Deng Zifang, born in 1948, is a native of Haikou City, Hainan Province. He is currently the honorary chairman of the Hainan Provincial Artists Association, an advisor to the Hainan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a director of the Chinese Painting Society, a painter of the China Friendship Union Painting Academy, and has served as a director of the China Artists Association for three consecutive years, the vice chairman of the Second Hainan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the chairman of the Second Hainan Provincial Artists Association.
His works have participated in various art exhibitions held across the country, and some of his works have won awards. Among them, "Li Zhai Spring Morning" was selected to go abroad to participate in the exhibition; "New Chick Sound", "Li Female Teacher", "Green Island in the Blue Sea", "Crescent Moon", and "Bright Moon born on the sea" were all selected for the national art exhibition; the Chinese painting "Binhai New Town" was selected for the Biennial Exhibition of the National Academy of Painting and the First Chinese Painting Exhibition; the Chinese painting "Li Shan Xiushi" was selected for the National Chinese Painting Exhibition to welcome the Olympic Games; the Chinese painting "Morning Rhyme of the Beach" was selected for the Nomination Exhibition of Chinese Painting Works in the Western Splendor; and the Chinese painting "Li Jia Qiu Shi Tu" was selected for the Chinese Painting Fine Arts Exhibition of the members of the China Artists Association The Chinese paintings "Morning Rhyme of the South China Sea" and "Youshan Mingquan" were stored and collected by the embassies and consulates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China abroad; in 2007, "Spring Colors Show the Mountains" and in 2009, "Pastoral Songs of High Mountains Flowing Water" were collected and hung by the Great Hall of the People; in 2008, the Chinese painting "Silver Beach" was selected for the United Nations Family Painting Exhibition of Chinese Painters.
I am "I" and there is a way to follow
Kafka said that every real work of art is a document and a testimony.
The world's art is vast and full of artistic styles. How to find one's own language, symbols and illustrations in painting is the artist's lifelong pursuit. In the Hainan painting world, the locally grown artist Deng Zifang is a special figure, his prints are unique; The Chinese landscape forms a unique "Deng family-like"; his paintings have many collectors.
How did he do it?
Yesterday, which cannot be returned, is full of affection
In 1948, Deng Zifang was born in a family of ordinary citizens in Qiongshan District, Haikou City. There were five or six brothers and sisters, and the days were tight. Fortunately, the eldest brother Deng Zijing took the lead in guiding, and the three brothers became well-known artists in the future through hard study and hard training.
But how can those hard years be forgotten!
The Deng brothers have loved to draw since childhood, and when they were still in middle school, Deng Zifang's debut work "Happy to See the Flowers of Dazhai" had been published in the Hainan Daily, which made him excited. In 1967, Deng Zifang, who graduated from high school, was introduced by his eldest brother and entered the Baoting County Federation of Trade Unions as a propagandist.
Young people are talented and motivated, around 1969, Deng Zijing, Deng Zifang as the pioneer of the "Mountain Flower Printmaking Group" was established, nearly thirty Han, Li, Miao youth, followed them to write and paint, and constantly launched printmaking works. Deng Zifang is the most important backbone among them. He is a man of natural temperament and kindness, cheerful and enthusiastic, loves to laugh and humor, can produce laughter wherever he goes, and he is also tall and handsome, very likable. Within two years, he was "lifted" and transferred to the Cultural Center.
Deng Zifang was more motivated for this. He ran up and down, contacted and publicized everywhere, recruited students to run classes, and talked to teachers. Whenever I find a good seedling, teach it hand in hand, and see the students produce works, it is simply more exciting than their own creation! For example, Lin Kaiyao, a Li ethnic group who later grew up to be an expert in Li Jin studies, had his original artistic dream sprouted in this "Mountain Flower Printmaking Group", and Deng Zifang was the gardener who carefully watered his growth.
Wang Yangming said: "Quiet understanding, tempering in things", these activities not only exercise his ability to deal with the world, but also expand the vision of this young man, Baoting Mountain's different Li Miao customs and customs, but also constantly stimulate his creative enthusiasm.
