Zhang Ming’s Literary Theory

1

Wang Yong (Deputy Director, Researcher, and Doctoral Supervisor of the Institute of Fine Arts, China Academy of Arts):

Zhang Ming’s meticulous and heavy-color paintings, It absorbs the light and shade, light, shadow and color of Western paintings, is realistic and lyrical, and blurs parts of the (picture). Its main characteristics are advocating elegance, paying attention to character, pursuing leisure and fun, paying attention to changes in pen and ink, and making innovations in artistic concepts, themes and styles.

II

Shang Hui (Director of the Chinese Artists Association, Member of the Expert Committee of the China Modern Art Research Center, Executive Editor-in-Chief of "Art" magazine):

Zhang Ming almost expanded the still life of farmhouses to the courtyard of the farmhouse. He loved to depict the ginkgo biloba in Wumen in late autumn. The golden leaves showed subtle color changes due to the angle of light and spatial perspective, while the deep wooden houses and polished stone steps of the farmhouse They are all depicted with meticulous detail by the artist. Although Zhang Ming's gongbi landscapes have a Western way of viewing landscapes, they still pursue oriental charm in terms of aesthetic conception. In particular, his tonal rendering retains more of the natural penetration of ink and free and elegant brushwork, which also reflects Wu's artistic conception. The artistic characteristics of elegance and gentleness common to all painters.

Three

Zheng Gong (Deputy Director, Researcher, and Doctoral Supervisor of the Institute of Fine Arts, Chinese Academy of Arts):

Zhang Ming, in a blur of illusion The white walls, black tiles, and fishing boat pear blossoms create a unique poetic atmosphere. The personality is very different (from other painters), and the outstanding personal techniques and artistic features actually mean a kind of maturity, or in other words, a certain stylized tendency.

Four

Sun Ke (Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Painting Society)

Since the 20th century, Suzhou has still been an eye-catching gathering place for literati , I deeply feel that the group of Chinese painters in Suzhou is strong. In addition to the old painters, more young talents have emerged, such as Zhang Ming and many other rising stars.

(The above comments are all excerpted from the book "Inheritance and Innovation - Wumen Painting School Forum", compiled by Suzhou Traditional Chinese Painting Academy, published by Guwuxuan Publishing House in October 2012, ISBN978-7-80733 —923-6)

五

Chen Peiqiu (famous Chinese painter, art connoisseur, critic)

Zhang Ming’s works are both light and colorful, and a little bit Lines and surfaces are my teachers in learning. (Inscription on Zhang Ming’s collection of Chinese paintings) 1

My heart is with Huangye Village in the south of the Yangtze River

——Talk about Zhang Ming’s pictorial language

People’s views on The basis for judging visual images is often based on similarities and differences based on their respective reading experiences. And the experience has left a certain cultural mark on the times. Traditional culture from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Qing Dynasty, a mixture of old and new culture from the May 4th to the Republic of China, revolutionary culture from the 1950s to before the Cultural Revolution, realism culture from the 1970s and 1980s, and the current popular multiculturalism... Different backgrounds have different visual effects. The standards for images also vary.

Zhang Ming is obviously influenced by realistic painting. His works are close to life and follow nature. Its form of expression and painting techniques are typical of today's mainstream cultural forms. Representing the objective world with exquisite and delicate artistic techniques is still the most accepted form with the widest audience. Precisely because of the clear standard of the diagram, it has become the main theme of the works in previous national exhibitions. In recent years, a large number of powerful painting masters have emerged. They all started with realistic painting and then took their own lead. The same goes for Zhang Ming.

