Analyze some of the characteristics of He Jiaying's compositional aspects of Gongbi figure painting, and please cite a few works of art to illustrate, as detailed as possible!

Interviewer: Ma Wei, Real Art Network

Chen Danqing's encouragement: stick with it, and you'll do great things!

Wei: This exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum is the most concentrated of your solo exhibitions in recent years, what works are included?

He: This exhibition is a relatively large-scale exhibition in my life, part of the works from the 80's to 90's between the creation of the works of the work of the brush, but also later some of the works of small writing, and the previous solo exhibition is different from the increase in the work of the sketch, including the creation of the manuscript, which can be a more comprehensive reflection of the process of the formation of my work of art brush painting, and part of the usual painting sketches. I have shipped 74 paintings, many of which are on loan from collectors who are very supportive of me, and I am very grateful to them.

Wei: Apart from the borrowed ones, did you keep all the other works yourself?

He: Most of the brushstrokes are still in my own hands, and I haven't sold any of them. These works were done when I was young, lonely and unappreciated, and I don't want to sell them.

Wei: When was that?

Wei: In the early 80's, my works were not taken seriously, "Nineteen Autumns" and "Mountain" did not win any prizes in the Youth Art Exhibition. After the exhibition, "Fine Arts" magazine published "Nineteen Autumns", the magazine is also distributed in the United States, Chen Danqing saw it, wrote me a letter of appreciation, enthusiastic, encouraging me to "persevere, there will be a great deal"! This was a great encouragement to me, and it lifted me up. So his letter played a big role in my life.

Wei: What was the state of creation at that time?

Wei: I was just concentrating on painting, unlike today when there are too many things to do, and I have to participate in exhibitions, seminars and so on, so people are drained and I don't have time to paint. So at that stage, 20s to 40s, is my golden age, although it is in the unappreciated, lonely, unrecognized an environment, precisely this time is the most test of man. 85 tide of thought, many artists are pursuing the new trend, but I firmly according to the direction of my paintings, many people do not understand, the environment of the creative work is also more difficult. I remember once, a group of Americans came to the school to see my paintings, the school had no way to arrange a place, so I opened the wall in the college and made a gesture, even if it was for people to see. I think it is really embarrassing, although those people look at the work is very surprised, but this kind of display is disrespectful to the art.

Wei: Who has been your biggest influence in your art?

Wei: Who has influenced you the most in your artwork? We often create together, he painted the painting I can put forward the view, I painted he pointed out the problem for me, with the teacher learned a lot of painting theory. He was a landscape painter, I was a figure painter, and sometimes I also painted some small figures, but he didn't directly teach me how to paint brushstrokes, but to teach me the truth, including the way to be a human being. He often told me a saying, "He who pursues the deer does not follow the rabbit", which means that when we are hunting, we are catching the deer, but when we are chasing the deer, a rabbit suddenly comes out, so we can't be attracted by it. This means that we should pursue the general direction and not be disturbed by trivial matters. I did not go to graduate school, but painting with this teacher is like taking a graduate course, learning a lot of knowledge and using it in painting by example.

My image is good, but not good, it is weak, so it is easy to fall into the circle of sticking to the details and everything, but under the influence of this teacher, I know how to adjust the direction. When he paints, he is sure, decisive and open, so I think I should also be open and generous in painting. In addition, I learned Huang's sketches before, which also made my works more generous.

Wei: Is that what everyone calls "Hejia-like"?

He: Oh, in fact, my things can not talk about their own strong style, can not talk about how much character, painting is my hobby, I think in this road I have not finished.

I am very fascinated by the works of the Impressionists

Wei: You have studied the works of the Western Impressionists in depth, what kind of inspiration does it bring you?

Wei: What kind of inspiration does it bring to you from your in-depth study of Western Impressionism and how do you apply it to your works?

Wei: It's a great influence, and it's a very good component of world culture. Impressionism made European painting reach the highest peak, equivalent to our Yuan Dynasty literati painting reached the highest peak of Chinese painting. At the highest stage of our painting, we have incorporated more spiritual things, while the Impressionists have incorporated more sensual things - sincere, real and sensual. It is not a concept, it is the attention to nature, understanding, expression - the indulgence of the expression of the love of life and beauty, but also showed their artistic talent.