At that time, the difficulties of lack of funds were at the forefront, what to do? Cut back on food and clothing, and find ways to overcome it! Zeng Wenzheng said publicly: "You can't stand the poor, you can't stand the quality." I can't bear it, I can't do anything"---------------------------------------------------------------------- After getting it, it was extremely precious to save, so at that time, most of them were small works.
But a small one can hardly hide its talent!
The "Mountain Flower Printmaking Group" in the depths of the Mountains of Hainan is mainly based on the themes of Li miao style, tropical plants, mountain forests and seas, and village folk life, and through the unique artistic language and expression of printmaking, the works present a strong regional cultural color and strong local atmosphere, fully reflecting the characteristics of the times and regional characteristics. They are visually and connotatively distant from similar works, the so-called "touching tens of millions of flowers, pleasing only two or three branches", how can the viewer not produce a sense of novelty and chicness!
The "Mountain Flower Printmaking Group" opened a precedent for Hainan's regional characteristics of art.
Among them, Deng Zifang's black and white woodcut prints, each of which strives to show a strong atmosphere of life and self-feeling in ethnic minority areas. Under Deng Zifang's carving knife, the young girls dressed in Li and Miao costumes are healthy and have vivid expressions; animals such as cattle, sheep, chickens, and birds are cute, and they together with the tropical plants with lush flowers and leaves constitute a vibrant paradise on earth. Just looking at this picture rich in the beauty of life, the beauty of labor, and the beauty of the region makes the viewer feel happy!
Deng Zifang, who pays special attention to composition and lyricism, also pursues a unique taste of knife and wood, and he knows that in the creation of black and white woodblock prints, the application of dotted line surface morphemes is the bones and blood in the creation of black and white woodblock prints, supporting and moisturizing the entire black and white woodblock printmaking process. At that time, he showed the characteristics of striving for "ingenuity" in each creation, such as his "New Moon" and "New Chick Sound", etc., which showed that he was particularly attentive to seeking unique creative concepts and visual experiences, intending to break through the aesthetic mode of traditional woodblock prints, and then to more clearly interpret the nature of art in his own works.
For more than ten years, Deng Zifang married and had children in Baoting, and her life was peaceful and fulfilling. Time passed, and many of his fellow scholars and artists were scattered, but he never lost his beloved carving knife. Or, because of the constant availability of prints that inspire him, he is as Nietzsche puts it: "A man who knows why he lives can endure any kind of life." "The remnants of clouds collect the green mountains, the sunset fog is long in the sky, and the mountain life in Baoting is actually so lonely and closed...
In May 1979, Guangdong Province held its first post-Cultural Revolution. Deng Zifang went to the meeting as one of the representatives of Hainan. Mr. Guan Shanyue voted for Deng Zifang and proposed him to serve as a director of the Guangdong Artists Association. Mr. Guan's reason is: "Comrade Deng Zifang has insisted on creating at the grassroots level in Hainan for many years, his printmaking art creation has ideas and results, he is young and strong, and his organizational ability is also very strong, and he has made no small contribution to local art over the years." As soon as this pertinent remark came out, all the delegates at the conference agreed, and Deng Zifang was very moved. At that time, he was not familiar with Guan Lao, and the old man only relied on his works and his initial understanding of him, and knew that the artistic talents growing up in ethnic areas were struggling, so he should encourage this young printmaker.
However, no one could have predicted the fate of the arrangement, and it was such a title of "director of the Guangdong Provincial Artists Association" that gave Mr. Shi Fanrong, senior art editor of Hainan Daily, a reason to extend a hand of friendship to Deng Zifang - in 1980, "special talent" Deng Zifang was transferred from Baoting to "Hainan Daily" as an art editor. In this position, he conscientiously completed the editing work of each issue, and after serving as the deputy director of the photography department, he took the initiative to ask for help and founded the column "Tianya Gallery", which is published twice a month, sparing no effort to publish the works of local and foreign painters.
