Mencius said: "The heavens will send down a great task to the Si people, and they will first suffer their minds, strain their bones and bones, starve their bodies, empty their bodies, and confuse their deeds, so they will be moved to endure, and they will benefit from what they cannot." This is the most apt way to describe Ma Jianfei's transformation from a rural boy to an oil painting artist. Because, people who know Ma Jianfei know that he has been trapped and bumpy on the road of art, and he is known to be able to endure hardships in order to paint.
Ma Jianfei, "Spring in Qiankun Bay"
Poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of the clouds
In the 1960s, the countryside of Suide in northern Shaanxi was still very poor, and people could only survive by swallowing chaff and pharyngeal vegetables. Later, due to the compulsion of life, Ma Jianfei went to Yan'an with his parents and settled in Zhangtianhe Village, Zaoyuan, Yan'an.
At this time, although the family's situation has improved, the income is only enough to maintain their livelihood, and there is no excess economic ability to support Ma Jianfei to study oil painting. However, for Ma Jianfei, who wanted to become a painter, the family's tightness did not completely make him give up painting, he looked at his beloved hometown, often "involuntarily in the imagination of his favorite oil painting, and involuntarily with his hands, until others asked him what he was thinking, he woke up from the oil painting imagination that made his soul haunt." ”
"Poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of the clouds." It is this obsession and dedication to oil painting that makes Ma Jianfei firmly go on the road of learning oil painting!
Ma Jianfei "Little Village"
Kung Fu pays off
Ma Jianfei formally studied oil painting in 1983, when he was 20 years old, "My father led me to Teacher Jin's house, and after soliciting opinions, I began to formally learn to paint." That is, since then, Ma Jianfei has become a protégé of the famous oil painter Mr. Jin Zhilin and embarked on the road of professional painting, it can be said that Mr. Jin Zhilin is Ma Jianfei's oil painting enlightenment teacher, and it is also "Teacher Jin that made me (in painting) have a qualitative leap."
In 2001, Ma Jianfei ushered in a turning point in his oil painting study career. This year, the teacher Jin Zhilin accompanied Mr. Jin Shangyi to Yan'an, and Ma Jianfei, who was a grassroots art cadre at that time, had the honor of watching Jin Shangyi's paintings on the side. He described this experience in the "Self-Introduction": "Watching Mr. Jin Shangyi paint, when I first look at it, I feel that there is nothing special, but the more I paint, the more wonderful it is. After watching his fascinating painting process with great excitement, I felt that I had benefited a lot, and I also ignited my enthusiasm for painting, and I seemed to have found the direction of my efforts. And Ma Jianfei's "stealing" work, the portrait of his mother, was also praised by Jin Shangyi, which made Ma Jianfei feel inspired and made him realize the necessity of learning painting from famous artists.
Ma Jianfei "Mother"
In the early autumn of the same year, Mr. Jin Zhilin returned to Yan'an to paint, and Ma Jianfei followed his teacher Jin Zhilin to Xiaocheng Village in Qiankun Bay on the Yellow River in northern Shaanxi to sketch. He said: "That time to go to the Yellow River to sketch was the first time after I graduated from the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts to go with him to sketch and learn landscape oil painting, and that time was much better than the original. ”
After that, Ma Jianfei accompanied Jin Zhilin to sketch all over northern Shaanxi, and together they went to different places to paint the Yellow River, paint the Yellow River people's homes, paint the scenery of the northern country, paint thousands of miles of frozen and snow drifting, paint the former residences of celebrities, historical sites... During the sketching period, Ma Jianfei's hard work left a very deep impression on Jin Zhilin. Jin Zhilin wrote in the article "Ma Jianfei Oil Painting": "On the ninth cold day, we painted the desert snow scene in Yulin together, and I did not dare to paint more because of physical reasons, but he was different, and one painting was more than ten days. His ears are frozen and rotten, his hands and feet are frozen, and he has no complaints; he paints the Yellow River in the hot summer, leaves early and returns late, cannot manage his wife, cannot manage his son, and he has no regrets. ”
Ma Jianfei, "Red Sorghum"
In 2007, Ma Jianfei and Jin Zhilin went to Yan'an Yichuan Hukou to paint the Yellow River. This time, Ma Jianfei's oil paintings were highly appreciated by Jin Zhilin, "There has never been a painting of northern Shaanxi that I have seen so carefully." This is undoubtedly comparable to a thousand gold for Ma Jianfei, which has further strengthened his confidence in painting, so far, Ma Jianfei has more deeply experienced the original philosophy of Jin Zhilin, and strives to pursue the integration of scenes and the unity of heaven and man in painting.
In addition to sketching with his teacher Jin Zhilin in various parts of northern Shaanxi, Ma Jianfei more often drove alone and carried painting tools out to sketch. He likes northern Shaanxi and loves northern Shaanxi, and when he goes out to sketch, he has almost traveled all over northern Shaanxi and painted all over northern Shaanxi, where Ma Jianfei's figure has appeared in the mountains and potholes. Northern Shaanxi to Ma Jianfei is like a fish flying shallow bottom, birds flying in the empty valley, "the sea is wide with fish leaping, the sky is high for birds to fly", Ma Jianfei is the swimming fish and birds of northern Shaanxi. Ma Jianfei said: "Here there is an inexhaustible source of painting, with a rich Yellow River culture, is the seat of the yellow emperor's mausoleum, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and is the holy land of the Red Revolution." The breadth and thickness of this land allow me to create oil paintings with different contents and different forms. ”
Ma Jianfei "Spring Ploughing march"
Ten years of continuous sketching and creation have made Ma Jianfei's painting level a qualitative leap, and he has also won the praise of his teachers, but Ma Jianfei is not satisfied, and still maintains a humble and unashamed learning attitude. Whenever a painter from the China Artists Association and the National Academy of Painting of China went to Yan'an to paint, he accompanied him throughout the whole process, and brought his own works to consult in person and listen carefully to the guidance of the painter. In addition, Ma Jianfei also likes to visit the exhibition, carefully watch each work, carefully ponder, and then apply the feelings in the exhibition works to his paintings, so as to make the works more full.
