"Quiet" was first examined to be from Ji Kang's "Qin Fu", one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest". "So from the very beginning, tranquility has had a certain hidden relationship with music, which is the prelude to the cleansing of the soul, the Sanskrit sound of peace of mind, and the beautiful pure world of fascination with nature.
Brothers, gouache on paper, 150cm× 150cm, 2009
(Gold Award of the First Chinese Art Award of the 11th National Art Exhibition, Collection of the National Art Museum of China)
Mr. Lu Qinglong has created a large number of landscapes in northern Jiangsu, such as the snow scene of the old garden, the small scenery of the lakeshore, the Loess Plateau and the snow peaks of the high mountains, but in almost all of his landscape works is the silence of no human figure, this kind of silent scenery is not a wilderness, but only an avoidance of the hustle and bustle of the world, just as Wang Wei felt in the poem: "The empty mountains do not see people, but they hear people's voices." Even the water surface in his paintings is as calm as a mirror, there is rarely a trace of waves, there is no wind, no light and shadow, and even no temporality, everything is frozen under the huge heavenly dome, just like a dream, full of poetic tranquility. This kind of quiet scenery is the indifference and clarity filtered by the soul, and it is the years of quiet guarding, floating in the heart of the moon and the light, and enjoying the quiet elegance of the winter solitary day. Mr. Lu Qinglong's hometown countryside and Zeguo snow scene series are his obsession and reminiscence of his homeland for many years, while the Loess Plateau and Chongshan Snow Peak series are the expression of his inner idealism and heroism, the countryside is his inner tenderness, and the plateau Cangshan is his spiritual spine. Tranquility at this time is a kind of spiritual comprehension and realm, a kind of open-mindedness and character, and more importantly, a kind of spiritual hope and responsibility.
Gesang Blossoms, oil on canvas, 180cmx200cm, 2019
(The 13th National Art Exhibition, the 3rd China Art Award, Silver Award, Collection of the National Art Museum of China)
Mr. Lu Qinglong is a very unique artist, simple and restrained, but in his artworks, whether it is figure painting or landscape painting, he can find feelings that can arouse people's inner ups and downs in ordinary and even everyday scenes that may be overlooked. In his early days, he was known for his paintings of "migrant workers", who were a new social group in the context of a new era, an army of peasants who went to the city to work in the city, flooded with construction sites, factories, restaurants and streets under the tide of the new era, they lived in the city, wandered around, and tried to find space to survive in an unfamiliar environment, becoming the shaper of the city and the beautician of the street. Mr. Lu Qinglong refers to them as "brothers", and pays attention to and depicts their lives and living conditions from a level-level or even upward perspective. In fact, Mr. Lu Qinglong's "brothers" are the hometown fathers and villagers who raised him, and they are the warm nostalgia condensed on the canvas. There is no doubt that the nostalgia condensed in his heart will also slowly transform into a touch of nostalgia, which will penetrate into each of his hometown landscape paintings, and depict this plain countryside into a picture full of strong nostalgia, arousing people's deep nostalgia for their homeland.
Our Fathers, oil on canvas, 200cmx180cm, 2017
(Collection of National Art Museum of China)
It is often said that the taste buds before the age of three are the memories that people pursue for a lifetime, and no matter how long they live outside, what comes to mind in their dreams or leisure time is still childhood memories and lingering nostalgia. That's why "the young left home and the eldest returned, and the hometown accent has not changed and the sideburns have declined". Returning to the root is a fate that is difficult to give up. Mr. Lu Qinglong often joked with me: "You study Jiangnan all day long, but your paintings are still full of the taste of our dried potatoes in northern Jiangsu." When I visited Mr. Zhuang Hongxing's painting exhibition not long ago, this "fate" was verified from the theme of his creation for more than half a century, although he left home at a young age, and his hometown "Nanxun" was finally the mother body full of nostalgia that intensified in his creation. In the same way, "brothers" and "homeland" have become the eternal nostalgia and nostalgia in Mr. Lu Qinglong's heart without suspense. It's just that the homeland, the fields and country roads, the riverbank people, and the old trees and magpie crows have all become solidified scenes, lost memories, and thus triggered people's common memories and emotional resonance, and the quiet scenery has become a dream that carries people's spirits.