This is a chapter that cannot be skipped in the history of Hainan art!
In the years without the Internet, to be able to publish a work in the party newspaper "Hainan Daily" is very proud for ordinary people! What is particularly important is that this column gives one young painter after another who grew up in Hainan have the opportunity to appear. For example, Wang Rui, who later became a famous artist and chairman of the Artists Association of Haikou City, Hainan Province, published his first oil painting "Golden Flowers" in the "Tianya Gallery" hosted by Deng Zifang, which strengthened his confidence in going down the road of art... Cultivating new talents and supporting new talents, this art column has become the endless spiritual driving force of Hainan's art circles, and it is also the spiritual resources for Hainan artists to carry out local cultural construction and continuously move towards the broad world.
In the more than ten years of existence, "Tianya Gallery" has continued to publish the works of foreign painters continuously and widely, expanding the vision of local readers, but also warming the hearts of those painters in the vast world - their own works can be published in the professional column of "Hainan Daily" - the distant Hainan has a spiritual lifeline compatibility and continuity with the Central Plains culture since ancient times, and those painters who have a conscious pursuit of art and culture can not be pleased with this? This is not just a "tofu block", it means "the sea is a confidant, and the end of the world is next to each other"! Some time passed, when Hainan issued a call, or Deng Zifang of Hainan Daily launched an invitation, the sincerity, friendliness and generosity of the painters around the world were touching... In 1934, after compiling the "Introduction to the Jade Collection" (a catalogue of paintings collecting the works of Soviet printmakers), Lu Xun wrote: "I have firmly believed that the light of the future will prove that we are not only the preservers of literary and artistic heritage, but also pioneers and builders."
"How many past events have passed, as if it were just yesterday. How many friends have I had, as if I was still around... There are fates at the end of the world, and this love warms the human world..." Many years have passed, and together with this moving old song, many people can't help but cry. Because there are too many deep human feelings there, and the yesterday we can never go back to.
I am "I" and there is a way to follow.
With the change of the times, Deng Zifang's life after middle age has entered a good situation. At the end of the 1990s, he successively served as the chairman of the Hainan Provincial Artists Association, the vice chairman of the Hainan Provincial Federation of Literature and Literature, the director of the China Artists Association, the special invited painter of the Shenzhou Painting Academy of the People's Daily, and the consultant of the Hainan Provincial Calligraphy and Painting Academy.
Especially during his tenure as the chairman of the Hainan Provincial Artists Association, in the face of tight funds and the small influence of the Hainan painters in China, Deng Zifang actively advocated "going out and bringing in" and did a lot of practical work. He was also the first professional leader in Hainan to loudly call on painters to be brave and market-oriented, and the controversy caused by this was not small at that time. However, the subsequent social development proved that he had both foresight and grasped the market opportunity.
Deng Zifang's artistic career can be clearly divided into two periods, the early stage of engaged in printmaking creation, of which "New Chick Sound", "Li Female Teacher", "Green Island of the Blue Sea", "Pearl of the South China Sea", "Crescent Moon", "Bright Moon on the Sea" were selected for the national printmaking exhibition; since the mid-to-late 1990s, he has devoted himself to creating Chinese paintings with Hainan characteristics and has continuously achieved good results. Award-winning works such as "Rainforest Orchid", "Tranquility", "Binhai New City" and so on have won him a reputation inside and outside the island. In 1994, the three Tang brothers held exhibitions in Hong Kong and Macao, and in 2001, Deng Zifang participated in the Contemporary Ink Painting Exhibition of the People's Republic of China held in Orange County, California, USA...
The reason why the change from printmaking to Chinese landscape painting is that for Deng Zifang, there are factors of the times - after the 1980s and 1990s, the public's enthusiasm for printmaking has declined. Deng Zifang naturally captured this information early. Subsequently, when he stepped into the leadership position of the art circle in Hainan Province, his experience told himself that the previous achievements had become the past, and in the future, he must stand with new, large and powerful works of art to match the title. For such a self-reliant and self-loving person, he did not want to fall into the dilemma of not being worthy of the position and being unworthy for a long time! The philosopher Russell said that his own life was to "make the cause into joy, make joy into the cause", and there are many people like him, deng Zifang.
