Black and White Rhapsody - Wang Naiyong's Calligraphy Notes
□ Shi Guoxin
On December 13, 2021, Wang Naiyong, chairman of the Xinxiang Calligraphers Association, went to Beijing to participate in the National Literary Congress, setting a precedent in the history of Xinxiang City's cultural circles; on March 28, 2022, the Fifth National Commendation Conference for Young and Middle-Aged Literary and Art Workers was held in Beijing, and Wang Naiyong was selected as the only representative of calligraphers, which is not only unprecedented in Xinxiang City, but also among the 44 inductees in the country, he is comparable to Wu Jing, Zhang Yi, Huang Bo, Tian Qinxin, Huang Doudou, and other top artists in china's literary and art circles. Today's Wang Naiyong, with his calligraphy strength and great achievements, has made the calligraphy art of Xinxiang City occupy the forefront of the Chinese calligraphy circle, and let the calligraphy of the whole country look at Xinxiang, a third-tier city.
In life, there is always a kind of labor waiting for you, he is not a scholar, but when he comes out of the land, pen and ink paper and stone attract his attention.
April 1, 1969, should be said to be an unusual day, the West called it "April Fool's Day". However, this day in China's modern history is of great commemorative significance, the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was solemnly opened in Beijing 13 years after the Eighth National Congress, and the whole country was full of red flags for the convening of the congress, and the gongs and drums were noisy. The gongs and drums of Chunzhuang, Qiliying People's Commune, Xinxiang County, are also heard in the alleys and alleys of the village, and in the concerted sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums, Wang Naiyong has the first loud sound in his life.
This is the best time of year, "Spring Village", this very poetic field is returning to the earth in spring, and the peach and plum are fragrant.
Wang Naiyong grew up slowly in the soil like many peasant children, the older generation is meticulous farming, not much literacy, but in the field are a good hand, the land makes the fathers both tired and happy to serve, so Wang Naiyong's family furnishings are mostly ploughs and rakes, and the family can produce a calligrapher that the fathers can't think of in their dreams. Every year during the Spring Festival, adults go to the school teachers to sincerely ask for the Spring Festival, and Wang Naiyong saw the words flowing out of the pen, ink and paper for the first time on the school desk.
Wang Naiyong, who is in elementary school, is occasionally naughty, when the teacher turns around to write on the blackboard, he will stand up and take the chalk head to bounce at the classmates who are as restless as him, and such a prank is always severely criticized by the teacher; but Wang Naiyong is also smart, because after watching the Bao Gong play in the village, he can use a pencil to draw Bao Gong's black face on the paper; Wang Naiyong is serious, serious almost "stupid", when the teacher lets students write 10 commas, other students use pencils to write one by one, And he must draw the circle of the comma with a pen before he is willing to end it. Bao Gong's face and black commas were the earliest ignorance of black and white on his paper.
Wang Naiyong first picked up the brush in the early 80s of the last century, the eldest brother had a classmate to write a brush word is famous, the eldest brother took it to let him see, let him see is to let him learn, the eldest brother classmate wrote the Yan body, of course, this is what he later knew, at that time only felt that this word was decent, in his eyes is simply unparalleled. There is no poster, the calligraphy of the eldest brother is a poster, there is no rice paper, the discarded homework books and old newspapers can be wasted, there is no "Yidege" ink, and a cheap ink produced locally that emits a slight odor is used. At this time, Wang Naiyong did not have a deeper sense of calligraphy, and as a life adjustment in his leisure time, he scribbled a few strokes from time to time.
In the primary school of Chunzhuang, Wang Naiyong is excellent, but in the eyes of the eldest brother who has already walked out of Chunzhuang, this third brother must go out of Chunzhuang's vision if he wants to have greater development. Therefore, when he was just entering the second year of junior high school, the eldest brother transferred him to the middle school of Xiaoji Commune. Here, he immediately felt his own gap, after all, this is the larger side of the water and soil. Knowing the courage of the shameful, Wang Naiyong really "brave" in learning, the drum does not need to be hammered, and the intention will be immediate. Wang Naiyong went to Xiaoji Middle School in 1983, and a year later, he participated in the recruitment and entered the top 60 in the county. At that time, there were very few technical secondary schools in the country, and he was admitted to the Xinxiang Normal School, which was undoubtedly a great news for a peasant child who had just come out of the countryside. Wang Naiyong's fathers in Chunzhuang were overjoyed when they heard the news, and they did not expect that this boy who had practiced his fists and feet hard in the wheat field could also stand on the podium and teach other people's children to read in the future.
