Author: Yuichi
Cui Ruzhuo has many disciples, and the two disciples with the greatest influence, the most positive lineage, and the best in the market are Zhang Guoxiang and Shao Ge.
"Pen and ink should be with the times" Shi Tao's sentence must first deepen the tradition, and then "with the times". The former inherits virtue and remembers the ancestors, and then borrows from the past and opens up the present. The inheritance of the tradition of Chinese painting is actually the inheritance of the brushwork, lines, and ink methods of the ancients, as well as the artistic conception and mood of the ancients. From Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Li Kuchan, Cui Ruzhuo, Zhang Guoxiang and Shao Ge, they have become the watchmen of the Chinese painting tradition and the forerunners of innovation in the new century. The height of the pen and ink has entered the realm. From freehand to small, from splashed ink to splashed color, each has its own characteristics, each with its own appearance, and has its own style. Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, and Li Kuchan are all century-old masters and masters who have been positioned in history. Mr. Cui Ruzhuo is still alive, so the author will not comment on it and leave it to the historical positioning! I focus on the analysis of Mr. Cui Ruzhuo's two disciples, Zhang Guoxiang and Shao Ge.
Mr. Zhang Guoxiang is a well-known connoisseur of calligraphy and painting, collector and painter. From ancient times to the present, good art, fine appreciation, good calligraphy and painting such as Zhao Mengfu, Wen Zhengming, Zhang Daqian, Pu Xinji, Xu Bangda, Xie Zhiliu, Qi Gong abound... The sages used pen skills, narrated the tail of the signature, public and private seals, on the decoration of the sleeves, recorded the murals of various temples, ancient and modern secret paintings, the origin of paintings, the rise and fall of paintings, the analysis of the teacher's inheritance and sectarian relationship of the painters of the past dynasties, coupled with the influence of the literati around him and the authentic works of the famous masters of the Palace Museum, all of which have allowed Mr. Zhang Guoxiang to accumulate a lot of rich and solid theoretical foundation and telepathy. In recent decades, in Beijing TV and other columns, long-term appraisal of famous calligraphy and painting works in every place in the country, coupled with many connoisseurs and peers to discuss and discuss, smell the rich, then called the leader, the eyes through the back of the paper, the fake work has nothing to hide, refining a pair of fiery eyes, insight into the autumn, sharp and unique, good and bad, authenticity at a glance. In the long history of human civilization, the collection of artworks has always been regarded as a noble cultural activity, especially ancient artworks, they not only have high aesthetic value, but also carry a wealth of historical and cultural information, Mr. Zhang Guoxiang has a collection, a collection, a do, to his favorite jade, antiques, calligraphy and painting often play, but also enhance their own pleasant mood and aesthetic taste.
In the author's humble opinion, Mr. Zhang Guoxiang's works are mainly reflected in four aspects: First, the spiritual beauty of the works is ancient, simple, heavy, vast and atmospheric. The pursuit of calligraphy in the simple and ancient interest, quoted to the painting color, naturally not fall in the fresh and thin, but also not in the pink and vulgar color, can use red and green complex and change, is the freehand flower is the best at using color experts. Second, the painting is not the shape. Mr. Zhang Guoxiang's characters, bamboo, landscapes, flowers and birds are full of literary style, but under his pen, the head is rough and the old brushes are draped, the sky is vast, and there is no small interest at all. His works are decent and dignified, with a righteous and majestic spirit in his chest. "The pen has not been swallowed", he is such a breath! Spiritually oriented to borrowing objects and lyrical, every point in the painting does not please anyone, he only paints for himself. 3. The philosophical core of Chinese painting is "Tao." Mr. Zhang Guoxiang goes straight to the way of the universe and nature, reflecting the fundamental law of painting art, Lao Tzu believes that the highest state of the Tao is nature, so it is called "Tao Law Nature". Taoists believe that the creation of Chinese painting emphasizes "being the law of nature" and "the mind is the master of creation". Wei Yuan of the Qing Dynasty said: "The Tao is natural, and those who are the Tao are also natural." Through the brushwork of bones, flesh, blood, gas and other points, lines and cloth white bone method with the pen pay attention to the harmony between man and nature, pay attention to the unity of heaven and man, the pursuit of human law earth, earth law sky, heaven law Tao, Tao law nature. Ancient Chinese philosophy had a different understanding of nature than Western philosophy. The Eastern Jin Dynasty, when Chinese landscape painting was born, was when Taoist metaphysics was popular. The Taoist idea of emphasizing "heart" and "object" has laid the aesthetic concept and foundation for the emphasis on expression and slight reproduction in Chinese landscape painting and even in the whole of Chinese literature and art. Chinese landscape painting depicts the natural landscapes, flowers and trees, presenting a thriving vitality, the heart has a ravine, the mind of the mountains and rivers, Mr. Zhang Guoxiang's works present a quiet, subtle, subtle, faint and moderate and soft beauty, very little impetuous, sabre-rattling fire and fierce feeling. His works do not put the pursuit of realism in shape, color, body and light in the first place, but take "contemplation of the Tao" as the ultimate goal. The aesthetic embodiment of Lao Tzu's "Tao" is a kind of subtle, distant and hazy beauty. It is precisely this "invisible elephant" beauty that gives infinite vitality to landscape painting. Fourth, Mr. Zhang Guoxiang's finger ink field has been developed along the traditional veins of Gao Qipei, Pan Tianshou, Li Kuchan, Cui Ruzhuo and other finger ink freehand flower and bird paintings, taking its advantages and forming a personal face. Looking at his finger ink freehand paintings of flowers and birds, the taste is strong, the retraction is free, and the lines are thick and clumsy. In fact, the so-called taste of the brush and ink is not produced by the brush and ink alone, but is rooted in the inner heart of the master of the brush and ink, that is, the painter, who paints my heart.
