The artistic characteristics of the seal book "Book of Poetry, Daya, Mian" created by Mr. Yan Gongda are mainly manifested in three aspects:
First, the temple weather, Zhengda pattern.
It should be said that although many well-known artists are in high positions and live in temples, their minds and souls have not entered the temple. Teacher Gongda went from the grassroots painting institute to the leadership position of the Provincial Calligraphy Association and the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and then to the vice chairman of the China Calligraphy Association for two terms, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for two terms, and a professor at Nanjing University, Southeast University and Tsinghua University...... Especially during his two terms as members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, his nearly 100 proposals fully demonstrated his concern for society and people's livelihood, and kept up with the pulse of the times. He has the broad-mindedness and sincere feelings of a literati doctor. From his cursive scroll "Ode to Sports", "City Makes Life Better", "Backbone of the Century", "Expression of the Times", "My Chinese Heart", "Ode to the Soul of the Army", and now "The Book of Poetry, Daya, Mian", he has been practicing the ideal of art for life, integrating his artistic expression with social responsibility.
Teacher Gongda is in a high position, has a social foundation in his heart, and has a good time in his pen. What is presented in his works is always the temple atmosphere, the grand pattern. Some critics believe that Mr. Gongda's calligraphy reflects "the prosperous atmosphere of clouds and clouds, grace and generosity." "The seal script masterpiece "The Book of Songs, Daya, Mian" donated today is 190 centimeters high and 710 centimeters wide. It can be described as a huge work and magnificent. As a theme creation of seal scripts, especially the theme of large seals, this work is unique today. There are a total of 224 words in the theme of the whole text, most of which are more than 20 centimeters in diameter, and they are created in large and large characters, and some words are even traceless in the Shang and Zhou Jinwen systems, and can only be derived from them. Some words are repeated many times in the content, and the writing has to be full of variety, which is extremely difficult to create.
Throughout the whole article, the pure center uses the pen, and the pen is heavy and heavy. Take the momentum in the air, reverse into the astringent line, wrap the edge to kill the paper, the pen gesture is like a thousand jun, and the force penetrates the back of the paper. The knotted shape is scattered and gathered, the body is square with a circle, the odd is born together, the positive can contain the strange, the strange is not positive, and it will be neutralized.
Thinking determines the mind, and the technique presents the pattern. "The Book of Songs, Daya, Mian" is solemn and dignified, the momentum is magnificent, showing a big pattern, this kind of "big", is the most rigid, to the middle, to the positive atmosphere. The times call for this kind of positive pattern, and the times also need this kind of temple atmosphere.
Second, Zhong Ding's temperament, high and ancient style.
I remember the first time I visited this work, it was at the beginning of this year in the Zhuangyuan Building of Jinling Confucius Temple, and my fellow Taoist friends were all amazed after watching it. Everyone was not only amazed by the magnificence of the work, but also the inherent noble temperament and ancient style of the work. As the 84th generation grandson of Yan Yanzhi, one of the ten philosophers of Confucius, Mr. Gongda is a descendant of a famous family, with a deep family education, ancestral virtue and Qingfen, and cultural heritage, so that he has an innate noble temperament. There is always a temperament in his pen, that is, the graceful and luxurious atmosphere of "excellent travel, calm and calm", and the gentleman's style of "not agitated, not aggressive, and the style is far away".
I remember that as early as 21 years ago, Mr. Gongda wrote prophetically in the "Message of the Waves": We are at the turn of the century, standing at the intersection of this era, I think of the appeal of Confucius - "A gentleman is not worried about poverty." "Looking around, when materialism is widely advocated and liberated, people tend to begin to despise the sublime, and the spiritual plateau will go to silence and fall. In the face of the rapid knowledge economy and the extensive application of network-based information technology, the psychological crisis has quietly approached modern people. In the 21st century, society will enter a high-speed track more rapidly, with culture and commerce, sticking and penetrating. The culture of the masses is engulfed in the operation of capital, eroded in a strong commodity economy, dances with business, and is given back to the people as a by-product of the commercial society. It no longer belongs to the traditional sense of Chinese culture, but occupies the social level. Here, the elite culture is already a lot of sadness, a lot of tragedy......
"Love is so unavoidable that it turns into poetry". Today we follow Gongda from You, in the age of doubt, we look up to the stars and stick to the purity of our hearts. In the eyes of many people, we may not belong to today, but we believe that we will belong to history.
