I met Gao Yun, around 1990, when I planned a set of color comic strips "Journey to the West" in the editorial office of the comic book of China Comic Book Publishing House, and asked Hu Bozong and Gao Yun to draft them. Many good authors are not easy to make appointments, and they often fail to submit their manuscripts on time. But Gao Yun has a sense of responsibility, always guarantees quality and quantity, and delivers the manuscript on time. I was very impressed by this.
With the passage of time, my impression of Gao Yun is also constantly changing, of course, there are also unchanged...
In 1983, the second year after Graduating from Gao Yun University, he created a comic strip "Loren Catching up with the Examination", which was published with the accompanying article of the Comic Book. This is both Gao Yun's debut work and the pinnacle of his work, in 1984, "LuoLun Rush" won the gold medal of the Sixth National Art Exhibition, and then won the first prize (honor award) of the Third National Comic Book Award.
When Gao Yun created "Loren Rushing examination", he avoided the popular clumsy painting style, but borrowed ren Bonian's beautiful and lively. In the handling of clothing patterns and the grasp of style, they are integrated into the language of traditional line drawing of Chinese painting, and the nail head rat tail stroke and the iron line drawing are integrated and used, the lines are beautiful and solid, the style is flowing, the form is fresh, and the starting and turning are like clouds and flowing water, which is very smooth.
The first painting, the text is simple: "During the Ming Dynasty, Luo Lun, a scholar, brought his servants to Beijing to take the test. "Pictured: Vista, rows of houses; Foreground, Loren whipped his fore finger, and the servant rushed to pick up the burden, meaning that the front was coming.
The second painting reads: "When they were passing through Shandong, the servant picked up a gold bracelet and quietly carried it into his arms." "Although there is some representation of the servant picking the gold bracelet, the painter focuses on the representation of Loren. Flowers on the road, willow silk blown by the wind, and talents who open folding fans to make butterflies all show That Loren's youthful pride and full confidence in the test.
In the seventh painting, the master and servant hurry on horseback. A bend of the moon in the upper right corner shows day and night. The sleeping village in the distance, the empty stone bridge nearby, the expression is quiet, and the reader seems to be able to hear the sound of horses' hooves.
In "Loren Rush", Gao Yun absorbed the stylized language of classic drama. For example, the bed frame of the third painting, the stable of the sixth painting, the screen of the eighth painting, the wall of the eleventh painting, etc., are like the set on the stage, highly generalized expression.
Following "Luo Lun Catching the Examination", Gao Yun created the comic strip "Hall of Eternal Life" and won the second prize of the highest award of this year--painting creation with the highest number of votes in the third national comic book award. After that, in 1989, he won the Bronze Award of the Seventh National Fine Arts Works and was included in the university art textbook.
The comic strip "Hall of Eternal Life" strives to conform to historical facts, from architecture, costumes, props, kurama, etc., not a single detail is spared, and materials are collected everywhere to collect evidence. The story of "The Hall of Eternal Life" takes place in the Tang Dynasty, and there are very few relics, so Gao Yun "smells the Tang Dynasty and moves", where there are Tang Dynasty relics, he will run wherever he goes, and the whole country will let him run all over. This 90-piece comic strip took nearly 3 years.
At that time, many museums could not take pictures, so he took dry food, used sketchbooks to describe cultural relics one by one, painted them until they closed, and then went again the next day. Gao Yun's "Hall of Eternal Life", whether it is a magnificent palace, or the decorations, several cases, and screens of the inner palace, there are cases to be documented. Character accessories, singing and dancing, fat horses light fur, sword and light sword shadow, all make you feel immersed. Nowadays, "The Hall of Eternal Life" has become a reference map for film and television dramas.
Gao Yun continued to cultivate and meticulously cultivate classical themes, creating a series of white-painted classical theme comic strips "Huo Xiaoyu", "Peony Pavilion", "Dou E'er Grievance" and so on. Because of his contributions to comic strips, in 1988, together with Zhang Leping, Liu Jijie, He Youzhi and other predecessors, he was listed as one of the "Ten National Comic Strip Artists".
In addition to artistic creation, Gao Yun, like me, is also a publisher.
After graduating from Nanjing Academy of arts, he was assigned to work at Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House. At that time, on the one hand, it mastered the latest research information in the art world, and on the other hand, it was related to the grass-roots level of society to maximize the dissemination of aesthetic ideas.
Gao Yun worked at the publishing house for 23 years. He started as an ordinary editor, and since 1992, he has been the assistant to the president of Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, and has been the vice president, president, president and editor-in-chief ever since. In that year, Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House launched a series of books with national influence, such as the "Old House" series, the "Old City" series, the "Dunhuang" series, etc., bringing good social and economic benefits, making it stand out in the national fine arts publishing house, and was known as a dark horse in the publishing industry.
In the work of the publishing house, Gao Yun is calm and calm, and pursues perfection. He said: "An artist has a flexible and romantic side, but also a rigorous and serious side, which is my pursuit of the state of life. In painting, the courtyard body painting is rigorous, the literati painting is spontaneous, and what I pursue is the combination of the courtyard body painting and the literati painting. In my work, I pay attention to order and procedure, but at the same time pursue the beauty of order and procedure. In short, I strive for a balance in the unity of opposites, without being biased. "To do publishing work, you need to be sharp-minded, and your work needs to pay attention to details, which is consistent with Gao Yun's paintings in the same period." He recalls that time and thinks that dry publishing is also very interesting, you can manage, design, build a product, or even a brand according to your own theory.
At the end of 2004, Gao Yun became the deputy director of the Department of Culture of Jiangsu Province, and the change of identity did not affect Gao Yun's pursuit of art, talking about feelings, Gao Yun said: "Although the positions are different, but the purpose is the same, that is, to make art better serve the public." Looking back, different post experience also has benefits, I feel that my vision has changed from narrow to wide, from near to far, from 'small me' to 'big me' when thinking about problems, and when I create, I not only consider 'entering the play' but also considering 'going out of the play'... Painting like a person, I think these changes will also be unconsciously reflected in the work. ”
At the beginning of the new century, Gao Yun also shifted his focus back to art.
In order to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the New Fourth Army, he created "Remember Us?" "Yongle Xiudian" for the national "Chinese Civilization Historical Theme Creation Project", "Dharma Dongdu" for the "Belt and Road International Art Project", "Off-road Vehicle Family" for the 11th China Arts Festival... In addition, he has also created "Jiangnan Good", "City Walker Series", "Approaching Xinjiang Series", "Dream Series", "Dialogue Angle Series", "Song Coats Series", "Ballet Series" and so on.
In Gao Yun's new works, there are workers, there are writings, there are part-time work belts, there are characters, there are landscapes, there are women, there are Gao Shi, there are ancient people, there are modern people, involving a wide range. Many painters insist on responding to changes with invariance, and eating fresh in one move, while Gao Yun is changing his changes and changing different expression languages and styles with different subjects. This point, however, belongs to the same road as Ren Bonian, Zhang Daqian, Fu Baoshi, etc.
No matter what he did, Gao Yun did it calmly and calmly. All this stems from his diligence, his self-discipline, his experience, his talent. Poetic art, perhaps the expression of his life; Poetic life may be his lifelong pursuit.
(The author Lin Yang is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the former editor-in-chief of China Art Publishing House)