In fact, Impressionism has an element of Chinese painting in its means of creation. The language of painting in Chinese painting is a language of presentation, a means of presentation, not simply tracing down the object. Chinese painting is from the inner understanding of nature, but also to create a form of language, such as a variety of chapping, lines of various forms of feeling, especially regular, can be summarized. Impressionism is also like this, it seems that we all think that impressionism is objective, in fact, not, impressionism is in this objective, highly reflective, but also a kind of high degree of generalization and refinement of the language of presentation, it is concerned about the rhythm of the brush strokes, the arrangement of the look of the color is very rich, but in fact is the repeated application of several colors to produce a kind of rhythm, very similar to the music, the simple notes to form the main theme.

I once went to France just in time for the French Impression Exhibition, and lined up for two hours to get in, which shows how much it is loved by our people--especially those who have knowledge of such a group. We often mention this: art for whom? Art is for the people and for the general public, and when we talk about the general public today, we are referring more to the intellectual class. The harmony and beauty of the world is also a true reflection of the inner world of the painters themselves. Impressionism's love of beauty, the excavation of beauty, completely breaking the classical presentation.

Wei: So how do you feel about classical oil painting?

Wei: What do you think of classical oil paintings?

He: Classical oil paintings will be unbearable if you look at them for a long time, especially before the Middle Ages, just like the paintings of the Four Kings and the like, they don't have so much real insight into the lives of the people, and they are all about the stories, and they are all about the characters, and the characters are round, and thin, and the tones are so deep, and we don't get the liberation of the spirit. But when you look at Impressionism, the spirit is instantly liberated, and it is more suitable for people's temperament. It brings sunshine, people's favorites. That's why I'm very fascinated by Impressionism, it's not about stories, it's always about situations, beautiful feelings. If I don't paint brushstrokes, and continue to paint in the style, I may absorb a lot of things from Impressionism, but the language gap between brushstrokes and Impressionism is very big, Impressionism is the juxtaposition of pigmentation, and the change of colors over and over again, but brushstrokes, especially traditional brushstrokes, are simple, and the colors can't change so much, and if they do it won't be Chinese paintings, so I absorb some things more from its essence.

For example, I use my own vision to find beautiful things, modeling, can learn a lot of things, including that subtle relationship. But when we were in school, we still followed Russian sketching, and when the light shines through, there must be a shadow under the chin, which separates the head from the neck. Later, when I drew "Sour Grapes", when I modeled the characters in it, I drew the line of the chin very dry, very weak, so that it is especially whole, and all these were learned in the Impressionism.

Wei: Did modern Japanese figure painting influence you?

Wei: Did modern Japanese figure painting have any influence on you? Of course, ukiyo-e had an influence on impressionism, and it also had an influence on the formation of later beauty painting. The formation of Japanese painting is more about accepting some things from the West, paying more attention to the feeling of life, rather than some empty presentation, it has discovery and creation, and the painting is very meaningful and beautiful. If we compare our Republican-era brush painting with it, we will find that ours is rigid and theirs is vivid. This kind of thing precisely provides us with a direction to learn from. Painting inevitably people say you are like Japanese painting, the same is brush painting, it is still a means of Chinese brush painting, but because of the focus on the feeling of life, the formation of its own artistic style, you also focus on the feeling of life, naturally, like it, but there are always different. For example, the Japanese painting background is more full, there are ukiyo-e and customs painting side, not after a high degree of refinement.

When I created Auntie Mimi, I had the inspiration I got from looking at Japanese paintings, which depicted a car, and with a piece cut out, the composition was more stable and complete. This compositional inspiration allowed me to express that material. The woman in Auntie in Millet is perfect, but sitting there is unstable and can't be rested, so cutting off a piece stabilized it. At the beginning I wanted to paint all the features of that place in Miri, such as the kiln and the pillars in front of the kiln, but I was given too much, so the painting must be like a Japanese painting. So then I simply deleted all these and replaced them with long drawings in a very simple earthy yellow color tone, giving the impression that it is a scene from the Loess Plateau. Chinese paintings are like this, leaving three points instead is more beautiful.

Wei: you strive to "balance the East and the West in order to blend", in the creation of Gongbi paintings, you use the Western realism in it, and have a good integration; but it is not possible to be thorough in the value of realism in a realistic painting, and how do you combine the two in your realistic paintings?

He: The realism in realism is not my original creation, like Mr. Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe, Mr. Huang Han and their students have made contributions in these directions for a long time. Large capitalism can also be very realistic, like Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's works. Traditionally we have had very realistic works in China, especially portraits, like the portraits of the Qing Dynasty and the Yongle Palace, which are all relatively realistic. I'm not creative, I'm just going to recognize more things on the basis of them. People want to express their objects realistically, in fact, realism is a desire that exists in people's psyche, so I don't separate China and the West. Moreover, in today's view, there are still a lot of things we need to learn from the comparison between Chinese painting and the West. Western painting accommodates more profound thoughts and deep feelings. In this regard, Western figure painting has provided us with very good reference, and I am trying to accommodate some more realistic things from Gongbi painting, as much as possible without jumping out of the Chinese painting system.

