【Editor's Note】In the 7th National Youth Art Exhibition held this year, 11 works from Hunan were selected. Among them, Lin Jun's works were selected and sent directly to the 14th National Art Exhibition. This group of young artists stands out, and their artistic creations deserve in-depth study and discussion.
Rooted in the fertile soil, witness the speed
Wen 丨 Wen Mu Jiang
Recently, Lin Jun's coming force is a bit fierce, and his works have been selected for high-level exhibitions such as the 24th National Print exhibition, the 9th China Beijing International Art Biennale, the 7th National Youth Art Works Exhibition, and won the qualification of direct delivery of works in the 14th National Art Exhibition Area, which makes me a "professional" a little "envious and jealous". I remember when we chatted with him a few years ago, we both planned to achieve the national important exhibition to be selected for the "Grand Slam". At that time, I was sent to the Beijing Biennale, he was also sent to the National Youth Art Exhibition and the Beijing Biennale, and as a result, he successfully achieved the "Grand Slam" wish, but I was still poor at the Beijing Biennale, and while I was happy for him, I really still had some feelings of eating sauerkraut. Sour to sour, a pinch is still essential.
Witness- Speed Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 105x150cm 2022
In 2002, Lin Jun, who had just graduated from tianjin academy of fine arts, came to work in the fine arts department of Xiangtan Normal College at that time, when the first Hunan Provincial Printmaking Exhibition that I vigorously promoted happened to be held in my department, Lin Jun, who studied dyeing and weaving, found a wooden board abandoned by students, borrowed a few woodcut knives, and created his printmaking debut "Years have Sound", with his design major's level composition skills and brains full of smart cells, plus the brute force of some newborn calves (of course, there are also the knives I made up for him), He actually won a bronze award. Later, "Years with Sound" was also selected for the 17th National Newcomer New Works Exhibition, which fully proved that the bronze medal of his first Hunan Printmaking Exhibition was not a waste of fame by borrowing the advantages of the main field of the exhibition.
Walking with Dreams Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 92x184cm 2021
Lin Jun, who tasted the sweetness of printmaking, naturally did not give up on this, continued the creative ideas and styles of "Years with Sound", and successively created works such as "Large Industrial Torrent", "Western Impression", "Passing" and so on. In the 2010s, he began to change his painting style, creating works such as "Fertile Soil", "Thick Soil", "Bo" and so on, and in the 2020s, he began to create thematic prints with a clear banner, "The Great Wall of Steel", "Iron Bone Greeting the Dawn", "Witnessing speed", "Walking with Dreams" and other works were freshly baked, and the scope of his works basically included domestic professional and comprehensive exhibitions, and realized the selection of important national exhibitions into the "Grand Slam". In fact, it is not difficult to create a work, the difficulty is that the works created must be selected for the national exhibition, and it is even more difficult for each work created to be selected for the national exhibition, but Lin Jun's printmaking has done it. I was thinking: Lin Jun is not a graduate of printmaking, and he has not even been exposed to any printmaking courses, how can he do it?
First of all, I think it should be inseparable from his solid painting skills. As far as I know, before he was admitted to the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, he set up a pioneer studio in Changsha, which was popular for several years, and was one of the largest studios in Changsha at that time, and he was also the principal, the bishop of sketching, the bishop of color, and the nickname "Prince of Color". Without two brushes, the Houhu Studio in Changsha at that time must not be able to rely on the score, and the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts four years of university study, and practiced a graphic design skill with a deep relationship with printmaking, the so-called coincidence, thick accumulation of hair, in the field of printmaking to make some movement to seem accidental, but no one is the last half of the steamed bun to eat enough, Lin Jun has eaten two bowls of noodles before eating the last half of the steamed buns.
