, this is the principle that Li Jing'an has always adhered to. In his designs, the moon occupies nearly 1/9 of the proportion in the picture, almost the same size as the characters, which is difficult to encounter in reality. "Can such a picture be accepted by the audience?" Can you understand? When conceiving, Li Jing'an thought about it over and over again, and asked the workers and colleagues of the Art Association for advice. After repeated consideration, he adopted the perspective of long-distance shooting using a telephoto lens in photography, fully realizing the deep and compressive sense of space, making the picture appear novel and reasonable.
When the creation was basically completed, the worker Zhang Yan happened to see the painting. Round picture, round moon, she blurted out: "If only this character could eat mooncakes!" She told Li Jingan that some time ago, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, she was also responsible for sending mooncakes to workers who were working abroad. The speaker did not have the intention of listening, Li Jingan immediately bought some moon cakes, peanuts, dates, plus cardboard boxes, New Year cards and other props, and drew the mooncakes in two days. The accidental discovery made Li Jingan can't help but sigh: surprises are hidden in life.
Start with the "Belt and Road" project
Feel greatness in the ordinary
Li Jing'an believes that a painting must first move the creator himself in order to move the audience. In his past work, he ate and lived with the workers and established a deep friendship. The common life experience gives him inexhaustible creative motivation. Coming from the grassroots, he presented the spirit of the railroad soldiers he saw and felt on the canvas stroke by stroke.
From "Together in the Moonlight", Li Jingan wants to show the dedication of the "Belt and Road" and at the same time let everyone see the emotional connection between workers and their families. "The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day of reunion, but they are in a foreign country, they can't be reunited with their families, that is, they can call their families during their breaks." Through the canvas, let the workers sacrifice the ego, the story of building the country is seen by more people, and Li Jingan's original intention has not changed. Whenever he painted them, he felt as if he had returned to the past, to the grassroots workers. "Their thick smiles appeared in front of my eyes, they were so kind!" He laughed.
In his pen, there is the fighting spirit of the workers to stick to their posts and bravely shoulder heavy burdens; there are their warm moments of helping each other and uniting as one; and there is their resolute and energetic positive mentality. After each painting, the workers gathered around to look at it, and sometimes pointed out unreasonable things for him. Worker Gu Shimei has worked at the grassroots level for many years, and when he sees his usual work recorded, he is very touched in his heart, and he will ask Li Jing'an for a few paintings to take home, "I look at the workers in the paintings and feel that I also have great times."
In recent years, more and more engineering projects have gone out, engineering and technical personnel have helped the construction of the "Belt and Road", overcome all kinds of difficulties, made Chinese manufacturing go international with dedication and dedication, contributed Chinese strength to the development of the world, and also brought more inspiration to Li Jingan's brush and added a touch of vitality.
Li Jingan has seen many domestic and foreign construction projects in the past few years, remembered them in his heart, and presented them in the picture. For him, the builders who know the most, want to paint the most, and connect the most are these builders. "In the future, the creation will still be based on these themes, oil painting is my favorite, I want to try my best to use the brush to record the construction of the 'Belt and Road', to paint the quality of the iron construction teammates and the style of the Chinese nation."
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Xie Wanfei intern Liu Yinuo
Source: China Youth Daily