In addition, after the 1990s, the rice paper, pigments, pen and ink that Hainan originally lacked could be bought at any time, making it possible for painters to let go of chinese paintings and oil paintings. Third, the ink creation that the Deng family brothers are all carrying out also affects his direction.
Therefore, Deng Zifang put down the carving knife and picked up the brush, which is not only a transformation of appearances, but also means that he, an artistic individual, has to re-find the direction that meets his cultural background and context in the new social change - the world needs him to make new value judgments. As an artist, "Ren Pen" and "Self-Adaptation" are the highest realms. But to reach this level, the path it takes and the aesthetics it pursues are crucial.
That's certainly not something that happened overnight. However, for people who have been creating, "changing pens" is not so much obstacle. If you are like Mr. Li Kuchan, "one person, ten people, ten people, one hundred", you will be able to improve.
For artistic creation, the "familiar life" can often prove the source of the heart.
Deng Zifang never received training in pure art colleges in his life, but he had countless teachers. There is not only the coconut wind, sea rhyme, clear water and blue sky of nature that allows him to "create a foreign teacher" at any time, and there are artists from the south and the north of the sky constantly influencing. Guan Shanyue, Li Xiongcai, Lin Guanfeng, Deng Zijing and many other famous masters have carefully advised him.
"Chinese painting pays the most attention to inheriting traditions, but if your pen can't reflect the times, it is also not a success." You have to go deep into the mountains and rivers! You're always going to go deep into life! "Mr. Guan Shanyue personally said to him, never forget ...
After not knowing how many pieces of paper were wasted and how many brushes were broken, Deng Zifang's pen gradually appeared "My Hainan Landscape", which, like his prints, first of all had a strong atmosphere of life.
Painting is a skill but it needs more emotion, and Both Chinese and foreign artists emphasize that the "inner factor of the artwork is the feeling in the artist's soul", and advocate that painting should use color, dots and surfaces to express the subjective emotions and "inner needs" of the painter.
For decades, Deng Zifang has traveled from east to west, experiencing the different humanities, folk customs, and the touching brought by each story, as well as the people of Hainan who always love life, are contented and happy, and have a positive spirit, which has a deep inspiration and feeling for his paintings. Long Yingtai once compared literature to the reflection of a willow in the water—it is not a real existence, but a reflection of reality. The text carries the tao, and the same is true for the art of painting. Therefore, Deng Zifang, a hainanese, took it as his duty to paint Hainan and was proud to use pen and ink to praise Hainan.
"Anyone who looks at my painting will know that it is Hainan!" Deng Zifang likes to evaluate his art in this way, and indeed he has done it.
His pictures always have the natural characteristics of Hainan with deep mountains, lush grass and trees, and clear smoke, while focusing on coconut groves, cottages, spring stones, banana leaves, and the "only" girl in red in the tropical countryside, which is the second feature of his paintings.
Why is he always painting this? Because it is the most distinctive scenery of Hainan Island, the more you paint, the more you love, the more you love to paint, the more you paint, the more skilled you are, the more you are skilled, the more you have a sense. Especially after he stayed in the city for a long time, the red dust rolled in, and every time he painted a painting, it was as if he had been swept away by green mountains and waters, and the whole person seemed to return to his youth. At that time, his hair was as thick as a forest, then he was as pure as a mountain spring, and the girl in red at that time was the youth in his heart that would never fade...
Advocating the combination of brushwork and freehand, the combination of double hook and dot dyeing, the combination of landscape and life, the illustration composition likes dense, complex, miscellaneous, and beautiful, and the aesthetics of sparse, simple, dry and cold road are just opposite, which is the third major feature of Deng Zifang's painting.
