Life experience in water and sky

Shui Tianzhong was born in Lanzhou, Gansu Province in 1935. He received a good enlightenment education from his parents and had a soft spot for calligraphy and painting. When he went to college, he applied for Xi 'an Northwest Art Institute (now Xi 'an Academy of Fine Arts) and graduated in 1955.

In July, 1959, he was assigned to organize Pingliang Art School, enrolled students in counties of Pingqing and Pingqing, worked out teaching plans and curriculum, made drawing boards and easels, ordered plaster models and various painting tools, and he was very devoted to these trivial tasks. On September 1st, Pingliang Art School started. He taught sketch, sketch, perspective and watercolor for art students. By this time, although he has tasted the bitterness of the world because of his father's Rightist problem, he still lacks understanding of the real suffering of all sentient beings on earth. In 1961, he went to Zhuanglang countryside with the teachers and students of Pingliang Art School to support the spring ploughing in the disaster area, which made him unforgettable. The so-called "natural disaster" killed many young and middle-aged local laborers ... < P > In 1963, the Propaganda Department of Pingliang District Committee sent him to Jingchuan Yudu Commune to carry out the Four Clean-ups Movement. In the countryside, he saw many cadres of commune teams who were called "local emperors" killing farmers and doing whatever they wanted. The cruel and shocking reality stimulated him so much that he began to observe and study society with the eyes of a scholar. In 1965, Pingliang No.2 Middle School, where he had been teaching for four years, began to engage in the Four Cleanup Movement. Under the guidance of the idea that class struggle is everywhere, all the teachers in the school passed the test, and a new disaster came. Pingliang Cultural Center held an exhibition of art works, and friends from the Cultural Center selected five or six of his oil paintings. When a leader learned that Shuizi was his father during the preview, he immediately made a decision: "Such people can't participate in the exhibition!" " A person who specializes in painting thus loses the right to participate in the exhibition.

In May p>1966, the Cultural Revolution Working Group of Pingliang No.2 Middle School began to queue up to mobilize activists and mobilized revolutionary teachers and students to attack the "revisionist reactionary capitalist establishment". Instigated and driven by the working group and activists, the students took their teachers as the object, swearing and teasing, and posters and slogans written in yellow paper were plastered all over the walls of the school and the doors and windows of the teachers' dormitory. Most teachers were treated as ghosts and monsters, and more than 3 ghosts and monsters were found out among more than 8 teachers in the school. At the faculty learning meeting, Shuitianhe, who was extremely dissatisfied with this ultra-left practice, suggested that it was not in line with the policy of "uniting with the majority". The working group was furious, turned all its firepower to criticize them, and besieged and criticized them for a week. The method of siege did everything possible, and the cruelty of means and the insult to personality made him still have a lingering fear.

Since the winter of 1966, my daily work in Shuitian has been to write quotations from Chairman Mao, draw portraits of Chairman Mao and brush big slogans with a few "ghosts and monsters" from morning till night. These tasks were carried out until 1977.

In p>1968, the Workers' Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team entered the school and started a new round of class struggle. The first revolutionary action after the workers' propaganda team entered the school was to combine the staff toilets with the students' toilets. The second revolutionary action was to order all the staff to live together, and the two large conference rooms in the school became male and female dormitories. When the workers' propaganda team came to power, Mao Zedong issued the instruction of "one strike against three evils", and several young people in Pingliang were shot. They were charged with "viciously attacking the headquarters of the proletariat" in the form of essays and diaries. In that era when there was a shadow of a bow and a snake, a famous old actor of Pingliang Qin Troupe heard that his son had written a "reactionary slogan" and committed suicide by throwing himself into a well in panic. A man and his wife were talking privately in bed, but those with ulterior motives said that they had viciously attacked Chairman Mao and were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. For these absurd phenomena against humanity and nature, he can't express his indignation in words when he is treading on thin ice. He can only bury his deep disgust in his heart. In that cold age, there were two things that brought great comfort to Shuitian, and also made him not completely disillusioned with the remaining fantasy of this world. In the summer of 1974, he traveled to Liujiaxia Reservoir and Qilian Mountain in Shuitian, which was seconded to the provincial literature and art studio, and devoted himself to the embrace of nature. The fascinating landscape made him feel a deep beauty, and also made him discover that in that era, there were still people who kept people clean and dignified between snow-capped mountains and forests.