In the autumn of 1984, as soon as Wang Naiyong entered the normal school, he met Mr. Wan Xin, the master of his calligraphy. Teacher training students are required to write three strokes (chalk characters, pen characters, brush characters), Teacher Fu is teaching brush characters, Mr. Is a gentleman, writes a good face, and is both bitter and harsh to the students. But the course is the course, the brush class is not the main course, and many students basically say goodbye to the brush after learning. And Wang Naiyong had both the old acquaintance of writing brush characters and the face-to-face guidance of Teacher Fu, and soon entered a realm of fascination, as if the old friends were reunited, as if there was a fate in a previous life, as if it was a kind of waiting, and the brush could no longer linger in his hands. Teacher Fu liked him too much, not only because of his love for calligraphy, but also because he felt that he had a spirituality in pen and ink. Wang Naiyong followed Teacher Fu to eat "small stove" every day, knew Yan Liu Ou Zhao, knew the Tibetan Feng Lu Feng, knew the Ti Press, he was gradually melted by pen and ink, and captured by black and white.
It seems to be designed, in 1987, Wang Naiyong graduated, but also in the same year Teacher Fu retired, time is seamless, has emerged in calligraphy Wang Naiyong stayed in school, he inherited Teacher Fu's career, but also began to have students in calligraphy, this year he was just 18 years old.
When people enter a realm, they often hallucinate, and in the middle of the night, he trances in the candlelight of the "Second King", dipping in Zhang Xuhuaisu's ink, and spreading huang Tingjian's rice paper...
In fact, at this time, Wang Naiyong had just stood on the edge of the sea of calligraphy, and he had not yet felt the depth of the vast sea of the sea. The more he studied, the more he felt his own shallowness, and the more he wrote, the more he realized his own shortcomings. Dissatisfied with himself is always the beginning of progress, he wants to look for the city's calligraphy circle of high people, humbly seek advice, point out the confusion, and quickly enter the colorful world of calligraphy.
In the first month of 1988, Wang Naiyong entrusted him to Chef Li Shaoli of the Xinxiang County Commercial Bureau. Our lovely Xinxiang City calligraphers can be both guests of officials and businessmen and regular guests of commoners, and Li Shaoli's few small dishes are deeply loved by several Xinxiang City calligraphy masters, and they often drink at Li Shaoli. So within two days, Wang Naiyong mentioned Luzhou Daqu to meet the famous calligraphers inside and outside the province, Teacher Feng Zhifu, Teacher Wang Hai, and Teacher Liu Sentang. Bowing and toasting, the three teachers happily accepted Wang Naiyong as a disciple.
The three teachers have their own preferences for writing, and their kung fu is profound but their styles are different. Teacher Feng Zhifu instructed Wang Naiyong to turn from Tang Kai to Wei Bei to prepare for the future writing of xingcao; teacher Wang Hai said that if he wrote Yan Body, he would open up and write Yan Body Xingshu; Teacher Liu Sentang suggested that he follow me to write Zhang Ruitu's cursive. For a period of time, Wang Naiyong learned from the three teachers at the same time in a more concentrated way, eclectic, absorbing the old and the new, promoting the strengths and avoiding the shortcomings, striving for excellence, laying a solid foundation for calligraphy, and then opening branches and leaves, choosing what they loved, and doing it for a long time. It is precisely because of the guidance of the three teachers with different styles and different methods that Wang Naiyong has developed comprehensively in calligraphy, and is one of the few calligraphers in the national calligraphy circle who has entered the national exhibition and won the grand prize in the national calligraphy circle in the calligraphy field.