The use of double hook painting to express Hainan coconut trees and banyan trees is Deng Zifang's unique symbolic expression. Why did he paint it? The first is because there is no ancient person before. Hainan painting has lacked a teacher and a fixed paradigm since ancient times, so if you are a painter who wants to draw "me", it means that you can customize the rules. And Deng Zifang is just a dexterous and intelligent person with a strong sense of self. He once went to a lecture somewhere, and when he saw the teacher talking from the mustard garden, he "played missing" and playfully said, "If I go fishing in the sea, do I need to know the names of all the fish before I get off the net?" I have to catch it first, and then slowly understand it is not too late! ”
This incident shows that he has his own ideas in everything and pays attention to accumulating experience in practice.
He certainly wouldn't fail to read. The Analects says, "I am not born to know, but I am good at ancient times, and I am sensitive to what I seek." "Deng Zifang is likely to have studied Huang Binhong in depth, and Binhong was passed down from generation to generation to flowers, birds, grasses and insects, which are roughly divided into two categories, one is hook ancient and the other is sketching." Write flowers with dot dyeing, with rigid keys to Grace", this is Huang Binhong's inscription sentence. Gang Jian Wanna is its way of using the pen, the smooth and soft contains rigidity, the virtual luck is real, the shu and the vigor are not just strong, and the childishness has the taste of simplicity, which is where it is different. Of course, artists need to learn miscellaneously, and the books they have read, the things they have passed, and the people they have loved have enriched me, sublimated me, and fulfilled me--let me be "me", and there is a way to follow.
Looking at his unique "intensive" illustration, it is not what he takes for granted, and the Landscape of Hainan is naturally like this. Countless kinds of flowers and trees are in front of you, whether you are focus perspective or scattered perspective, you can't get around that "dense" word!
So he continued to let printmaking thinking influence him. Drawing on the production principle of printmaking, allowing different layers of color, especially his favorite green and yellow, to collide with each other, accidentally and superimposed to produce an unexpected effect, so that the painter was moved and delighted, which may be the reason why Deng Zifang was fascinated.
Deng Zifang likes to use light ink in painting, wet and dry, and the chromaticity is relatively light, which is used to express the phototropic surface, protrusion and vista of the object. Therefore, the overall style is soft and elegant.
Deng Zifang's temperament is inherently "hot", and his vision of the world is habitually "broad", so such a person can naturally tolerate "the inheritance of words is multi-body, and the new vomit is self-reliant". Expressed in the art of painting, it seems to be "pro-luxuriant and far from dry". His "Cottage Return to Pastoral Map", "Alpine Flowing Water Cattle Herding Map", etc., are tropical plants alone, to say the least, there are four or five kinds, plus mountains, flowing water, Stratus clouds, girls in red, cattle, houses... Mr. Huang Binhong once wrote: "People say that the composition of the picture can be sloppy, and the secret places are not ventilated. I prefer to say that the secret place can go to the horse, and the sparse place does not make the air. That's how Deng Zifang painted it. His paintings have words in the clouds and mountains, laughter in the mountains and forests, and even in the middle of nowhere, there is a derivative of life, and sometimes people make groans.
Emphasizing "lively" and emphasizing "heaven and earth are born with me, and all things are one with me", this is the deep philosophy of his painting art. Deng Zifang's pictures are not only the real landscape of the countryside in Hainan, but also a poetic visual space that he is willing to present, they are plump, rich and confirm each other.
In this ever-changing era, too many artists around the world are wondering how to create art with "modernity". However, there are also many "localists", including Deng Zifang, who have consistently held their positions. They do not want "revolution", they like to constantly sculpt and improve in "reform". Moreover, such works continue to circulate in the world, bringing them praise, money, and encouragement.
They and their work are meaningful.
The faster the wheels of the times roll forward, perhaps the one-dimensional extension of the past, present, and future that we are accustomed to will be destroyed, and the towering trees and pastoral songs of Hainan may not be able to stay forever. Later people, who want to know the style of the past, may only be able to taste in the more faithful schema left by "Deng Zifang".