In the 10th National Art Exhibition, Zhang Ming's Chinese painting "Farming and Reading People" won the bronze medal, and Zhang Ming also attracted attention in the circle. Taking the old house of Xingshu as the theme, he has painted countless works with the same theme, many of which are exquisite. During his initial exploration and experimentation stage, Zhang Ming endured many clueless nights, and the road was always long and without sight. In fact, the technical means of realistic painting are not the root of the struggle, because there is a limit to technology, and you can reach higher with hard work. If you don't understand the peak of artistic context, you will never reach it if you waste your energy and energy in vain. Zhang Ming is well aware of this. While constantly improving his technology, he pays more attention to the creation and expression of artistic context.

In Zhang Ming's Chinese paintings, the expression of "form" and "program" is no longer an ancient method but an innovation. He absorbed the composition, light, color, and atmosphere creation methods of Western paintings, and paid great attention to the overall form and natural texture. The arrangement, arrangement, and combination of dense images are layer upon layer, colorful, disordered but not chaotic. Every stone, every tile, every grass and every tree is painted with strokes and layers of dye, and every move is filled with true feelings, without any pretense. He adopted the method of Western painting and passed on the spirit of Chinese painting. He combined the original painful appearance of ruined walls with virtual reality and black and white, creating a simple and natural picture with strange imagery and novel visual effects. This kind of picture that deeply contains the artistic conception of Chinese culture has far exceeded the painting itself and deeply infected us.

Zhang Ming’s early works focused on depicting folk houses in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Perhaps it is due to the Jiangnan complex that comes from the same origin. His perspective is sensitive and passionate, and he can always find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Ancient streets, secluded alleys, ruined walls, shabby houses in deep courtyards, any scene that can be seen can be painted. There are often concrete things that ordinary people disdain, such as a broken wall, a broken path, an old tree, a bunch of weeds... As long as he combs through it, the disordered scenery will instantly become clear and full of vitality.

His delicate and rich emotions can detect the signs of life's emergence through the surface. Therefore, his paintings can always be appropriately emotional and stir up nostalgia in countless people of temperament.

Among Zhang Ming’s works, the most praised is his Ginkgo series. Whenever you set foot in Jinting Ancient Town in the golden autumn season and look around the East and West Mountains, you will be shocked by the golden apricot leaves everywhere. The farmhouses with pink walls and black tiles are hidden among them. The ground is covered with fallen leaves. Under the golden yellow In the leaves, farmers have expectations, and so do painters.

The scenery is picturesque, but not necessarily picturesque. I have seen many painters painting Huangye Village. They always hope to freeze the visual excitement into an eternal picture. But the result is always empty sighs that "the hand does not follow the heart", trying to reproduce the reality is unreal, and being confused by the objective reality. Zhang Ming is different. While he strives to express the reality of the subject, he never forgets the expressiveness and lyricism of painting. He pays great attention to the creation of artistic conception in painting and makes graphical expressions of subjective aesthetics. What he pursues is the reality of humanistic experience, not the reality of naturalism. The reality of this humanistic experience is the imprint left on the painter after filtering.

Zhang Ming very cleverly retains the advantages of realism painting, adds the light of subjective emotion, and uses unique formal language to express his aesthetic interest. He never skimps on his subject matter and paints it in detail with great patience. The secondary part is empty and indifferent, fulfilling the responsibility of the green leaves. In particular, the apricot trees in his paintings are dyed layer by layer, and the apricot color is rich and transparent. The backlighting effect reinterpreted by him using meticulous painting techniques makes the sunlight seem to penetrate through the leaves in the forest, and the golden light is dazzling. His painting language has gone far beyond naturalistic photographic effects. He deeply embeds artistic ideals into his paintings, and the surroundings and emotions slowly exude a poetic fragrance in the lyrical tunes. When a painting can evoke associations in a fascinating way, the author's creative intention is also perfectly conveyed.

A mature painter must not only have keen observation and skillful skills, but more importantly, be good at discovering special interest in the original environment, and carve this interest into works without losing the original flavor. The pattern of art is both pleasing to the eye and the mind, and the value of aesthetics to the general public is fully reflected. Zhang Ming, who is willing to care about Huangye Village, always firmly believes that the scenery here is unique!