After all, in kai, grass, subordinate, seal, line Wang Naiyong must have his own preferences, personality will often become the decisive factor of the main target, Wang Naiyong was born in a peasant family, from a small field of wind, a tough partner, good nature but just and upright, full of feelings but jealous as a vendetta, heroic and righteous, fast and fast, only cursive can spread his emotions, tilt his accumulation, express his long-cherished wishes, and publicize his thoughts. He identified cursive writing as his favorite, and according to The point of Teacher Liu Sentang, he went to the Ming Dynasty to meet the great calligrapher Zhang Ruitu, who was judged to be a university scholar of the eunuch party because he wrote more of Wei Zhongxian's ancestral monument, and was famous for his cursive writing, his cursive writing was not soft and fashionable, his penmanship was hard and steep, the knot body was clumsy and wild, the layout was staggered, the momentum was fierce, the paper and ink were turbulent, the dragon and snake moved, and a domineering spirit came to the face. Wang Naiyong was always amazed at the post, and a period of time was deeply immersed in it.
When calligraphy is not just a hobby, it becomes sacred, it becomes a belief, it becomes a totem, you will be mesmerized and persevering. After making friends with Zhang Ruitu, Wang Naiyong continued to advance into the depths of history by Zhang Ruitu, and he came to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to pay tribute to Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi's father and son. Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" is known as the "First Line of Books under Heaven", and his "Seventeen Theses" are regarded by calligraphers as "dragon elephants in the book", which is the supreme model for learning cursive writing. Wang Xizhi, who is praised as the "Sage of Books", is not so wild in his walking grassland, his calligraphy is peaceful and natural, his gestures are euphemistic and subtle, his posture is beautiful and healthy, and he is idyllic and pastoral, full of splendid world. Peak circuit turn, Wang Naiyong returned to the Tang Dynasty, this is the great prosperity of the Chinese nation, the culture is unprecedentedly active, calligraphy shows the wind, visit Zhang Xu, Huai Su two masters, drinking is their common favorite, drunk and book, the book is immersed in wine, history is called "upside down drunkenness", they are full of naturalistic ideals, the heavens and the earth and subjective feelings are condensed into one, forming a compact and powerful, rigorous structure and fluttering wild grass style, dance on paper, knife light in ink, the thoughts and emotions are sprinkled in the black and white world, The best expression is the calligraphic language of the skillful Tao. There are also Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty, and Zhu Yunming of the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Naiyong was shocked by the calligraphy of the sages and often traveled through time and space to talk to the ancients in the quiet night. In a trance, he was full of philosophical dialectics in the candlelight of the "Two Kings", dipping in Zhang Xuhuaisu's ink, spreading Huang Tingjian's rice paper, hanging wrists, shoulder lifts, luck, points, lines, lines, lines, and faces: hiding and dew, light and heavy, mentioning and pressing, odd and positive, opening and closing, sparse and dense, virtual and real, dry and wet, thick and light, etc., local chaos, overall neatness, seemingly disconnecting the actual hook, the surface tilting and symmetry, the wind and rain, in one go, black and white madness entangled and separated, thick makeup light, dragon flying phoenix dance, unrestrained. A storm, a cloudy sun, a quenching, beauty was born in the fascination of black and white. Wang Naiyong was lying on the case, he had not yet eased up from the ancient people's yantai.
Cursive writing is the most romantic and thorough interpretation of the art of calligraphy. The "two kings" have descended, and the successive dynasties have embraced like carp across the river, but cursive writing is difficult in the instantaneous air separation of points and lines, difficult in the improvement of linear and linear quality, difficult in the change of rhythm, and difficult in the alternation of delay and disease. Precisely because it is difficult, it produces the pleasure of the writing process, the fusion of brush and ink, and the shallow chanting of the pen edge and the friction of rice paper. Wang Naiyong always enjoys this creative process when everything is silent. Just when he was fascinated by cursive, he was still working in a company, busy during the day, and only had time to meet cursive at night. A newsman once asked him, how can he bear to stay up all night with his body and will? Wang Naiyong said that pain and helplessness are "boiling", and I lifted the brush, spread out the rice paper, full of longing and expectation, concentration, flying ideas, there is no half a bit of "boiling" hardships, "boiling" in the form of time, essentially refers to love, do not love even the wind and the sun is also "boiling".