In 2024, Zhang Guoxiang will be selected as a Da Hong Pao painter, and it can be said that there are very few painters who can be selected for Da Hong Pao, and Zhang Guoxiang is the only Da Hong Pao painter who has passed the review at one time. All the artists selected for Da Hong Pao must be national treasure artists, and they must be outstanding people who have made outstanding contributions to the Chinese art world, and their works will also become an eternal representative of the times!
Mr. Shao Ge and Mr. Zhang Guoxiang were also born in Beijing. The environment and region are profound, and the cultural heritage is profound, and both of them are from the disciple of Mr. Cui Ruzhuo, who is also a famous calligrapher and painter in Beijing. However, the works of the two have the same work, but also have differences. Mr. Shao Ge's works are a combination of traditional brush and ink and new ink painting, and the word "new" in the new ink painting school is relative to the previous historical periods, because it has a leap forward in the core problem of ink painting, the precise control of color tone, which has not been seen before and is epoch-making. Mr. Shao Ge's works pay attention to the treatment of fiction and reality, and his works are concise, coarse, and hearty; The shape is natural, vivid and interesting. Shao Ge's sketches also attach great importance to the play of pen and ink and the shaping of imagery and artistic conception. Heavy line modeling, loose and flexible, vivid and natural, simple and simple.
At the age of 13, Mr. Shao Ge apprenticed to the master of Chinese painting Cui Ruzhuo, he was the first disciple of Mr. Cui Ruzhuo, so he was deeply passed on, not only that, but he was also a proud protégé of Mr. Cui, who did not disappoint his teacher and became an influential contemporary artist. The main colors of Shao Ge's ink paintings are black, white and gray, especially gray is the main color of Shao Ge's works, which makes the black, white and gray pictures more harmonious and richer. If you want to add color to your works, Shao Ge also focuses on the atmosphere that color can bring, rather than the color itself, modern ink is derived from tradition, and then through continuous experimentation, the modern feeling of ink is established. Some people in the industry have commented that Shao Ge's paintings transcend the pattern and aesthetic norms of traditional ink painting.
Mr. Shao Ge is the president of the China New Ink Painting Academy and the vice president of the China International Calligraphy and Painting Art Research Association. Not only has the auction price reached new highs and he has become the darling of the art auction market, but he is also compiling books and publishing books, exchanging exhibitions, hoping to exchange his experience and discuss it with everyone.
As of 2024, the 80-year-old master of Chinese painting, Mr. Cui Ruzhuo, has been ranked in the top two of the Hurun Chinese Art List for ten consecutive years, and is currently a doctoral supervisor of the Chinese Academy of Arts, which is the highest art research institution in China and the highest palace of artistic talents. Under such an accomplished master of Chinese painting, there are two of the most influential students in the art world today, Zhang Guoxiang and Shao Ge, who have become the leaders of Mr. Cui's disciples, and they deserve to be famous.
The so-called insistence on cultural self-confidence, integrity and innovation, our Chinese painting, a long-standing art form, has formed a unique and rich appearance after thousands of years of precipitation and polishing. In the new historical period, how to keep Chinese painting alive and innovative has become an important issue in the current art world. Integrity and innovation are the only way for the development of Chinese painting. Mr. Zhang Guoxiang and Mr. Shao Ge have promoted the sustainable development of Chinese painting with an upright and innovative attitude, injected stronger impetus into our cultural self-confidence, and made greater contributions to the cultural prosperity of all mankind.