Female painter Wu Fangfang: Painting is the harbor of my soul's dreams

Painter Profile

Wu Fangfang, pen name Jiu Ling, born in 1982. Since childhood, he has loved calligraphy and painting, and has studied painting for more than ten years, majoring in flowers and birds. He studied gongbi with Li Min, studied calligraphy with teacher Zhang Jingpeng, and learned freehand with teacher Li Ning. Later, he was accepted as a closed disciple by Teacher Song Mengqiu. He is a member of Xi'an Artists Association, a member of Xi'an Enyi District Artists Association, a director of Xi'an Chinese Painting Academy, and a member of Shaanxi Charity Calligraphy and Painting Research Society.

Female painter Wu Fangfang:

Painting is the harbor of my soul's dreams

In the activity area on the first floor, the indoor space is lined with Wu Fangfang's various painting tools and many paintings that have not yet had time to frame. The walls are covered with almost all of Wu Fangfang's works from the time she first learned to paint to today. The goldfish in the water tank in front of the outdoor door, the laughter of the children, the barking of the cats in the courtyard, and the trembling of the branches and branches in the breeze combine into a multi-part natural movement.

Follow the stairs to the second floor, where paintings of the teacher hang on the walls. Usually, Wu Fangfang paints here. Wu Fangfang introduced that she did not know exactly how many paintings there were, but could only say the approximate number of "about a few thousand". For each work, Wu Fangfang carefully put it away and cherished it like a child. However, for the identity of the "painter", Wu Fangfang did not care. More often than not, she thinks she just likes to draw. As a woman, in addition to the family, she also has children to take care of, and her two sons are twins, who are eleven years old this year. It is even more difficult to go out to sketch, and it is even more difficult to paint in the studio to "move the vivid quality", which will convey the vitality and different characteristics of flowers and birds "endlessly". Her depictions of flowers, birds, plants and trees are a unique feeling in her heart, and a kind of affection similar to the means of Chinese poetry "endowment, ratio, and rejuvenation".

I am curious about the works of the painter Wu Fangfang, how did they come about? What kind of imagination does the painter have?

In the traditional Chinese form of painting, it is necessary to mention freehand, according to the different subject matter and content of the painting, which has led to the classification of figures, landscapes, flowers and birds. If it is subdivided again, freehand flowers and birds are in the form of flower and bird painting, and a kind of painting of the object is drawn in a concise and general way. In the long-term historical development, to meet the social aesthetic needs of our Chinese, a tradition based on sketching has been formed, with fun and freehand as the unity. In the eyes of the painter Wu Fangfang, different art forms are actually the same. Wu Fangfang emphasizes the leading role of yi as in her works, and pursues to express her own feelings as vividly as Chinese calligraphy art, that is, the expression of thoughts and feelings that are not bound by the depiction of objects. In the history of the development of Chinese painting, although there are many schools of painting and different techniques, there is a consensus on the point of paying attention to sketching, which continues to follow. Her works include plum blossoms, orchids, moon seasons, bamboo, hibiscus, chrysanthemums, daffodils, different postures, flowers, freehand lyricism, ink dripping. The main factor in the shape of these plants is the use of light and shade, color language to express the structural form of objects. Lines are subordinate to the expressive language, and Western painters have different ways of thinking, resulting in differences in the observation and understanding of objects. In this state, the center line of our Chinese painting is only the edge of the outline, and even if there is no definition of the line, the structure of its shape is still established. When talking about everyone's hook flowers and leaves, she said: "Hook and painting are not only writing works, but also the inevitable place to explore the changes derived from the painting school in various periods of history. "Concise with the pen, do not seek images, focus on writing its interesting disposition, freehand and nourishing qi, ink rhyme to see the color, from which you can gain insight into the pulse of life." Through the elasticity and tightness of the brush, light and heavy, thick and fine, hard and soft, hair and light, smooth and reverse, broken and connected, stay and floating, astringent and moist to express the shape, so that the shape structure of the object has visibility and reproduction, and through systematic processing, to create a picture space.

In the interview, Wu Fangfang spread her works on the ground, and the reporter saw that the changes in the works were more simple and generalized than the previous reduced brush freehand paintings. With elegant colors and a clear breath, Wu Fangfang's skillful techniques and ability to create time and space have a great relationship with talent and her own efforts. The painter said that he had loved painting since childhood, and I thought to myself, what kind of person should I convey so many feelings and emotions through one painting? Chinese painting should pay special attention to the artistic conception, pay attention to the virtual reality, pay attention to poetry, and pay attention to the taste, only in this way can it be called the art of painting, otherwise there is no difference with the photo. What is to be expressed in the picture is also a loose thing with aura. Therefore, in painting, the freehand of the painting language is particularly important. She is also the kind of person who does not deliberately pursue material things in her life, and believes that it seems to be inadvertently revealed, which is a good work. The pen emphasizes freehand and develops to a deeper level, just like her paintings, paying attention to the pen and ink taste, detaching from the shape, emphasizing the charm, and attaching importance to the combination with literary accomplishment, in order to express the artistic conception in the painting more profoundly and perfectly.