Winter Rhyme, oil on canvas, 40cmx50cm, 2021
(Collection of National Art Museum of China)
In Mr. Lu Qinglong's quiet hometown and countryside landscape works, the once busy rural roads and once noisy farmhouses are all silent in the memory of history. "The grass path enters the deserted garden, and the birds stay in the trees by the pond." The old watchman left behind is almost an abandoned village community, and in the face of the rolling wheels of the changing times, everything has become so fragile, perhaps it is based on this that the remaining memories have become so precious and warm. At this time, even the snow scenes in his pen do not have a trace of the chill of withered grass and barrenness, but are more lyrical and poetic. "The snowflakes that invade the tomb are still daylilies, and there are wickers in the spring light." Mr. Lu Qinglong's snow scene is full of the breath of spring that is about to melt the ice and snow, and the little green exposed in the inadvertent snow seems to imply the reincarnation of new forces, and the miscellaneous trees in the center of the picture in the scenery of his hometown are the same tenacious persistence. The scenery of the hometown depicted by Mr. Lu Qinglong is an idyllic spiritual homecoming, and it is the great scenery of the times in his childhood memory. The snowy scenery of the countryside he depicts is the gentle and elegant poetry of his hometown that he represents with silver wrapping, "Suddenly like a night of spring breeze, thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloom." The snow scene of the old garden is more simple and concise, and even a large amount of blank space, showing a kind of ethereal detachment, the reflection of the fine withered grass branches in the distance on the mirror-like river surface, virtual and real, loose and tight, flat and dense, white and black, with the smooth brushstrokes of writing to present the beauty of the image of the snow scene.
Countryside 1, oil on canvas, 30x40cm, 2022
(Collection of National Art Museum of China)
"Brothers", "Wandering", "Homesickness", "Rural Road Series", "Snow Scene Series" and other works with rural themes in the hometown of migrant workers are a very important symbolic theme of Mr. Lu Qinglong's creation, and the "Wangguo Festival" that won the gold medal at the 100 Jinling Painting Exhibition, "Gesang Blossoms" which won the silver medal at the 13th National Art Exhibition, as well as "Plateau Impression", "Loess Series", "Red River Valley Series" and other plateau-themed works have become another important theme of his creation, building a new focus and creative highland in the depths of Mr. Lu Qinglong's spirit. Whether it is the homeland of the North Jiangsu Plain or the sparsely populated plateau, it is not Mr. Lu Qinglong's creative image that chooses to hunt for curiosity, but a kind of real simple and mellow nostalgia and spiritual sustenance of parallel sublimation.
One of the Wind Bones of the Earthen Plateau, oil on canvas, 180cmx360cm, 2017
(Collection of National Art Museum of China)
If the hometown countryside expresses the nostalgia that lingers in Mr. Lu Qinglong's heart, then his Loess Plateau and Chongshan River Valley series are his spiritual images to express his mind, the sky full of clouds, the majestic vertical and horizontal mountains, with the calligraphy of the depiction technique, so that the mountains are full of smooth charm, and the picture rises suddenly sublime. "There is snow in Kunlun, and Penglai is often cold." The towering mountains and the rushing Red River Valley all show his inner spiritual atmosphere at the moment, and behind his introverted personality is like the cathartic undercurrent under the seemingly calm water surface of the Red River Valley, implying surging enthusiasm. At this time, the steep mountains are a spiritual metaphor for his conscious cultural responsibility and historical mission, and his plateau series is the transcendent looming of his inner character.
Village Head Series No. 1, oil on canvas, 30x24cm, 2022
(Collection of National Art Museum of China)
Mr. Lu Qinglong's low-key and slightly melancholy personality adds more poetry to his works. He indifferently lowered his ego in order to integrate more into this society, but he put his big self very high, so as to better allow himself to reach the peak of art. His daily forbearance did not reduce his concern for society and life, and he used wordless poems, silent songs, and quiet scenery to praise the beauty of nature and the awe of life, and burst out the power of the humanistic spirit.
Sun Jun
President of Jiangsu Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of Jiangsu Oil Painting Society
June 21, 2023 evening
About the Artist:
Lu Qinglong, born in 1964 in Sheyang, Jiangsu, is currently the deputy dean, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Arts of Nanjing University. Vice Chairman of the Chinese Artists Association, Deputy Director of the Watercolor Art Committee of the China Artists Association, Member of the National Major Theme Art Creation Art Committee of the China Artists Association, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Artists Association, and Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Oil Painting Society.
He has successively won the honorary titles of the 4th "Zijin Cultural Medal" of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, the Young and Middle-aged Literary and Art Workers of Jiangsu Province, the First Batch of Zijin Cultural and Art Talents in Jiangsu Province, and the Famous Teacher of the Jiangsu Literary and Art "Famous Teacher and Apprentice" Program.
He has won the gold medal of the 11th National Art Exhibition "Chinese Art Award", the silver medal of the 13th National Art Exhibition "Chinese Art Award", the bronze medal of the 10th National Art Exhibition, the nominated works of the 11th National Art Exhibition, the gold medal of the "2015 China 100 Jinling Painting Exhibition (Oil Painting)", the nomination award of the Art Committee of the First National Gouache Painting Exhibition, etc.