Written by | Peach steam
Photography | haohaoo
A good city will give people a shortcut to nature.
For example, art museums.
In this warm autumn, an exhibition full of flowers, birds and nature is underway.
This is a world of flowers and birds created by Mr. Tsang Hyo-rin.
In his pen, the flowers bloom strongly and the birds are vivid and lively. Let's hide here, away from the real world for a short time, and perceive the beauty of another dimension.
What would life look like if it could be folded into different shapes?
I think Mr. Zeng Xiaolian's answer will be a paintbrush.
Mr. Tsang Hyo-lian
Known as the first person in Chinese plant painting, he graduated from high school and went to Kunming Botanical Research Institute as a trainee draftsman, spending half his life with paintbrushes. He has participated in the painting of "Flora of China" and "Flora of Yunnan" and other works, and published more than 2,000 illustrations. To this day, Mr. Zeng Xiaolian is 82 years old and still holds a paintbrush.
Some people say that Zeng Xiaolian's paintings have a beauty that the camera cannot restore
I think this assessment is no exaggeration. Mr. Zeng's flowers and birds, each of which is vivid and has amazing details.
Therefore, it is better to spend an afternoon to go to the 9th floor of CGK Kunming Museum of Contemporary Art, enjoy Mr. Zeng Xiaolian's "One Flower, One Bird, One World", and feel a natural visual feast.
This is the second time that Mr. Zeng has held an exhibition at CGK. Compared with "World of Flowers and Flowers" in 2019, this exhibition mainly exhibits more than 80 works he has created in the past three years, including flowers and birds.
Walking in the exhibition hall, the collision of pure white and dark green seems to make you feel like you are in the middle of a leisurely green mountain under the white clouds. The flowers burst open the winding of the bamboo grate and bloomed warmly.
In the midst of this multitude of green pines and flowers, huge LED screens transform into a variety of different plants.
Mr. Zeng's works are in full bloom. They are like the epitome of Zeng Xiaolian's decades of time, day after day of persistence and tirelessness, all hidden in this brilliant color, under the meticulous brushwork.
The cockscomb flowers in front of you are gorgeous and intense. In addition to lamenting its beauty, it also has a jaw-dropping detail, what kind of patience can draw such a delicate petal pattern and stem and leaf vein.
The painting was created in November 2019, when Mr. Zeng had just been discharged from the hospital.
During his hospitalization, Mr. Zeng had little chance to get a paintbrush and was not used to being very strong. When I was recuperating at home, I always thought about what to draw.
Suddenly I saw the cockscomb flowers in the courtyard, the flowers that I usually take for granted, showing a fascinating side at this moment. It only took him three days to turn the cockscomb flowers into a bright and delicate color.
Perhaps beauty is born in this moment of starlight, and even ordinary things will have the gentleness of shadows.
Rich in Yunnan Dianzhong Lou, also known as unicorn lotus, it and the beautiful plumeria, constitute a plain picture. Every tiny trace of the flower stem is carefully traced on paper.
The meticulousness of plant science is unimaginable to ordinary people. It is not only beautiful, but also accurate, to restore the subtleties of the plant one by one. Mr. Zeng often said, "There is no flower, no source, no leaf and no basis." ”
But this is not a kind of indifferent reproduction, but scientists use observation and enthusiasm to show the vigorous life state of these plants and depict the true beauty of nature.
Friends who are obsessed with hydrangeas are amazed by Mr. Zeng's blue and purple hydrangeas, through this thin paper, as if you can feel its fresh water vapor, dragging you back to that hot summer.
Morels, chicken fir mushrooms, dried mushrooms, and camellia flowers that are common in life often appear on the table also bloom their own beauty in this cement mountain.
In addition to flowers, birds are also the protagonists of this exhibition. Mr. Zeng Xiaolian's birds are more vivid and flexible than flowers.
For example, this "red-winged blue-tailed plover", they often inhabit the mountain coniferous forest area above 1000 altitudes. Although it is based on the information provided by Mr. Lin Yingdian, the appearance of spreading wings still makes people feel alive and vivid.
In fact, Mr. Zeng Xiaolian has always wanted to paint birds. Over the years, he collected material and manuscripts for this purpose. But these little creatures soaring in the sky, free and free, often flew away without giving a chance to observe. In order to paint them well, Mr. Zeng spent a lot of effort.
He lived in the Beijing Zoo for more than half a year, and went to the bird park every day to report, observe the posture of the birds, sketch and take pictures. I also went to the herbarium of the Kunming Institute of Zoology to record the morphological characteristics of various birds.
At this moment, a small couple is getting together, looking carefully at the painting in front of them, it turns out that it is called "red-bellied golden pheasant"; the little girl raised her mobile phone and photographed her favorite bird.
When I stood in front of these 15 bird illustrations, this thick wing feather, it was difficult to imagine how tedious and delicate its painting process was. Through their graceful gestures, it is as if they can see the vividness contained in them, at this time, they have a second life.
Mr. Zeng also wanted to paint trees in the future. The trees of the South, he was more familiar with. But in the north, there are many fewer. He wanted to go to Xinjiang and see the poplars. "When you immerse yourself in and resonate with nature, you're finally free," he said. ”
This is the beauty of nature, and it is also Mr. Zeng's reverence and deep love for nature.
In Unknowable, Borges writes:
"The moon does not know her tranquility and purity,"
"I don't even know I'm the moon."
Do flowers and birds know their beauty? Maybe not, but the same is true of us.
But fortunately, Mr. Zeng Xiaolian used delicate brushstrokes to show us those exquisite details. Stroke by stroke, all soft into the heart.
They become eternal on paper, and they become eternal in our eyes.
At 4:30 p.m., the number of people gathered at the art museum suddenly increased. Let's enjoy this moment together.