Wearing a robe, living in the downtown area, with a hearty temperament and a reputation in the painting world, this is the famous contemporary Chinese painting monk ——— Shi Hui Zen Shi Guoliang.
In 2014, a beautiful painting appeared in the art and literary world and was sold for a high price of 11.73 million, setting a new personal auction record, and this painting was made by the monk Shi Guoliang.
Tibetan artists, masters of Chinese painting, etc., Shi Guoliang carries too many honors and titles, but only the name of "painting monk" is the loudest and most representative of his magnificent life.
He was originally a master in the art world, but when he gained fame and fortune, he chose to become a monk and convert to Buddhism, and he did not hesitate to abandon his wife and children for 15 years in order to pursue the art in his heart.
In the end, he returned to the world because of his son's words and his so-called "can't let go".
As Shi Guoliang himself said, he has been in an "intermediate state" all his life, what kind of person is Shi Guoliang as a painting monk?
初露锋芒
In 1956, Shi Guoliang was born in the suburbs of Beijing, not a famous family as everyone imagined, Shi Guoliang's family of 7 children, parents as workers earn a meager salary to support the family.
In his childhood memories, he often ran around digging wild vegetables in the fields and mountains because he couldn't eat enough to satisfy his hunger, which was hard but enriched his childhood life.
At that time, there were no entertainment activities for children, and Shi Guoliang liked to take a small wooden root and paint on the ground, depicting everything in the field, and this became his way of relieving his worries.
However, due to family reasons, Shi Guoliang did not receive professional training in the early days of painting, and his brushwork was all out of pure love for painting.
It wasn't until he was admitted to Normal University that he formally studied painting, he studied under Zhou Sicong, and under the guidance of his teacher, he really groped out an artistic life of his own on the road of painting.
Zhou Sicong taught
During the period of studying painting, Shi Guoliang was always the one with the most problems and the latest to leave, with this momentum and spirit of study, Zhou Sicong was also very attentive to him, and handed over all his life's learning to him.
Under the guidance of his mentor, his painting skills improved by leaps and bounds, and it was only then that Shi Guoliang truly realized that art was his spiritual sustenance.
In 1978, at the age of 22, Shi Guoliang was successfully admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts as a graduate student, and it was during this period that he met Huang Zhou, the guiding teacher on the road of painting.
During his graduate studies, his painting skills grew rapidly, and at the same time, he also met his lifelong lover Liu Yumei, and after graduating from university, Shi Guoliang was assigned to the People's Liberation Army Art Academy as a lecturer.
His wife worked in a publishing house, he taught in the military arts, and lived a good life, during which he continued to create until 1989, which was the beginning of his career and a turning point in his life.
He won the UNESCO Grand Prix at the 23rd Monte Carlo Grand prix d'Art Moderne with one of his paintings, which caused a sensation in the entire art world and was sought after by countless people, and he stood at the pinnacle of his painting career.
Step into the Buddha's door
In the 80s of the last century, when the domestic market was fully opened and everything was in ruins, Shi Guoliang had already shined in the art world, but it was also during this period that the domestic boom of going abroad was blowing.
During the same period, Chen Danqing went abroad early and held art exhibitions in Paris, New York and other places, which made Shi Guoliang's heart flutter.
In 1989, he sold the award-winning "Carved Scripture" and went to study in Canada alone, Shi Guoliang, who went to Vancouver with a dream, thought that he had created a world abroad, but when he arrived in Vancouver, he found that the reality was not as good as he imagined.
In 1989, he participated in his first exhibition in Vancouver, and all his paintings were embezzled by unknown art dealers.
In Vancouver, he could only huddle in a damp and cold basement until a car accident left him completely confined to his home to recuperate, and he was tormented by the days of having no money and no relatives.
He couldn't accept that he would fall into such a field when he was once glamorous and shining in the art world.
However, Shi Guoliang soon ushered in a turning point, and a friend introduced him to the director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, who immediately expressed his willingness to help him hold an exhibition after seeing his paintings.
The highly realistic figure painting was soon well received by people inside and outside the circle, and the exhibition completely changed his embarrassing life.
Looking at Shi Guoliang's early paintings, most of them mainly reflect the life of the times, and most of his figure paintings come from ethnic minorities such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
His painting style is elegant and generous, his solid foundation is strong, and his vivid brushstrokes interpret the pure, kind and pious inner world of various characters.