Genius is only half right when it comes to hard work, and in the world of art, understanding is an important supporting force for genius. In the absolute time of pen, ink and paper, Wang Naiyong is by no means the frontrunner, there are more calligraphy enthusiasts studying in the morning and dusk, and even Hao Shou is poor but does not have the essentials, circling in a nest and finally unable to solve. Wang Naiyong's understanding of calligraphy has been recognized by the calligraphy community, this understanding first comes from his character, his decisiveness, his courage, his abandonment, his persistence, manifested in calligraphy is the courage to use the pen, good at breaking through, both respect the legal principles, but also not mud in the ancients, the pen follows the shape, the shape is random. The second is his dialectical ability, everything in the world, with each other, yin and yang as companions, rigid and soft, in the shape of crazy cursive writing without a regular existence. The third is that when he first entered the Tao, he worshipped a good teacher, humbly asked for advice, and took fewer detours. The fourth is his reading, both professional and extended, reading can not be a show, can not just match the cabinet, only interested in can not let go, his ancient thesis to read every chapter and page are generally printed in the mind.
Heroes don't ask where they come from, and talent stands out. In December 2006, the first national calligraphy exhibition opened in Yiwu, Zhejiang, although it is Jiangnan, it is also cold and windy, but the exhibition hall is crowded, enthusiastic like fire, calligraphy from all over the country gathered together, judging the works selected from all over the country. The 37-year-old Wang Naiyong is still a young man in the domestic calligraphy industry, from Xinxiang, Henan, who does not know calligraphy and does not worship the audience. But as soon as Wang Naiyong's entry was hung, the passers-by stopped their steps, it was a large axis that was one foot tall and two feet high, grabbing the sky and the earth in many entries, the works were grassy in the line, the qi rhymed smoothly, suddenly handsome and flowing, suddenly strong and heavy, broken and connected, alternately staggered, no contrived state, the up and down conversion was completed between the two, natural, domineering, Wei Jin's wind, Tang and Song's qi jumped on the paper. Wang Naiyong, the little-known young calligrapher of Xinxiang, was very angry.
This huge and outstanding work rushed into the national calligraphy exhibition like a dark horse, won the unanimous applause of the judges, and was finally rated as the highest first prize. With his thick accumulation and thin hair, Wang Naiyong's profound calligraphy skills and spiritual calligraphy consciousness have kept him busy harvesting in various calligraphy competitions across the country. He has embraced three national exhibitions, two Lanting Awards, the first prize of Lishu, and three project (famous artists, famous works, and masterpieces) awards. In today's domestic calligraphy circle, Wang Naiyong has the reputation of award-winning professional households.
Due to Wang Naiyong's achievements, Xinxiang's calligraphy has entered the forefront of the country, and Wang Naiyong has been repeatedly invited to become a judge of cursive calligraphy exhibitions around the world.
So many young masters, doctors, and talents from all walks of life have written Chinese characters such as dead branches and leaves, crabs crawling snakes, that he can't bear to read. Is calligraphy just an art of ornamentation?
A good artist must be a person of good art and moral character, so that he can be respected and loved by the people. In history, there are many people who are artistic and morally unprepared to be snubbed by the people, and as far as calligraphers are concerned, Cai Jing of the Northern Song Dynasty is a typical example. Cai Jing's calligraphy is charming, the characters are bold, the pain is calm, and it is a self-contained body, becoming the calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, when he was a very popular subject, he formed a party for personal gain, greed and corruption, enslaved the people, framed Zhongliang, and became a sinner for eternity, and his calligraphy was also sealed in history because of his lack of morality. In our art world today, there are also a few examples of people who have their own artistic images due to misdeeds such as wealth and color.