3. Literati atmosphere, clean and easy character.
Teacher Gongda once summarized his aesthetic ideas into four words: clear, clumsy, thick and big. He put the word "Qing" in the first place. He said: Qing is quaint, "turbid" and "vulgar", showing "ease" and "quiet", and the wind rules are from afar. He pursues the aesthetic tone of "purity, simplicity, condensation and quality" in his calligraphy creation, and the word "Qing" comes first. He believes that "Qing" means pure and pure. In the creation, it is manifested as: the pen is clear, the ink method is clear, the rhyme is clear, and the dot painting is simple. Although "The Book of Poetry, Daya, Mian" is a seal book, but the whole text is dignified and concise, and there is agility in the thick and clumsy. Teacher Gongda is not only good at modeling and landscaping, but also good at creating fiction and creating environment. The pen takes the momentum in the air, and the paper is wrapped in the front, and the force penetrates the back of the paper. Closing the pen is in the air, and the back is hidden. The pen waist is strong, and the nib rhymes. When the circle is not too continuous, the best at breaking the pen, but although the pen is broken, the meaning is also connected, the broken place seeks to live, and the void hides the god, which is really wonderful. He always skillfully defuses congestion, calmly and lightly. His writing is light-hearted and clean, yet full of energy.
In my opinion, the subtle ink method is the main characteristic of "The Book of Songs, Daya, Mian" to become a classic of the times. After Lin Sanzhi and Shamanweng, Mr. Gongda is another contemporary master who is good at using ink. Over the years, he has accumulated rich experience in ink practice, and it can be said that he has surpassed his predecessors in ink use. He believes that calligraphy is based on the pen and becomes in the ink. The seal is born in ink, ink is born in water, and water is the blood of the seal. It can be seen that he attaches great importance to the application of ink painting. In "The Book of Songs, Daya, Mian", it can be said that the ink color is flying, and the thick, light, moist, thirsty, and white are presented. As the saying goes: strong desire for its life, light desire for its flower, moist its beauty, thirst for its danger, white guard its ink...... Each in its own way is breathtaking.
There is also a slight change in "The Book of Poetry, Daya, Mian" and Mr. Gongda's previous works, that is, the "turning the curve into a straight" and "turning the long into a short" in his strokes makes the lines simple, the works more elegant, and more bookish.
Teacher Gongda often said: "I love the ancients, but not the old, I talk to the ancients every day, but I always absorb the fresh air of the times." Elegant, subtle, simple, peaceful, and simple are the artistic styles I have been pursuing for nearly 50 years. Simplicity is the basic orientation of my artistic aesthetics. Clear, win the natural, peaceful, quaint, high-minded, simple bookish atmosphere. ”
It can be said that this seal script "Book of Poetry, Daya, Mian" embodies the artistic style and aesthetic pursuit of Mr. Gongda, and also represents his artistic height, and it is also the peak of calligraphy in this era.
Jiang Liyu, a famous art critic, commented on Mr. Gongda's "creation is based on the sublime, the majestic is beautiful, and the elegant is elegant, reaching the artistic realm of the majestic and noble." He poured profound learning, rich poetry, and the spirit of the times into his books, turning the plain into magnificence, and the ordinary into magic, but seeing the spiritual lines, if you look up, if you come and go, you can't be like ......".
This "Book of Songs, Daya, Mian" has an ancient style, but when it is presented in front of us, it is so vivid and impressive. If Mr. Gongda is "writing" on the white shengxuan with his special long-edged sheep's hair, it is better to say that he is "dancing" on the paper with the pen in his hand, and the ancient words are "activated" under his pen, such as a column of soldiers, size, adversity, ups and downs, dryness, shade, density, back, and scattering...... Let the sharp edge of his pen be reprimanded, and the ink commands. In his "dance posture", there are twists and turns, and there are heavy and light spirits, regardless of the beginning and end, looping, correct, light and heavy, swift and slow, virtual and real, they are extremely exquisite. In his "dance steps", it is fair, even, coherent, shifting, changing...... The steps are clear, and the tricks are suitable. The teacher is ancient but not ancient, so that Mr. Gongda's pen has both ancient law and noble spirit.
Li Xiao is a director of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, secretary-general of the regular script committee, president of the Jiangsu Provincial Calligraphy Court, and vice chairman of the Jiangsu Calligraphers Association