Purity and sadness are the most touching

Wei: I have read one of your interviews before, and you said that "purity and sadness are the most touching", so your works have this kind of temperament, and nowadays people's spirit and aesthetics have changed with the improvement of the material life, and perhaps the modern people advocate "healthy beauty" more. Nowadays, people's mental outlook and aesthetics are changing with the improvement of material life, perhaps modern people advocate more "healthy beauty", "intellectual beauty", or even "neutral beauty", so will it change in your creation?

He: modern people have different levels of people, the pursuit of artistic expression to the contemporary inside to see the world to see the social ugly, people are also ugly, naturally painted images are also ugly. Because we want to express this, we naturally use these images to express the world. We are the ones who tap into the goodness and pursue beautiful things in our hearts, so we naturally look at the ideal things in my heart. Even if I see something in life that is not so beautiful, I will go and re-edit it. For example, body painting, other people take photos or material is not necessarily so pure, but in the end you go to create, still can create your ideal of a pure realm.

Wei: The women in many of your works are elegant, simple, and slightly sad. Did you find these models on purpose, or did you mold them into this kind of temperament in your works according to your requirements?

He: On the one hand, it is the accumulation of data, for example, if this person is very attractive to paint, then I take photos and draw sketches and collect them, and there is also a kind of fate that I met by chance. In fact, few of the models I painted are purely beautiful, too beautiful, there is no personality. The ones I met were not pretty enough, but very beautiful. Beauty is something to be discovered and felt. For example, when I painted "Lonely Geese", I needed a model, and since the model was set up for the students to paint in class, I had no choice but to paint her. This model's bone structure is very good, which meets a minimum requirement, she is a laid-off female worker, and her temperament does not show the wisdom of the contemporary people. When I painted her, she was quite bored, and she was just dumb, exactly this kind of dumb, quiet, expressionless state, which is common among many girls, and it is exactly what I wanted, so I caught it. The first time I saw her, I was able to see her in a different light, and I was able to see her in a different light.

At that time, I had already expressed this mood in the sketch, and this sketch is also on display in this exhibition.

The artist has already expressed this mood in his sketches, and this sketch is also on display.

Wei: Are there any objects in your works that you didn't sketch?

Wei: The Four Beauties, for example, is basically something I made up, and it's a bit of a conceptualization. I want to have the flavor of the traditional beauty, but I don't want him to have the feeling of modern people, and I want to have a personality, which is the ideal state of human beings, that is, there is a limitation of your ideal image of the hypothesis, so the fabricated thing has its defects.

I'm not a person with a good memory, I can't even draw a picture because I can't remember. It's precisely this flaw that saved me, because I had to rely on sketching for my creations. Through sketching, I can make up for the conceptualization of Chinese painting, in the process of sketching, I can observe the subtle, there is a saying in ancient times that "the gods are in the heart, the hand is called its eyes", basically I can express what I see and feel, through sketching I make up for my defects and sublimate my strengths. It is true that I can go deeper than others in sketching and see more truly. This is also a characteristic of my work, which also makes my brush painting borrow the expression of Western painting, back to the quality of brush painting itself, in-depth expression, from the external form of the external language to reflect the inner spiritual world, in fact, also accommodates my aesthetic ideals.

Wei: Is "Soul of Mawei Slope" your only historical work? When was this work created?

Wei: Is "Soul of Mawei Slope" your only historical work? When was this work created? This one was painted in '89.

Wei: Some of your works at that time were based on life with the flavor of the times, how did you come up with this historical theme?

