Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Huang Zhouhui Correspondent Chen Jiqing Huang Shujuan
Figure/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Deng Bo
On April 20th, "One Line Two People-Zhan Zhongxiao Jincheng Line Drawing Art Exhibition" opened in Guangzhou International Finance Center [M Space]. The exhibition was sponsored by China National Academy of Painting, Guangzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Guangdong Artists Association, with Lin Lan and Meng Xiande as academic hosts, Ye Zhenghua and Wang Xiang as curators, and more than 70 original classics of the two artists were exhibited. Previously, two artists, Zhan Zhongxiao and Jincheng, were invited to the Yushun Art Museum in Heilongjiang, which was a great success.
Master and apprentice inherit and explore the art of line drawing
China’s line drawing art has a long history. With the development of the times, it has become more and more rich in connotation, with a myriad of implications. There was an incisive summary of the "eighteen strokes". At that time, Japanese Ukiyo-e was deeply influenced by China’s printmaking techniques in Ming and Qing Dynasties. With freehand line language, it described the life of the common people in the Edo era, and even had an impact on contemporary animation works-Takehiko Inoue’s cartoon "The Odyssey" and the animated film "The King of Dogs", which were being shown. The pictures and characters all had the shadow of China’s line drawing.
With the evolution of history, people’s aesthetic tastes are ever-changing, and contemporary painters are making unremitting exploration and practice to create works with the flavor of the times. Zhan Zhongxiao and Jincheng are the representatives among them. They know each other in line drawing and cherish friendship. They are a pair of tacit apprentices. The two artists have strong personal styles, one is old and the other is fashionable; One is thin and the other is thick.
One of the works exhibited in Zhan Zhongxiao this time, Arc Flashing, was published in 1973, which has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It used to be a model for teachers and students of eight fine arts colleges to learn from the line drawing, and it is also a portrayal of the course of China’s line drawing art from prosperity to decline, and now it is back on its feet. Zhan Zhongxiao’s early works are mainly comic books and illustrations, with meticulous pictures, ingenious composition and exquisite costumes and props. In the 1990s, he was not satisfied with the exploration of comic books and illustrations, but turned his attention to the category of big art, and began to use the technique of line drawing to create Chinese paintings, forming an independent personal style system, which was called "Zhan Yi Description" by artists such as Feng Yuan and Lu Yushun.
As the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage "line drawing art", Zhan Zhongxiao, with his unique artistic practice, has expanded the boundaries of Chinese painting, increased the diversity of contemporary painting in China, and expanded the territory of line drawing art, so he is famous at home and abroad.
Jincheng, another artist participating in the exhibition, is an animation artist and publisher transformed from comic books. He is a leader in the animation industry in China. He once founded Manyou magazine, which is regarded as a milestone of original animation in China, and entered the 20th China Animation Golden Dragon Award. In the 1980s, he published "Ming Girl" in the Comic Book, which became a cover work, leaving a strong impression on the art world in the early days of reform and opening up.
The works on display this time include comics and illustrations created by Jincheng in his early days, as well as a new work "Minimalist Girl" in recent years. Jincheng’s use line is bright, bold, simple and smart. In his line-drawing works, people can always find large chunks of blank space, and in the continuous rhythmic figure outline, they accidentally find hidden "broken lines", which are interesting and imaginative.
Move art works into CBD for exhibition.
"Line drawing is a treasure of Chinese culture, stretching for thousands of years. It is not only the basis of various painting shapes, but also an art form that the public loves. This time, the line-drawing works of Zhan Zhongxiao and Jincheng will be moved into CBD, so that art can go out of the art museum and no longer be shelved. The organizers hope to attract more young people’s attention and fully feel the beauty of line drawing art. " At the opening ceremony, Ye Zhenghua, one of the curators and full-time vice chairman of Guangdong Artists Association, introduced the initial intention of this exhibition to the guests.
According to reports, this exhibition integrates many cross-border resources such as art, culture and commerce, hoping to use the influence of urban landmarks in Guangzhou IFC to enlarge the scope of artistic radiation, attract more audiences to feel the charm of traditional art, and sow the seeds of imagination, inheritance and innovation in people’s hearts.
The reporter noticed at the scene that the exhibition was very attractive. White-collar workers from Guangzhou IFC and the surrounding CBD office buildings came to watch, and tourists from flower city square also came to punch in.