And this is all due to his persistent feelings and love for the border peoples, and many of his later creations have used Tibet as a source of nourishment.
Life has improved, his wife has also brought his son to Canada to take care of his daily life, Shi Guoliang has returned to a stable life again, and everything seems to be developing in a good direction.
However, the material difficulties were solved, the spiritual deprivation was incurable, Shi Guoliang's career encountered a bottleneck, he gradually lost his creative inspiration and motivation, he picked up the brush but did not know what to paint, or he could not see the way forward.
Shi Guoliang, whose career was blocked, became decadent and fell into doubt, recalling his life at home and abroad, the huge difference made him difficult to let go, and during this period he began to frequently return to China and run to Tibet, looking for inspiration to relieve the rain in his heart.
During this period, he began to come into contact with religious culture, and later he met the third noble person in his life, "Master Nebula".
At that time, Master Xingyun was going to Vancouver to preach Buddhism, and by chance, Shi Guoliang was enlightened by Master Xingyun, and every time he communicated with Master Xingyun, Shi Guoliang felt more relaxed than ever.
He was deeply attracted by the world of the ancient Buddha and the pure and peaceful life of a monk, so he had the incredible idea of becoming a monk.
In this way, in 1995, 39-year-old Shi Guoliang decided to become a monk and convert to Buddhism, despite his wife's opposition, he left his young son and insisted on going his own way.
Since then, the master of Chinese painting Shi Guoliang has become a "Huizen monk", and he has completely become a person who abandons his wife and children in the eyes of poets.
The world cares, and the monks are still vulgar
But for Liu Yumei, he witnessed every night when her husband tossed and turned due to the exhaustion of inspiration, and he thought that if she could become a monk and let her husband wash away the lead and life number, she would rather wait until her husband was still vulgar, but this wait was 15 years.
In the temple, Shi Guoliang felt unprecedented tranquility, he incarnated as a "painting monk", eating fasting and reciting Buddha, and continued to paint in his spare time, birds, beasts, fish and insects, all natural things are shining under his brush.
Shi Guoliang's inspiration burst out completely, and he gradually became inseparable from the ringing of the temple bells and prayers, only by listening to these can his heart be at peace, and he can be inspired to create.
In 2001, Liu Yumei took her son to visit Shi Guoliang in Chan Temple in Berlin, Hebei Province, and saw his wife and grown up son who were running for life, Shi Guoliang was full of emotion.
Thinking that he had escaped the hardships of life for the sake of art and left his wife behind, he was deeply tormented, and he felt very annoyed by his wife's guilt and his ruthless actions.
"You are a monk, not my father", he was filled with grief when he saw that his teenage son was full of unfamiliarity in his eyes.
Maybe he was too idealistic about the life of Buddhism, or maybe he never completely left the world and let go of the red dust, Shi Guo's conscience secretly buried the decision to return to the world.
But for various reasons, Shi Guoliang's idea of returning to the vulgar was delayed, and this was placed for nearly ten years, and then after careful consideration, Shi Guoliang decided to officially return to the vulgar and remarry with his wife.
After 15 years of conversion to Buddhism, "abandoning his wife and children" brought him back to the world, but no one can tell what he really thought in his heart, and his return may be due to the fact that the art he pursued is contrary to the concept of Buddhism, or maybe he is really guilty of his wife and children.
However, it is undeniable that he gave him ample creative inspiration and painting skills during his 15 years at the temple, and it was this experience that made him usher in a highlight moment.
The ups and downs of life, the perception of being born and entering the WTO were all turned into creative brushwork, and Shi Guoliang created the world-shocking "Turning the Scripture Map", which was auctioned at a high price of 11.27 million, setting a new auction record for Shi Guoliang's works.
In 2022, Shi Guoliang ranked 26th on the Hurun Art List with a turnover of 30.8 million yuan.
After returning from 15 years of practice, he re-entered the red dust, and had a different feeling, and finally returned to his family after going around and around, perhaps this is the best result for Shi Guoliang.
Resources:
1. The Paper: Promise with Body, Fight with Life, Shi Guoliang's Legendary Artistic Life, 2022-10-26
2. Guangming.com: Shi Guoliang: Artists should be pure, 2020-12-30
3. Art China: Painting Monk Shi Guoliang Practicing in the Fireworks and Incense_ Art China2006-2-24
4. For auction information, please refer to: Beijing Poly International Auction Co., Ltd
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