Wei: I was preparing for the 7th Youth Art Exhibition, and I was thinking about what to paint. A chance meeting with Gao Yun in Nanjing (now the director of the Jiangsu Culture Department), his serial painting is particularly good, many works have won the National Art Exhibition Gold Medal, works of line organization is very beautiful, stretching the atmosphere, for the depiction of large scenes, especially the magnificent army, etc., are very sure, I admire him in my heart. At that time, I thought that if the two of us cooperated in the National Art Exhibition, there might be good works. I need to do sketching to create my works, and I am not suitable for painting historical subjects, I don't have any real feelings. He could support the big scene, and I could paint the characters more y, and then we agreed to choose a subject that is both strong and soft, i.e., rough, delicate, and mournful, and finally chose the section of Yang Guifei, the army and the beauty, which is particularly interesting. The basic composition was set by him, he drew a square and then cut cut cut, a moment out, while I have to find models to correspond to each person, find the image, including Yang Guifei is a student, Tang Minghuang is an oil painting teacher in our school. The whole picture borrows an effect from the mural painting of Li Chongrun's tomb, painting all the green soldiers in red, with a red main color, and the figures are lowered. Gao Yun is more in favor of Chinese painting, the space should be pushed out layer by layer, my concept of western painting is heavier, I may use less to win, not to paint so many people, but to feel that there are more people than these people, for example, like Velasquez Guizhi's Surrender, in fact, there are only a few people in front of them, but behind them there are constantly red tasseled guns, you feel that there are a sea of people. Later, I painted it according to him, but in the end I still didn't feel satisfied. I finished this painting by myself.

The study of sketching is necessary for artistic creation

Wei: All along, the teaching of Chinese painting has been based on the combination of copying ancient paintings and sketching and creating, and you have been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts for many years, what is your experience in art education?

He: The education of the Academy of Fine Arts basically follows the education system of Xu Beihong, which is currently considered by many to be an educational method of Western painting, not suitable for the expression of Chinese painting, but I don't see it that way. In today's situation, it is impossible for us to go back to the state of the ancients, because all our living cultures are a fusion of East and West. Therefore, we go hand in hand in learning the way of painting, both inheriting the fine tradition and borrowing the western means. For example, the western means of sketching has its advantages, talking about this inevitably have to talk about sketching, which is the foundation of painting, in sketching on the problem, there are misunderstandings, we will be very difficult to the integration of Chinese and Western painting. Speaking of sketching, we immediately think of black and white paintings with dark and light, this is sketching, completely Western, in this concept, I have to clarify this concept with the students. First of all, what is sketching? Sketching is a kind of black and white sense of the basic means of painting, it is the main solution to the observation method, from the western painting to learn the method of sketching, it teaches you how to observe as a whole, a lot of problems is through the overall observation to get to know. Secondly, it solves the problems of black and white and gray, primary and secondary, the relationship between reality and falsehood, etc. It also solves the structural problems and the problems of modeling and perspective, so sketching basically encompasses the most basic and essential factors in painting. But if we stay in the concept of light and dark to recognize the sketch, you can not communicate with Chinese painting, the essence of the sketch is not dark, dark sketch is a way for us to understand things, and there is a dark sketch is our eyes can observe the objective reality, for us to be able to objectively recognize the object of sincerity is very good, including the understanding of reality.

Is the expression of our lines sketching? For example, those drafts started by our ancient people painting murals are still sketches. So sketching is the basic means of painting, this basic means of expression in two aspects, the first is a foundation for learning to paint, on the other hand, is the creation of a need for a foundation. For example, the materials we draw and the drafts we make are all sketches. Don't be so narrow-minded, once mention sketch think of light and dark, sketch is also a category of sketch, is more fast sketch. If we divide it in this way, China has sketching, ancient China has sketching, so we should not divide it into Chinese and Western, we should study what problems should be solved in sketching. Painting is to solve the problems of space, rhythm, feeling and so on, and these problems can be solved very effectively in the study of sketching. So, sketching is very important to learn in art school.

Wei: In the beginning of learning art, we will have some training in plaster statue painting, is this necessary, and is it not better to do direct sketching of real people?

Wei: I don't deny or exclude the training of plaster casts. Some people say that drawing plaster casts is lifeless and the things drawn are stiff. Not so, for beginners, real portraits have color, such as skin shades of change, it is difficult to judge the subtle differences in color, which requires a certain amount of experience in order to judge, but the plaster statue is plain white, there is no difference in color, so you will be able to feel it in a kind of space a kind of light reflected in the state of reality, black and white state and level, you will be able to recognize from a more essential point of view You will recognize from a more essential angle what kind of state this spatial structure is, and then you will be able to draw a good portrait. It is from sketching that I feel the subtle changes in the object that I can make the brushstrokes so subtle.

At one time, Ye Qianyu said that Chinese painting does not need to learn sketching, only learn white drawing is enough, I do not agree with this statement. We have just said that the definition of drawing is the basic means, white drawing is what, if you say that in the drawing of white drawing in the draft, is expressed in line, with a pencil or charcoal drawing, I admit that it is still drawing, because it is the basic means, if we say that we hook out with a brush, the last that is called white drawing, that is the final draft, not basic. Mr. Ye said no need to sketch to draw white, still see the sketch as a surrogate for light and dark.