Secondly, it is inseparable from his hard-working and hard-working personality traits. Artistic creation may seem like a glamorous thing, but it is a chore to do. Lin Jun was born in the relatively remote Zhuzhou Yanling countryside, from childhood family is not rich, as the eldest in the family, prematurely shouldered the burden of the family, with a stubborn force, shouldered the entire family, but also cultivated his spiritual quality of eating bitterly and bullying, this quality is fully manifested in his printmaking creation. Rockwell Kent, a 20th-century American printmaker, said: "The earliest starting point of printmaking was black and white woodcuts, and the biggest difficulty was also black and white woodcuts." Lin Jun has not undergone systematic printmaking training, taking black and white woodcuts as the starting point, challenging the difficulties of black and white woodcuts, and not paying more efforts from ordinary people, how can it be "Grand Slam"? I have the impression that he is a workaholic, and once he enters the creative state, he is obsessed with himself and often sends WeChat late at night. Looking at his works according to the age of creation, we can clearly see the clear context of his refining of creative themes, the purification of black and white woodcut language, and see every footprint of his hard work.
Third, it is inseparable from his artistic talent of touching the bypass and absorbing the strengths of all. Fine art includes many kinds of paintings, and the different kinds of paintings seem to be very different, but they are not. As a visual art, its fundamental is to use visual language to express a certain point of view, feeling or emotion of the author, to bring the audience ideological emotional resonance or visual aesthetic enjoyment, while different types of paintings have their own characteristics in language techniques. The ideological content of the work is like a mountain peak, and various language techniques are like the road from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. Lin Jun is an all-rounder, this science design, when he graduated, he participated in the International Fiber Art Exhibition from Lausanne to Beijing, a double degree for graduate students, learning visual communication and oil painting, and repeatedly selected for national exhibitions is indeed printmaking, in fact, his oil paintings and watercolors are also painted, and recently it seems that he has begun to enter Chinese painting again, saying that he is a "grand view of fine arts" Is very appropriate, from this point of view, Lin Jun not only has two brushes, but several brushes, and it is strange to do a bad printmaking.
From Lin Jun's works, I read his diligence, wisdom and sincerity, which is also where his personality charm lies, I sincerely wish Lin Jun to take root in the fertile soil of art, and constantly witness the pace of printmaking, the road of art is getting wider and wider, bringing us more surprises and shocks!
【Artist Profile】
Lin Jun, born in 1976 in Yanling, Zhuzhou, graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 with a bachelor's degree. He graduated from Hunan Normal University and Hunan University of Science and Technology in 2010 and 2012 respectively, and obtained master's degrees in design and fine arts respectively. In 2014, he went to France to study the Teaching and Research Class of Impressionist Color. In 2017, he was a senior visiting scholar at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University.
He is currently a professor at Qi Baishi Art College of Hunan University of Science and Technology, and a tutor for master's degree students in fine arts and design. He is a member of the China Artists Association, a member of the China Arts and Crafts Artists Association, an expert of the Degree and Graduate Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education, an expert of the China Packaging Talent Resource Library, the deputy director of the Visual Communication Design Committee of the Hunan Provincial Design Artists Association, the first batch of 300 engineering literary and artistic talents in Hunan, the chairman of the Printmaking Art Committee of the Hunan Provincial Artists Association, the director of the Hunan Provincial University Art Discipline Alliance, the director of the Hunan Young Artists Association, the vice chairman of the Xiangtan Artists Association, the special painter of chengdu painting academy and Qi Baishi Memorial Hall. Excellent guidance teachers in Hunan Province, outstanding young teachers in schools, and teaching experts in school young teachers.
【Some representative works in recent years】
Brilliant Memory Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 80x124cm 2019
Bo Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 80x124cm, 2017
The Great Wall of Steel Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 92X145CM 2017
"Thick Soil", Lin Jun, black and white woodcut, 80x120cm, 2013
"Passing" Lin Jun Black and white woodcut, 90x150cm, 2008
"Iron Bone Greeting the Morning Sun" Lin Jun Black and white woodcut 105x150cm, 2019
Fertile Land, Lin Jun, black and white woodcut, 91x145cm, 2014
Impressions of the West, Lin Jun, black and white woodcut, 90x90cm, 2007