Is it pure art or the collapse of human relations that the painter's father asked his 23-year-old daughter to be his mannequin?

The artist's thinking and acting style always give people the feeling of being avant-garde. It seems that artists and ordinary people are not on the same channel. Sometimes we can't understand their madness, but at the same time, they also laugh at us ordinary people who can't see through.

At the first Huangjueping Art Festival in Chongqing in 2009, a pair of father-daughter painters from Deyang, Sichuan, created the series of Oriental Goddess Shan Gui, which aroused strong social concern and controversy. The focus is not on their paintings, but on the relationship between the characters in the paintings and behind them. It turned out that the father's name was Li Zhuangping, who was 6 1 year old at that time. He presented the mannequin in the oil painting to his 23-year-old biological daughter Qin Li.

It has been more than ten years since this incident. As time goes by, the controversy caused by this incident is not as strong as it was at the beginning. However, after the unforgettable public opinion violence, did the parties restore their inner peace, and did Li Zhuangping still insist on using her daughter as a mannequin? How should we treat this conflict between art and ethics? Perhaps this is the significance of our concern about this matter.

An inspiration from the painter's father made her daughter a goddess in her oil paintings.

As early as 2002, 55-year-old Li Zhuangping was a professor at the Academy of Painting. One day, he thought of a new theme of "Shan Gui" oil painting, inspired by Qu Yuan's poem "Nine Songs of the South of Shan Gui". "Shan Gui" expressed the title of goddess in the mountains in his poems. In the creation of Chinese paintings at that time, few people set foot in this field. He had a hunch that the combination of Chinese painting theme and oil painting might make.

In painting creation, the importance of mannequins is self-evident, but for Li Zhuangping, not all women can enter his eyes. Just when he searched hard and failed, he found that his daughter was very suitable for his ideal job model regardless of her manners, posture or temperament. After telling his wife and daughter what he thought, Li Zhuangping started his creative journey with her daughter after obtaining her consent.

When I mentioned Li Zhuangping's daughter Qin Li, I had to mention the route he trained for her. In an interview, Li Zhuangping said that when her daughter was 9 years old, she was interested in guiding her to become a painter. In the process of cultivating his daughter, he doesn't allow her to have too much contact with the outside world. It is said that even love is not allowed.

During the six years from 2002 to the first Huangjueping Art Festival in 2009, Li Zhuangping made a gentleman's engagement with his daughter, who was 17 years old at that time, and made her promise not to fall in love when creating, and to keep the temperament of truth, goodness and beauty in her paintings, so as to conform to the description of "Shan Gui" in Qu Yuan's poems as much as possible. It helps the daughter to keep the holy talent to create works.

Because her daughter Qin Li grew up in the atmosphere of her father's painting, she agreed to her father's request for a mannequin without much hesitation. She thinks it is worthwhile to devote herself to art. During her father's six-year creative career, she became the heroine of his "Shan Gui" series. It is said that she has created more than 30 paintings on related subjects.

After the story behind the characters in the exhibition was exposed, it triggered a fierce confrontation between ethics and art.

After the exhibition was made public, especially after it was reported that the public knew that the goddess in the "Shan Gui" series of exhibitions was Li Zhuangping's daughter, public opinion had a heated debate about it, and the pros and cons had a fierce confrontation. Supporters accuse Li Zhuangping of violating ethics and pursuing fame and fortune, while supporters say that we should pay attention to the works rather than the social relations behind the characters.

Yuan Zushe, deputy dean of the School of Political Economy of Shaanxi Normal University, said: "From an ethical point of view, Li Zhuangping's behavior is improper and the social ethical effect is relatively negative."

Some people criticize nature, while others agree with it. Wang Xiaojian, a professor in sichuan fine arts institute, commented on Li Zhuangping's father and daughter's paintings of Shan Gui Series, saying that it takes great courage to break through the conventional social concepts and the constraints of ethics. The oil paintings created by Li's father and daughter are really beautiful and touching.

Lin Mu, an art critic, holds a similar view: "Li Jia's father and daughter provide a new method and thinking for mannequins, which is very worthy of respect."

In the final analysis, the root of people's controversy lies in the different starting points. Opponents have no problem with the painting, but they have problems with the father and daughter. If the characters in the painting are replaced by other women, I believe there will be no dispute, while those who agree ignore the moral and ethical constraints brought about by the relationship between the characters. The dispute between the two factions has constantly brought considerable psychological and public pressure to Li's father and daughter.

In the face of criticism from all sides, the father and daughter frankly responded to this.

In the face of overwhelming criticism from all walks of life, they are really under great pressure. However, in response, Li Zhuangping said that his original intention of making his daughter a mannequin was only for artistic creation, and he did not consider too much from the ethical level. Creating is as natural as bathing your daughter when you were a child, and neither side feels embarrassed.

Li Zhuangping further said: "Fortunately, many professional painters and professors of the Academy of Fine Arts have been encouraging us, so I should stick to it."

Li Zhuangping's wife also expressed her understanding of her husband's creation. She said that when her daughter and her husband were writing, she also liked these comments. Sometimes she thinks she admires her daughter. It is meaningful and rare to keep the most beautiful youth in this artistic way, but unfortunately she doesn't have such a good opportunity.

However, compared with the generosity of her parents, her daughter Qin Li also thinks that it is a very pure thing to devote herself to art, but in the face of cyber violence, her heart is still under great pressure.

As a father, Li Zhuangping once choked up and said, "My daughter often cries when she sees those bad remarks. At that time, I was particularly heartbroken and felt that I was very sorry for her and made her feel wronged. "

Now the controversy about Li's father and daughter has not completely subsided, but they have gradually faded out of people's sight. In order to avoid the criticism and pressure of public opinion, Li Zhuangping's work style began to normalize. It is said that some works have been appraised by experts as high as180,000, which shows the weight of Li Zhuangping's paintings.

How should we treat the contest between human relations and art

This is actually a very controversial topic. When there is a conflict between human relations and art, how we should look at it may be different, but art should not be divorced from the public order and good customs of life.

Art comes from life and is higher than life, and it will eventually return to life. Showing the essence extracted from life to the public can arouse public recognition and praise. Only this kind of artistic work has value and sense of belonging, otherwise it will only become a narcissistic personal creation and will never become a public work.

The focus of people's debate on this matter is that Li Zhuangping used his daughter as a model in his oil paintings. Therefore, knowing this specific background, as ordinary people, our thinking is relevant. It's hard for us to be like Li Zhuangping's father and daughter said. This is just a pure artistic painting, which has nothing to do with ethics. This reason may convince ourselves, but it cannot convince the public.

As a painter, since you participate in the exhibition, you hope that the public can appreciate your works, that is to say, you need to understand the true meaning of art from the perspective of the public. The public is controversial about this, so it's like selling a product, the market doesn't recognize it, and the quality you think is just self-righteous.

The fundamental attribute of human beings is sociality, and society contains all the rules of getting along. Public morality and ethics are the most important codes of conduct in human society. If we ignore this basic law, the distinction between humans and animals will be blurred, and our advanced humans will not be so advanced.

It is not the public's blasphemy against art, on the contrary, it is their own blasphemy against public morality. An artist who doesn't respect social customs can't be called a qualified artist, and his works don't conform to the conscience and morality of our society, so art becomes a fig leaf. After tearing this fig leaf, the lining may be.