In the Chinese painting world of the last century, the achievements of male painters seemed to obscure the brilliance of female painters. If measured by master-level standards, female painters are clearly out of reach. The author believes that this situation is not caused by the fact that women's abilities are inferior to men's, but that Chinese women are affected by the traditional "talentless is moral", and women's status in society is relatively low, especially before liberation, their access to education is significantly lower than that of men. Nevertheless, many women from scholarly or large families received formal education.

Wu Fangfang is not from a science class, but she has loved calligraphy and painting since she was a child, from Li Min's brushwork to Zhang Jingpeng's calligraphy to Li Ning's freehand writing and finally became a closed disciple of Song Mengqiu, when asked which teachers in life are worth learning and have a greater impact on the transformation of her own painting path, her calligraphy teacher Zhang Jingpeng just came to her home.

Among the many teachers who use their control lines, the most influential is Zhang Jingpeng. The "same origin of calligraphy and painting" that people often say may mean that the production of Chinese characters originated from "pictograms". The pictographer, painted as its object, bends with the body, and this "source" is the most essential source in artistic creation. Far before the writing, human beings have long used painting to express things that are closely related to their lives. The art of Chinese calligraphy formed later than painting. However, both the book and the painting are "different and identical". The methods and means of chinese painting and calligraphy are surprisingly consistent. Teacher Zhang said: "Writing pays attention to horizontal, vertical, skimming, and pinching, and the center uses a pen, and the thickness of the pen must also change." "In fact, painting is also the same emphasis on line, and then points and surfaces.

We all know that the female painter's path of learning to paint is difficult, and there are generally family lovers and children, but she still insists on her hobby to paint.

I asked her why she had this creative state? She said: "'I will always support you no matter what you do, everything has me, I am your strong backing.' This is the most spoken word of my lover. Wu Fangfang told reporters that her lover is very supportive of her hobbies, family is her most solid dependence, and her son and family are always behind her to encourage and support her.

From the first time I lifted the paintbrush to now, more than ten years have passed unconsciously. In the meantime, she was not from a science class, loved painting, was full of curiosity about the various forms of painting, and enjoyed the process of painting.

In the history of art, the outstanding female painters, their thoughtfulness and kindness seem to be based on nature, and the female painter's pen also re-depicts the dreamy sky in the heart of women. In life, Wu Fangfang can also adjust her state to go to the front of the case and insist on taking her own path to create.

In most of her paintings, like plants grown in a courtyard, layers are intertwined and smeared, full and intense. The lines are hidden in the color and undulating, bending in unexpected places, and walking into a romantic and exaggerated appearance.

The space where Wu Fangfang is located is quiet in the middle of the bustle, and time is growing slowly. When asked about Wu Fangfang's creative philosophy, she is not willing to assign her creation to a certain time and space, on the contrary, she is more willing to experience life from multiple angles. She said: "I just want to make the deepest blank space in my heart emerge in the painting, which makes me very quiet, very quiet. When reading and writing the heart, even someone next to you doesn't know. Her heart guides the fingers, and the thoughts on the works flow from the heart to the fingers, and finally flow to the paper, becoming a work that is directly lyrical. This is more like a kind of purity of art, Wu Fangfang's original intention, like the unconscious sense of belonging that human beings have experienced in childhood. Today, after the refinement of the years, back to basics, her artistic inspiration gushes out, like the vitality of autumn. But in the plane she has constructed, time is rushing fast and shrinking together. Those images, which first appeared in Wu Fangfang's heart, naturally flowed into the picture. I think this is a piece of self-made fantasy world for a happy gentle woman to middle age!

Chen Huijiao, all-media reporter of Culture and Art Newspaper

Appreciation of works

Wu Fangfang "Grapes" Color on paper

68cm×68cm 2020年

Wu Fangfang's "Lotus Rest" is colored on paper

68cm x 68cm 2020年

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series II Color on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series of three color books on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series of four color books on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series of five paper color

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series six color on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series seven color books on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Flowers and Birds" series of eight color books on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Ju" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Ju II" is colored on paper

68cm x 68cm 2021年

Wu Fangfang's "Ju Fang" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Ju Fang II" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Lan" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Lan II" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Lan San" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Autumn Rhyme" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "A Corner of the Courtyard" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang's "Youlan" is colored on paper

Wu Fangfang,"Bamboo Play" Ink on paper

68cm x 68cm 2017年

Wu Fangfang's "Bamboo Rhyme" ink on paper

68cm x 68cm 2015年

Wu Fangfang's "Lotus" is colored on paper

This article is selected from the T02 edition of Culture and Art Newspaper on April 9, 2022