Ma Jianfei, "The Yellow River"
It is in this way that Ma Jianfei persevered in learning from famous masters and insisted on sketching, so that there was a qualitative leap in painting art: the painting style shifted from persistent realism to the brush and ink freehand of the mountains; the work changed from the simulation of nature at the technical level to the artistic conception of emotional expression and the unity of pen and ink, and finally formed its own oil painting style in northern Shaanxi.
Today, Ma Jianfei has practiced the three processes of a painter from not understanding to maturing, that is, from unreasonable painting to rational painting, and then to painting with emotion.
Ma Jianfei, "Yellow River Snow"
After a thousand sails, it will eventually be successful
Jin Zhilin said: "The soul of oil painting is the color conception. The color conception of the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi is difficult to paint, and the difficulty is that it is so simple and unpretentious. The tone is gray and gray, but it is so clear and transparent, so unique and charming. This is also the unique temperament of the humanities in northern Shaanxi. "Painting oil painting well requires a good grasp of color and its color relationship, however, "many people paint in northern Shaanxi, the use of color is right, and the color relationship is also well grasped, but the painting is always not the tone and color conception that people in northern Shaanxi are familiar with and love." But Ma Jianfei realized the true meaning of landscape oil painting in northern Shaanxi. Thanks to his diligent artistic practice for more than ten years, a large number of sketches have made the morning and evening, yin and sunny, light and dark in northern Shaanxi have long become the line art that he is familiar with, and most of his sketches show the unique charm of the people of northern Shaanxi and the emotional expression of color conception and pen and ink integration.
Ma Jianfei "After the Rain"
In 2014, Ma Jianfei ushered in the first solo oil painting exhibition in his artistic life, "Yellow River Feeding Art - Ma Jianfei Oil Painting Exhibition", this exhibition was exhibited at the National Art Museum of China, once exhibited, it was very sensational, supported by the art community, the opening ceremony and the national famous artists who participated in the exhibition were Jin Shangyi, Shao Dazhen, Jin Zhilin, Fan Dean, Xiao Feng, Wu Changjiang, Zhao Youping, Su Gaoli, Du Jian, Du Ziling, Li Yansheng, Wang Shengli, etc., two of which were also collected by the National Art Museum of China. This is the first time that Yan'an oil painting has entered the National Art Hall to hold a solo exhibition. The theme of the exhibition, "Yellow River Feeding Art", was personally inscribed by Fan Di'an, director of the National Art Museum of China, which fully expressed praise for this artist from Yan'an. The works in the exhibition are full of rich atmosphere and mellow colors from the banks of the Yellow River and the plateau of northern Shaanxi. In 2016, his solo oil painting exhibition "From Northern Shaanxi - Ma Jianfei Oil Painting Exhibition" was held at the Shaanxi Provincial Museum of Fine Arts and the Gansu Art Museum.
Ma Jianfei , "Spring Snow in The Jujube Garden"
Some people say that Ma Jianfei's oil paintings have the symbol of "earth" flavor, full of the simplicity of locality and nostalgia, and have distinct loess characteristics and feelings. However, it is the author's intentions and color interaction, as well as the character accumulated by the long-term life in northern Shaanxi, that makes his works have both "literary quality", which not only properly expresses the simple and rough "quality" of the mountains and rivers in northern Shaanxi, but also allows the viewer to feel the "text" of northern Shaanxi.
Fan Di'an, dean of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, commented: "The cultural qualities of northern Shaanxi and the Yellow River reflected in the content and form of Ma Jianfei's works confirm the path of becoming a talented person who 'one side nurtures one person with water and soil' and 'kung fu pays off'. This artist from the foot of Pagoda Mountain and on the banks of the Yanhe River shows us a pure heart full of ideals and pursuits, as well as the unique artistic style nurtured by the Yellow River. Under the nourishment of the Yellow River, I believe that his art will continue to improve, and his artistic life will be like the Yellow River, crossing the Nine-Curve Eighteen Bay with tenacious perseverance and constantly moving towards a broad prospect. ”
Ma Jianfei 《Suide Lingbao Mountain》
Ma Jianfei once said that he is a consumer painter who follows the painting style system of Dong Xiwen, Jin Zhilin and Jin Shangyi.
Ma Jianfei said that the loose characteristics expressed in painting come from life, he is often moved by the scenery and harmonious artistic conception of nature, sometimes suddenly generates impulses to life, trying to express subtle and heavy characteristics; sometimes he wants to quickly grasp the most touching places and form a sense of unity.
"I will seek up and down, and though I have died nine times, I will not regret it." It is Ma Jianfei's persistent artistic enthusiasm, the spirit of insisting on sketching and creation, and his love for the Yellow River and the homeland of northern Shaanxi that have allowed him to run around the land of northern Shaanxi for more than ten years, using brushes and paints to tell the world about the natural and cultural landscapes of northern Shaanxi.
Lift a bucket of green mountains to paint, carry a shoulder of earth love. This is Ma Jianfei. He is like a singer walking on the shore of the Yellow River and the plateau of northern Shaanxi, using simple and sincere emotions to narrate his love and attachment to the Yellow River and northern Shaanxi
Ma Jianfei, "The Last Remnant snow of Pagoda Mountain"
Ma Jianfei ,"Early Summer"
Ma Jianfei《 "Spring Scene of Northern Shaanxi"