At this time, how many doubts and controversies people have about this road painting method, how much regret and reflection will there be at that time...
And Deng Zifang's voice to all the sounds in the world is left to exist. If he must be asked to respond, with his funny and optimistic character, Camus's famous words may be very much in line with his heart: "Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead the way; do not walk in front of me, because I may not follow; please walk by my side and be my friend." ”
Deng Zifang, a piece of authenticity like a baby
Text/Cheng Dali
He is a man who is about to enter the ancient rarity, but he is still innocent and transparent, his heart is not guarded, his mouth is not covered; his works are just like people - clear, clear, smooth and natural. Just in response to Lao Tzu's words of "the avenue is natural", I am what I am, and I should do it.
When I went to Hainan to sketch, I was fortunate to be accompanied by my old friend Deng Zifang, so I was able to get along day and night, see him closely, listen to him, read him, and Guzhi also liked him even more. Although he is also a person who is about to enter the ancient rarity, he is still naïve and transparent, his heart is not defensive, and his mouth is not covered; if you think that he is not intelligent enough, it is a big mistake, and the aura of his wisdom is behind that silly language. Just in response to Lao Tzu's words of "the avenue is natural", I am what I am, and I should do it. A piece of authenticity is like a baby.
Zi Fang is kind-hearted and always thinks about others in everything; when students are invited, he will think of the limited income of students, and the lack of money in the work of the association, and he will always donate his own money. In the case of the peddlers, he does not bargain, always thinking of their hardships first.
Zifang is enthusiastic, likes friends, cares about the feelings of friends, he always hopes that the good things he eats must be eaten by friends, the good paintings he sees must be seen by friends, and he looks forward to sharing all good things with friends. When I go out and want to spend all the money on my friends, when I come home, I will regret the money left in my pocket, "Oh, my wife hasn't spent all the money I gave me!" ”
Zifang loves to learn and think. Reading without thinking is useless, and in the future, everyone will be equipped with a chip, which can solve the problem of knowledge reserve, but it cannot replace thinking. The first valuable quality of an artist is to be good at thinking. Zifang will always reflect on herself and absorb everything that is useful to her. His rational judgment stems from his wisdom, and he is very good at discovering the strengths of others and capturing momentary inspiration, and such a habit of thinking will inevitably form an independent art.
Zi Fang's works are just like his personality – clear, fresh, smooth and natural. His emotions are all in a line of expression, there is no gimmick, nor is he greedy, just in response to the words of Qing Ren Zhengguang: "Pen and ink are greedy, more evil of the forest hill; Danqing's victory against the loss of the true appearance of the landscape." Ordinary scenes are difficult to work, and workers are not tired of looking at them; the strange pen is easy to make, and the work is unobstructed. Zi Fang's ordinary scenes are always so calm, meticulously weaving pictures, overlapping, and suppressing setbacks, like a conductor mobilizing an orchestra, and there is a dense, tight, thick, and strange dialectical unity in the green symphony. The seemingly monotonous "green" is also colorful in his pen.
He was adept and passionate about the morphology of Hainan's tropical plants, which were the frost days that accompanied him from adolescence to youth to old age. He grew in Si long and familiar with every hair and wrinkle of Mother Earth.
Therefore, he tirelessly described her, praised her, and woven his beloved like a spring silkworm, thousands of strips, and finally woven into a brocade. Liu Kezhuang, a Song dynasty, once lamented that "The March flowers in Luoyang are like brocade, and how much kung fu can be woven." How much work? Zifang spent decades of work, from teenager to baishou, and finally knitted his "Deng family style". After coming to Hainan, I knew the value of Deng Zifang. His value is to keep the sincerity, simplicity, openness and passion in his heart. Then, calmly perform, write slowly, and share the beauty you find with others.
I think this is already the meaning of the painter's existence. (The author is vice president of the Chinese Painting Society and librarian of the Central Museum of Culture and History)