In the spring of p>1975, he took his students to work and attend classes in Xujiapo Brigade of Jingchuan Taiping Commune. The local farmers were very friendly to them. He lived in a poor and middle-class peasant family, and his daughter and her mother took good care of him, which made him feel the warmth of the bottom workers and saw the beauty of human nature. After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, his main task changed from painting the portrait of Chairman Mao to designing and making wreaths. He led a dozen students to make wreaths of various specifications and sizes for various occasions. Many people are full of praise for the wreath he designed and made, which makes him feel inexplicable sadness in his heart, and he has dreamed of dedicating himself to painting for many years. However, he has an empty ambition, and he can only swallow the work that a craftsman can do without much knowledge while looking at the back of the Muse. The downfall of the Gang of Four marked the end of a long nightmare in troubled China, and also indicated that a tragic fate would take a major turn. One day in the autumn of 1978, he read in Guangming Daily that the news that the Institute of Literature and Art of the Ministry of Culture was recruiting graduate students made him feel very excited. Having passed the age of no doubt, he was excited and hesitant to go back to the art hall that haunted him for further study, but he didn't give up the opportunity to leap forward. As a result, he applied for a postgraduate degree at the Institute of Literature and Art of the Ministry of Culture and was admitted.

In early p>1979, after living in Pingliang for 22 years, I left Pingliang with a mixed feeling of attachment and bitterness, and went to Beijing to start another study career. History cannot be cut off, especially a person's growth history. During his 22 years in Pingliang, Shuitian suffered from discrimination and oppression, and how many of his beautiful years were wasted on this yellow land, and the exploration of his artistic potential was delayed for a long time. But to be fair, many things he saw in Pingliang were not learned in books, and his long-term contact with the bottom of society laid a solid foundation for the formation of his world outlook and values, which should also be regarded as a rare wealth for him. What's more, in that era when Gankun was hanging upside down, the fate of the whole country was still like this. As an individual, how can we escape this robbery? After a long period of depression and "cold storage", when the day comes when spring returns to the earth and everything recovers, the seeds of art in the water sky begin to sprout rapidly, blossom and bear fruit, and no longer dance in chains. His talent and spirituality show an aggressive edge. He understands that since he has seized the hand of opportunity, he has no reason to slack off, and it is his only choice to make up for his previous losses with double diligence.

In p>1981, after receiving a master's degree in literature, Shui Tianzhong entered the Institute of Fine Arts of China Academy of Art, and his main direction turned to the study of fine arts theory. With his profound painting background and the writing skills of Bachelor of Arts, he is at home in the field of art theory research. At that time, although it had begun to bring order out of chaos, the legacy of the Cultural Revolution was still in the limelight in China's art circles. The current situation pushed Shuitian to the forefront of clearing up the roots of the art world with a sharp pen of concealing and denying. Standing at a height, Shuitian's sharp eyes and sharp pen tips became a very avant-garde landscape in China's art circles at that time, rewarding and supporting the buried talents, cheering for the explorers who were left out of the world, and boldly introducing new ideas and styles from abroad. "Chivalrous and soft-hearted, courageous and courageous" is a message written to others in Shuitian, but I think it seems more appropriate to take it as a portrayal of my own style of doing things in Shuitian.

when commenting on China's ink painting, he said that in the history of China painting, with ink painting gradually becoming the main painting form, painting gradually left the walls of the palace temple and entered private rooms. This change has fundamentally changed the growing environment of painting art, and people's attention to painting works has gradually shifted from the overall visual tension to the subtle painting effect. The literati pushed this trend to the extreme, and the "beauty of the old world" of sparseness, depression, elegance and introspection dominated the world of ink painting. China ink painting has been "refined". It is in harmony with the book tablet, the simple book, the green tea and the plain piano, and it gives spiritual comfort to the recluse who has no desire or desire. Criticizing this situation as "decline" is worthy of scrutiny from the perspective of semantic interpretation. Because decline means that a living system tends to stagnate and disintegrate uncontrollably, but this situation of traditional ink painting is the ideal and pursuit of literati painters. Until today, there are still many painters who try their best to make ink painting conform to this standard.

In an article for Zhang Mu, an impressionist painter who was misunderstood, he wrote that impressionist painting is not limited to the art of a certain country or nation, and its influence and legend have been widely spread all over the world for more than 1 years. It is neither a completely unfamiliar art nor a popular art that can be seen everywhere; It is neither a distant memory of art history nor an avant-garde art phenomenon that is difficult for ordinary people to understand. For audiences with different cultural levels and backgrounds, impressionist painting has always been a pleasing and fascinating aesthetic object, and it is also a cultural phenomenon worth thinking about. Some people say that "the existence of Impressionism only trains critics to be more bitter". The term "impressionism" also contains irony. Some people criticize pissarro's early works as "ugly" and "vulgar". The dancers in Renoir's paintings have cotton legs, and the brush strokes of the roads in Monet's landscape paintings are compared to "black tongue licking marks" ... In fact, the Impressionist painters are the most unique pure artists who have worked hard to challenge the times. The existence of Impressionism has trained the critics to be more timid. He openly expressed his anger and disdain for the kitsch phenomenon in the literary and art circles. When talking about Pan Yuliang, a hot-selling female painter who traveled to France, he pointedly pointed out that Pan Yuliang was favored by film and television popular culture because she was suitable for playing "fashion amorous feelings" such as brothel secrets, multi-angle love, naked body and so on, and only Pan Yuliang could satisfy the audience's voyeurism. He said that some screenwriters and directors of film and television works simply don't know the art circle and art history of China, and some plots and scenes are "absurdly" against historical facts. "Truth" has been sacrificed for "market" here. "The life experience of an extremely special woman living in the social and cultural transition period in China was thus transformed by the framework of mass media. The traditional male-dominated culture of talented people and beautiful women and the multi-angle love routine of popular film and television stories replaced Pan Yuliang's individual life experience ... This made Pan Yuliang in the history of art pale, poor and tacky-the actress's beautiful appearance didn't help ... So Pan Yuliang's artistic creation was diluted, and Pan Yuliang's meteorological character was dissolved. He sighed painlessly: "She has lost her original meaning."