Zhou Jumin

In January 2012, he visited Tingfeng Garden (Zhou Jumin, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, Suzhou City Chairman of the Artists Association, President of the Chinese Painting Academy, Deputy Director of the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and New Media)

Two

Painting Homeland with Emphasis on Meaning and Sentiment

In the dense ink painting Among the traditional landscape painting patterns woven by mountains and rivers, "draping hemp" and "folding belts", Zhang Ming's paintings are refreshing!

When people read paintings, they are accustomed to using their own already formed perceptions of different The fixed format of the painting type "corresponds" to the work in front of me. When the style and expression of the work cannot be "linked" with the original storage, I always try hard to find the similarities between them unwillingly, and then make a new one from them. Classification choices. Reading Zhang Ming's landscape paintings is to question one's own concepts about painting styles and painting types, because his paintings deconstruct the traditional reading order and challenge people's understanding of painting!

Those who have The light and shadow of clouds and smoke dyed with colorful ink, the dam paths piled with colorful marbles, and the farmyards rendered with colorful autumn leaves are presented. Is it an oil painting, a gouache painting, a pastel painting, a watercolor painting, or a Chinese painting? On the surface, it is difficult to Classify Zhang Ming’s paintings. Because in the use of tools and materials, he chose the unique brushes and rice paper of Chinese painting. In terms of the style of painting, he adopted the form of traditional Chinese painting. Even the colors and inscriptions and seals are derived from the tradition of Chinese painting. However, through these inherent traditional elements of Chinese painting, he boldly used Western vocabulary in expression. The terrestrial halo formed by the sunlight on the mottled old wall in "Afternoon", the ripples in "Stream" and the steaming mist on the bridge, the dazzling sunlight in the middle of the sky and the cobblestone streets exposed to the scorching sun in "Noon" make people unable to help but feel... Thinking of Monet's "Impression of Sunrise", it feels like you are immersed in the light, shadow and color created by painters from a foreign country.

Zhang Ming’s landscape paintings with dreamlike lights and shadows and vibrant colors are shocking! When those flying colorful leaves touch the heartstrings of readers, they are originally interested in the style and type of painting. The doubts about the concept disappeared with the steaming mist in the picture, and I just felt refreshed. While watching, people couldn't help but marvel: Zhang Ming used his solid modeling ability, rich expressive vocabulary and pastoral pastoral pictures to make his own unique interpretation of the "program" of painting!

Artistic creation The ideal state is to constantly explore and innovate, and innovation means constant self-denial. Zhang Ming's mellow traditional skills and fresh and elegant painting style have won him many awards at national and provincial art exhibitions. However, his existing achievements cannot hinder his progress on the road of creation. He tirelessly tries to integrate Western art into The vocabulary of painting is integrated into the form of Chinese landscape painting, and he has no hesitation in taking the dangerous path of adapting the West to China.

The motivation for innovation comes from his courage and knowledge. His courage is based on Zhang Ming's full understanding of the laws of painting and his mastery of Chinese and Western painting techniques, while his academic accomplishment is closely connected with his modest attitude towards life and diligent academic spirit.

Zhang Ming is honest, respectful and humble. Although he has made remarkable achievements in artistic creation, he has never relaxed his climb to the peak of art.

Now, he is starting from a new level and trying to use pure ink to express pastoral scenes, ridges, ditches and grassy courtyards. The "Sketch from Life" series of sketches conveys the unique pastoral poetry with rich Chinese ink connotations, and at the same time expresses the love of modern urbanites for the fragrance of wheat straw and earth. After reading his past artistic thoughts, we are even more looking forward to listening to his future thoughts.

It can be predicted that the future artistic path will be broader for him!

Yuan Mu

At Suzhou Chengdong Moxuan

(Yuan Mu Chinese Artists Association Member, professor at Soochow University School of Arts, master's tutor)