On April 11, 2024, the "Inheritance of the Dharma - Zhang Baozhu Teachers and Students Chinese Painting Exhibition" opened in the round hall of the Art Museum of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts. Zhang Zhimin, director of the Chinese Artists Association and former president of Shandong Academy of Arts, Li Xueming, professor of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts, Wang Xiaojuan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts, Dong Zhanjun, dean, Sun Dagang, vice president of Shandong Academy of Arts and Crafts, Yang Feng, vice chairman of Shandong Federation of Literary and Art Circles and consultant of Shandong Art Association, as well as Zhang Baozhu's teacher and student creative team and guests from all walks of life More than 200 people attended the opening ceremony, and Zhang Yanxia, vice president of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts, presided over the opening ceremony.
At the opening ceremony, Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts hired Mr. Zhang Baozhu as a visiting professor and issued a letter of appointment. Mr. Zhang Baozhu donated works and books and albums to the art gallery and library of the school respectively, and the school issued him a collection certificate.
As a leading figure in the Qilu painting circle, Mr. Zhang Baozhu has been in art for more than half a century, and has always insisted on reaching out to tradition with one hand and going deep into life with the other. He firmly based himself on the artistic standard of Chinese painting, traced back to the aesthetic tradition of ink and wash freehand, and absorbed the charm of the Tang Dynasty, the hills and ravines of the Song Dynasty, the brushwork of the Yuan people, the aesthetic style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the model schemas of modern and modern masters. In the process of observing the scene, visually, pen-writing, remembering, and tempering the pen and ink, so as to forge a solid freehand foundation, the pen is free, completely from the heart, not confined by the law, not only the shape of the charm, vividly write the mental image, the creation of the ethereal and elegant, hearty, majestic, and atmospheric, with the inspiring aesthetic aura, spiritual energy and the aesthetic spirit of "creating something out of nothing" and "elephant invisible" highlighted in the work, it is unique in today's painting world.
Since 2017, Mr. Zhang Baozhu has been invited to serve as a tutor of the landscape painting advanced research class of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts for three consecutive periods. He teaches students according to their aptitude, loves and cares for students, and always cares about students' artistic growth and academic progress, teaching anytime and anywhere. In the process of teaching, he unreservedly imparted his valuable creative experience accumulated over the years to students, guided students to love traditional Chinese painting, strictly followed the rules of Chinese painting creation, and carried forward the spirit of freehand, and cultivated more than 100 outstanding students of all ages in his happy teaching interaction in the past 7 years. In the process of leading students to sketch, Mr. Zhang Baozhu has accumulated more than 200 long scrolls by himself.
This exhibition exhibits more than 200 masterpieces created by Zhang Baozhu's teachers and students in recent years. These works are rich in themes and diverse in technique, from huge monumental structures to large-scale sketches, with both green mountains and green waters, as well as poetic flowers and birds, both the inheritance of traditional context, and the highlighting of aesthetic personality. These works strongly show that Mr. Zhang Baozhu and his students depict, record and express the magnificent picture of the new era with their brushes, and freely eulogize the magnificence and diversity of the motherland, showing the extraordinary spirit of the new era with vigor and high spirit, embodying the artistic pursuit and fruitful achievements of teachers and students inheriting traditions, keeping integrity and innovation, and making continuous progress, and presenting the development trend of contemporary Chinese painting creation in harmony with the times, advancing in diversity and blooming with a hundred flowers, which has been widely praised by audiences from all walks of life.
On the afternoon of the opening day, a seminar was held on "Inheritance of the Dharma - Exhibition of Chinese Painting Works by Teachers and Students of Zhang Baozhu". The leaders, guests and student representatives gathered together to express their opinions and speak freely around the inheritance and academic innovation of Chinese painting, and to better promote the teaching of Chinese painting, and unanimously highly affirmed the importance of this event, and decided that all parties should work together to lead the follow-up of the advanced research class to a new height, and cultivate and deliver more art talents for the society.
Mr. Zhang Baozhu has always emphasized "respecting tradition and inheriting the law", which is to return to the right line of national culture, pay attention to the connotation of Chinese painting and the traditional basic skills of constructing these connotations, and express the hills and valleys in the chest. In other words, this is not only the inheritance and development of traditional landscape painting art, but also the inheritance and promotion of the spirit of Chinese culture. This is the meaning of the "Dharma Tradition." He said that in the future, he will lead the students to work together to write Danqing on the earth, guide the students to further go deep into life, do a good job in learning, follow the authentic freehand context, keep pace with the times, connect with the local atmosphere, and integrate with personality, so as to create a brilliant new image for Chinese painting and expand a new realm.
We firmly believe and wish that their teachers and students will create more masterpieces for our time in the relay of art passed down from generation to generation in the future!