Absolute Value
Chinese Drawing Sketch
(Imitation of Chinese Ink Painting)
Chinese painting has a long history. Silk painting is done on silk, dating back to the Warring States Period, which is more than 2000 years ago. Yu Long TU ( A Man Riding a Dragon) is the most famous silk painting in Spring and Autumn Period. These earliest paintings make a solid foundation of strokes being the main expressive form of art, which is not limited to fines arts, but also penetrated to the whole area of East Asia aesthetics. In Western and Eastern Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, religion once was the main topic of paintings, along with figure painting. Landscape, and flower-and-bird paintings also started to emerge onto artistic scene.
I was shocked by the paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties when visiting Qingzhou Museum in Shandong, 2007. The Buddha Statues were especially amazingly great, deserving further discussion another time. The Sui and Tang Dynasties, which at the time boasted some of the most advanced economies and cultures created a rich, fertile ground within Chinese paintings bloomed and reached new heights. Landscape Paintings and flower-and-bird paintings were developed. Religion became civilized. Figure paintings were mainly about nobility. The magnificent and splendid art of Sui and Tang lively depict the grand culture of ancient China.
Like in Yuan Dynasty, Chinese paintings in the Five Dynasties reached a high peak. Chinese culture always transformed to a profound status after a turbulent period. Therefore, Chinese painting in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties were more mature and prosperous. Figure paintings turns to depict ordinary life, while religious painting gradually receded, leading landscape Paintings and flower-and-bird painting to the mainstream.
The emerge and development of literary painting greatly enriched the creation concept and expression method. Song Dynasty was definitely the Golden Era of Chinese intellectuals, commencing the literature and art era until the end of Ming Dynasty, which was also the end of Literary Era. In the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, landscape paintings and freehand brush work flower-and-bird paintings developed rapidly, with literary painting and secular painting being the mainstream. The art of Ancient China slowly ceased after Qing Dynasty.
The stroke art after the three dynasties gradually replaced by the art of water and ink. Numerous possibilities were developed and practiced, however the art was confined within water and ink. During the era of Republic of China, remarkable work is hard to find even though there were some well-know artists.
From “trendy” in 1980s to “novel” in the past 20 years, the Fine Art of New China lost its tradition on the way of being “fresh’ after establishment. Tradition is as important as our blood vessels. Unfortunately, we encountered an era of blood transforming. When nowadays are reflected in the future, a fruitless period will become a shame. That’s why I tried my best to connect past, presence, and future, making a tribute to the artists.
The following art pieces are the drawing replicas of famous artists of different dynasties. What I’m trying to do is pursuing classic in a simple way, making some marks and share them with you.
铅笔素描（仿中国水墨）
中国画历史悠久，远在2000多年前的战国就出现了画在丝织品上的绘画——帛画，春秋战国最为著名的有《御龙图》就是在丝织品上绘画。这些早期绘画奠定了中国以线为主要造型手段的可能性，不仅限于美术，而是渗透到整个东亚美学领域。两汉和魏晋南北朝绘画曾形成以宗教绘画为主的局面，描绘人物、取材文学作品，山水画，花鸟画亦在此时萌芽。2007年参观山东青州博物馆时候第一次被魏晋南北朝震撼了，难于言表，特别是佛造像，在此就不展开了。到了隋唐时期社会经济、文化繁荣，绘画也随之呈现出全面繁荣的局面。山水画、花鸟画已发展成熟，宗教开始世俗化倾向，人物画以贵族为主大量出现，隋唐时期特色鲜活的全面展开了“古代中国”的文化卷轴。五代绘画是个和后来的“元朝”一样的绘画高峰，中国历史上凡是“国破山河在”的动荡年代，中国文化必然留存厚重。两宋又进一步成熟和更加繁荣，人物画更多描绘凡人生活，宗教画渐趋衰退，山水画、花鸟画跃居画坛主流。 文人画的出现及其在后世的发展，极大地丰富了中国画的创作观念和表现方法。宋代毫无争议是中国知识分子的“黄金时代”，是中国“文艺”时代的开端，其光芒一直照耀到明末清初，元代是中国古风时代的尾巴、明代（最后的文人时代，锋芒内敛，但才士辈出）、清三代水墨山水和写意花鸟得到突出发展，文人画和风俗画成为中国画的主流（只有重复但再无辉煌的百余年）至此“古代中国”艺术的大门缓缓地关上了。
清三代之后线造型没落了，水墨的可能性全面被开发出来，翻花样似的，但仅仅限于水与墨之间。民国时代也只是稍稍停顿，小做梳理，虽然名家是家喻户晓，无奈作品多数平平。
新中国美术，从建国时期的“新鲜”，到80年代的“新潮”，再到近20年的“新奇”，一个“新”字迷失了传统。传统如同血脉，我们遭遇了一个换血的时代，当用未来的镜子照耀当下，苍白会让时光汗颜，所以我努力作出种种尝试，企图牵手曾经的曾经，在今天悄悄续写以往，以此向大师致敬。
（下列作品来自对历代名家作品的描摹和重组，试图用素描这样简洁的方式追逐经典，此间留痕，分而享之。）
