How to evaluate cold works?

Friends who like oil painting must be familiar with the name Leng Jun. In recent years, his surreal portraits have attracted more and more attention.

Netizens have lamented that the paintings are the same as photos, so realistic! This realistic effect is obtained by Leng Jun's insistence on close-up painting even if he is 900 degrees nearsighted. Everyone admires his patience, but at the same time, there are more and more controversies: is painting just the pursuit of realism? Why waste time drawing when the camera can do it? What's the point?

It looks like a photo, but it's not a photo!

The most attractive thing about a cold portrait is realism, just like a photo, but it's not a photo after all.

The creative process of the two is completely different.

Photos are photographic images, which are quick and objective. Whether it's a snapshot or a performance shot, the work is finished at the moment you press the shutter. The visual effect it forms is a mechanical reflection, and its reality is the function of optical lens.

▲ persimmon photos (pictures from the Internet)

But Leng Jun's oil painting is a subjective artistic creation, which takes a lot of time. In addition to pursuing extreme truth, he also conveys beauty and emotion.

▲ Cold still life oil painting

There is a big difference between the two, and photos can't fully show the truth.

For a simple example, the face you see when you look in the mirror is different from the face you see when you take a selfie, and the scenery photos in travel magazines are different from the actual scenery. So what is real? People only see you, and the scenery in your eyes is real.

Cold surreal oil painting restores the truth of human eyes to a certain extent, so it will bring people a more lasting, deeper and more shocking feeling. Take the selfie of actor Liu Yifei (picture from the Internet) and the grim portrait Xiaowen as examples:

Liu Yifei's selfie looks beautiful and impressive at first sight, but then few people will look at it for the second or third time, but Xiaowen is different. This is an oil painting, and its details are amazing. You will unconsciously observe the luster of the model's skin, the texture of clothes and the texture of hair, and generate new feelings in each observation.

▲ "Xiaowen" local details

Are these surreal paintings meaningful?

Although it takes a lot of time, it can restore the details ignored in the photos, but is it really meaningful to pursue realism only in technology? The answer is yes.

Surrealism painting brings people as much shock as any other painting.

In fact, compared with the surrealist portraits in recent years, Leng Jun entered the public view earlier at the 1999 National Art Exhibition. At that time, he created a 1.3X 1.3m surreal oil painting "The Five-pointed Star" and won the gold medal in one fell swoop.

▲ "Five-pointed Star"

The meaning of the five-pointed star is self-evident. This rusty, bullet-riddled star looks so dazzling against the black background. It records the blood and pride in China's modern history, and it bears the sufferings and glories along the way.