The brush painting should also have the spirit of writing

Wei: in this year's National Art Exhibition, art critic, "books and paintings" magazine academic editor Shu Shijun said: "the National Art Exhibition has roughly formed a style model, almost a large brush painting domination, the writing of the painting is clearly in decline." But in fact, in the exhibition to see most of the works of brushwork is a fine grinding, focusing only on the scene structure of the depiction of the work of "eating work", you so see this phenomenon.

He: What he said is also recognized by everyone *** with, now it is difficult to have really satisfactory works of ideographic painting, especially figure ideographic painting. Today's people are not satisfied with the tradition after the founding of the country, that is, Jiang Zhaohe, Xu Beihong, Zhou Sicong, Shi Qi and others, are not satisfied with the traditional ancient brush and ink to draw nourishment, are in the creation of a new language and a new form, put the broad road not to go, the result is stuffed into a road. Either to engage in deformation, tattered clothes of ink and brush; or is the writing of painting "do" out, with prints like tracing out, there is no real ink and brush flavor to speak of, now see most of the works of these two situations, the first situation is often not into the scope of the selection of the United States Exhibition, the second is in, but not recognized, the real painting feeling

The first situation is that the first often does not enter the scope of the selection of the exhibition, the second is to come in, but not recognized, the real painting has a sense of feeling, aura, rhyme, kung fu, harmony and courageous works can not be seen, so we are particularly sorry.

Work brush painting can be very in-depth portrayal, this effort is often able to impress the jury, but work brush painting in this climate, there will be some character of the problem, just everything, but it is difficult to create a mood, not easy, which is the drawbacks of the work of the brush painting, the common problem! My Mr. Bai in my painting process repeatedly warned me, "do not paint until you feel enough, framed into the exhibition hall is enough; painting until you feel enough framed into the exhibition quasi-painting over!" We still keep emphasizing the spirit of writing in brush painting, and its writing is not only about the thickness of the brush and ink, nor does it mean to paint with a writing brush. Its meaning lies in the meaning of spirit, the meaning of conception, the intention of the work, the expression in the mood and so on. This is the problem of brush painting, but, brush painting can occupy so many awards, on the one hand, it shows the progress of brush painting, everyone is keen on brush painting, and on the other hand, it also shows the weakness of our writing painting.

Wei: Have you paid special attention to some young brush painters nowadays?

Wei: Do you have any special concern for some young artists nowadays? For example, like Zhang See, a young artist out of Shanghai, was my student, but he had already developed his own style before. The colors and means he used have influenced a large number of people, the colors are very foreign, the whole picture is also this feeling, but he painted taste, painted the mood, this style is also high, so he is my most concerned. There's also Chen Zi from Fujian, she doesn't do life drawing, she paints imaginary people, but her distortion is very interesting, her colors are beautiful, very poetic, and it's also a new brushwork. There is also a younger artist, Sun Zhensheng, who is a newcomer to brush painting now, but he learned my techniques before. There is not much way out for him to be like others, so I let him copy the frescoes, and he was very enlightened and creative, and painted a lot of things in the way of frescoes, which was very good. And then there's Chen Zhi next to me, who has his own feelings about the subject matter and style of his work, and he's also working very hard.

Wei: I heard that you like the poetry of the Southern Tang Dynasty's later lord, why do you like his words?

Wei: I heard that you like his poems, why do you like them?

He: my oil painting teacher Liu Tiancheng had a great influence on me, he taught me how to correctly understand sketching, and often gave me a small stove, gave me to read the albums, go to the library to look through the books, the South Tang Dynasty after the Lord is my teacher like, he taught me, read to me all day long, and it happens to be that the kind of melancholy and sadness in the lyrics corresponds to the mentality of that period of time of my life, so that period of time of the creation of the work will be infected.

Wei: You are an artist, a professor, and a vice president of the China Art Association, does this have any effect on your creative work?

Wei: You are quite busy, and you don't have time to paint brushstrokes. So I have two words: fame is a disaster, loneliness is a precious treasure. We should all cherish the lonely time in our lives.

Wei: What are your next exhibition plans?

Wei: What are your plans for exhibitions?

Wei: What are your plans for the next exhibition? I don't want to do anything on purpose.

Wei: Thank you very much for the interview with Real Art Network, and I wish you a successful exhibition!

He: Thank you