Over the past p>2 years, pen ploughing has continued in the watery world. A large number of works, such as Li Gonglin and His Times, Oil Painting Introduced into China and Its Early Development, A Brief History of China's Oil Painting, Modern Art Criticism Collection, Crossing the Four Seasons, History, Art and People, have come out, enabling people to understand the watery world more comprehensively and share his works in aesthetic pleasure. In an article in his collection History, Art and Man, he expounded his historical viewpoint: "The book based on facts is a precious tradition of China's historiography. Without this spirit, historical records will be inaccurate. There are various reasons for the inaccuracy of the records, but the most important thing to watch out for is that' it is better to obey in order to protect the good fortune, and not to violate the interests to suffer'. In order to avoid others looking for trouble, to avoid being involved in the whirlpool of portal disputes, and to be taboo for the honorable person and the wise person, we strike a balance in historical writings, say nothing about sensitive issues, and use diplomatic language to talk about him from left to right. This is not the competition of historical talents, but the existence of Shi De. " In the article "Ink Painting in the New Century", he coldly pointed out: "The extreme narrowness of formal norms and the irrelevance of artistic ideas are the hidden worries of the development of contemporary ink painting." One of the consequences of being far from realism is being far from reality. Nowadays, there are many expressive ink paintings, but few people cry about life. In addition to the arduous journey of a few painters, ink painting seems to return to the realm of only talking about' romantic'. " He commented that Lin Fengmian was "one of the few painters in the history of painting in China in the 2th century who insisted on his individuality and dared to cry about his life", which was also a good medicine for contemporary art anemia. He highly praised the paintings of "singing and crying for life", and his own articles are often sad songs of "singing and crying for life". He also hit the nail on the head and pointed out: "There is no authority in the art world who dares to tell the truth like Ba Jin and He Lvting." Gold is not seen until the lead is washed away. If we divide his life in a simple way, his most wonderful life picture began to be drawn when he was about to enter the age of knowing his destiny. His life answer sheet, which was completed by combining his half-life experience with the wisdom in his blood, proved such a simple truth: people who have nothing to pursue and are willing to be mediocre will never dominate their own destiny. Sticking to being indifferent and broad-minded, refusing the temptation of pursuing fame and wealth, and keeping a noble and maverick demeanor are a kind of talent and virtue elevation to become a modern and contemporary cultural person in China. In front of this elevation, many self-conceited and low-minded cultural people have fallen out of a lot of "small" under the "fur robe"! Introduction to Shuizi Shuizi was born in Lanzhou in 1884, the tenth year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. Under his father's strict discipline, Shuizi showed extraordinary talent when he was a teenager. In the 27th year of Guangxu, Shuizi took the imperial examination with the quota of Yuzhong County, and won the first place in the county, the first place in the government and the first place in the college. After the scholar was admitted, the imperial examination was abolished by the imperial court. At that time, the capital and the provinces successively set up the Higher School of Literature, and Shuizi entered the Gansu Higher School of Literature. The great influence of Wen Gao Xue on Shui Zi was that he began to learn new things. Yan Fu's translated works and articles by Zhang Taiyan, Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei made him feel refreshed, especially Liang Qichao's writing style. Influenced by them, Shuizi began to think about the social ills in front of him from the perspective of system. He commented on the current politics in his graduation examination article, advocated imitating the European and American system reform, and was found out by the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, who planned to severely punish him, and was treated leniently by celebrities. In the first year of Xuantong (199), Shuizi passed the official fee student selection examination and entered the Jingshi Law and Politics School. School specialized courses are mostly taught by Japanese teachers. This is the beginning of Shuizi's transformation from traditional cultural environment to modern cultural environment. During the study period, Mr. Wang Gengshan, an old member of Gansu League, introduced him to participate in revolutionary activities. In the first year of the Republic of China, Shuizi served as a political commissar and director of the communication group of the Kuomintang headquarters in Beijing. The Wuchang Uprising of 1911 was successful, and the provinces responded with * * *. Among the 18 provinces in the mainland, Gansu was the only one who continued to support the Qing court and sent Ma Fuxiang to lead the troops to attack and support * *.