While learning to inherit the art of Chinese calligraphy, Wang Naiyong constantly checks and corrects the establishment and cultivation of his own moral sentiments of the Chinese nation. From an early age, he honored his parents and lived in harmony with his neighbors. For calligraphy teachers of different eras, he will visit every festival, and he will take time out to do his best whenever there is a major event in his home. One day as a teacher, a lifelong brother. During the period when Teacher Liu Sentang was seriously ill, Wang Naiyong accompanied him to Beijing and Shanghai several times to seek medical treatment. Wang Naiyong also always mentioned the kindness of mu lai'an, the boss of his company, to his acquaintance, and whenever he participated in various domestic calligraphy activities, Mu always gave him strong support in time and economy.
In the Xinxiang City Book Association, Wang Naiyong not only learned from each other in art with everyone, but also worked with one heart and one mind in work and life. There was an urgent matter in the family of a member, urgently needed money, it was difficult to borrow money, not to mention the number was not small, endured a few times and could not open his mouth to him, Wang Naiyong said that his brother had something to say, when he learned about the use of money, he immediately searched for several places, and on the same day he turned around.
Wang Naiyong's ability and integrity in calligraphy made him the chairman of the Municipal Book Association in 2019, when the literary and art associations of the Xinxiang Municipal Federation of Literature and Art were undisputed and unanimously expected, and in September of that year, he was elected vice chairman of the Henan Calligraphers Association. In the past, when a person did calligraphy, he could think of anything, but now that he is the leader of the book association, he wants to think about everything. How to lead the city's calligraphy lovers to do calligraphy, how to keep pace with the times, how to make calligraphy truly serve the society and the people, the duty is enlisted, he often can't sleep at night for this.
Of course, he still has to continue to do social welfare activities, write Spring Festival leagues to the masses, donate money and materials to the people in need and disaster areas, and participate in various emergency and volunteer activities in society. But what makes him toss and turn is the letters he often sees, so many young masters, doctors and talents from all walks of life have written Chinese characters such as dead branches and leaves, crabs crawling snakes, so that he can't bear to read.
He wondered, is the calligraphy of the Chinese nation just a form of culture? Is it really just an art of appreciation? He thought of the heroes of the past generations, Xin Renjie, who "drunkenly picked up the lamp and looked at the sword, dreamed of blowing back the horns and camps", got on his horse to kill the enemy with a gun, and got off his horse to write poems; Yue Fei "was hungry for meat, laughing and talking about thirsting for the blood of the Xiongnu"; his "return to my rivers and mountains" grass was magnificent; the great man Mao Zedong's flying cursive "counted the popular figures, and also looked at the mountain city that shook the Kuomintang and the Communists in the negotiations." Which of the great leaders of the national heroes of the past is not the best in calligraphy? This actually shows a truth, calligraphy is an art that coexists with other skills and supports each other, it is not only the inheritance of national culture, it plays a subtle lifelong benefit function in casting people's wisdom, cultivating people's cultivation, and improving people's taste.
Whether we can let the keyboard of the computer and the Chinese characters of the brush become the two wings of children's growth, and whether we can let the four or five-year-old children be able to skillfully play with the hands of mobile phones to give a little time to the pen, ink and paper, which is a good thing for children and the survival and development of the entire Chinese nation.
Of course, there are also the elderly, less chess and card room smoke miasma game, writing calligraphy, calm the mind, cultivate the body and mind, prolong life, medically repeatedly proved the role of calligraphy on the body and mind of the elderly.
Not in its place, not in its own way. As the chairman of the Book Association, Wang Naiyong felt that there were still so many big things to do. Therefore, in the past two or three years, he has contacted several schools non-stop, and the introduction of calligraphy into the classroom has become the primary task of the book association.
Participating in the National Literary Congress and winning the title of "Virtue and Art Shuangxin" is both an affirmation and a new starting point for Wang Naiyong. Teacher Zhang Hai, the former chairman of the China Book Association, has long paid attention to and cultivated Wang Naiyong, and this time Wang Naiyong returned with honors, and Teacher Zhang Hai said with a heavy heart: "I hope that Naiyong will adhere to the artistic attitude of holding simplicity and truthfulness, rooted in the fertile soil of Central Plains culture, both moral and artistic cultivation, and pay equal attention to books and texts, and look forward to greater results." ”
Wang Naiyong, this is also the heartfelt wish of all of us.