Changsha, December 12 (Reporter Bai Zukai Deng Xia) Holding a personal exhibition of calligraphy and painting at the Art Museum of the China National Academy of Painting is a dream of many art lovers from professional classes. When Tan Xiaoping, a researcher at the Hunan Provincial Research Institute of Culture and History, who had never received a professional education in calligraphy and painting, was invited to hold a solo exhibition of calligraphy and painting at the Art Museum of the China National Academy of Painting, many people couldn't believe it.

Tan Xiaoping's calligraphy and painting art exhibition was held at the Art Museum of China National Academy of Painting. Photo by Yu Suibai

On December 2023, 12, Tan Xiaoping's calligraphy and painting art exhibition was held at the Art Museum of China National Academy of Painting. The exhibition is jointly sponsored by the China International Culture Communication Center, the Art Museum of the China National Academy of Painting, the Hunan Provincial Research Museum of Culture and History, the Hunan Provincial Calligraphy Association, the Hunan Provincial Artists Association, and the Hunan Provincial Academy of Painting.

Tan Xiaoping was born in Xiangxiang, Hunan Province in 1963, and has served in party and government organs for a long time, successively serving as secretary of the district and county party committees, members of the Standing Committee of the municipal party committee, and director of the United Front Work Department. His calligraphy and painting works have participated in many important exhibitions at home and abroad, and a large number of manuscripts have been published in journals at all levels, and many monographs have been published. He has held solo and duo exhibitions in Changsha and Shiga, Japan, and his works have been widely acclaimed.

Visitors stop to admire Tan Xiaoping's paintings. Photo by Yu Suibai

Talking about the origin of his love for Hanmo, Tan Xiaoping said with a smile that he was interested in Xi writing when he was a child, and was praised by his teacher as "having a smart hand", and since then he has made writing and painting his life Xi. Later, he occasionally got a copy of "Mustard Seed Garden Painting", and he never got tired of it for a long time.

Tan Xiaoping's calligraphy is mainly calligraphy, and he has a soft spot for Su Dongpo, and at the same time, he is involved in various families and learns from others. He is open-minded and strong, with a strong atmosphere of the times, and his life momentum is hidden between the lines, which is very infectious. He told reporters that his relationship with Su Dongpo came from his own pen Xi.

Tan Xiao's parallel book work "Seven Words of the Sun and the Wind and the Late Seven Words". Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"When I was studying, I wrote with two fingers on my fingers, which was very different from the way my teacher taught me to hold a pen. The teacher who taught me said that the handwriting was good, but the way of holding the pen was wrong. I was a little frustrated. But later, a calligraphy teacher told me that yes, Su Dongpo held the pen in this way, which is called the 'single hook pen method'. Since then, I have developed a strong interest in Su Dongpo. Tan Xiaoping said that after joining the work, he extensively collected and Xi systematically studied Su Dongpo's inscription and ink, and at the same time, he also Xi learned Su Dongpo's articles and thoughts, behaved in the world, and substituted his own experience into it to perceive the "form and spirit" of Su characters.

Tan Xiaoping's painting art covers a wider range of paintings, such as fine brushwork and freehand, figures and flowers and birds, tradition and modernity. The comprehensive use of pen and ink Danqing materials, advocating the ancient method and being able to go out of the ancient and into the new, showing his unusual ideological literacy and aesthetic taste.

"I don't have any restrictions and exquisiteness in painting, I just paint according to my own preferences and follow my heart." Perhaps it is the long-term grassroots experience that has given Tan Xiaoping a broader vision and injected more handy extra-pen skills. He often travels to his hometown of Hunan to sketch and paint familiar things in familiar places. As a result, the freshly flowered Yingshan red, the sycamore flowers hanging on the branches, and the farmhouse chickens under the palm trees all "jumped on the paper" one by one.

Tan Xiaoping's painting "Where is the spring stream good, the grass and trees do not know". Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"These are the things that I am most familiar with and familiar with, and it is the most sure and different things to draw them. Because my love for my hometown and homeland will permeate my pen and ink. Tan Xiaoping said that the Hunan people are outstanding and spiritual, the three Hunan and four rivers are beautiful and colorful, and the Huxiang culture has infiltrated generations of Huxiang sons and daughters. Injecting a deep love for his hometown into his works is an expression of natural emotion.

In this exhibition, Tan Xiaoping selected more than 600 freehand paintings from more than 100 paintings to display in the "My Heart Flying" section. Faced with the reporter's question of "why do you have time to paint so many works", Tan Xiaoping smiled and said that he has been practicing Hanmo diligently for decades without interruption, even during the busiest career peak, he still spends one or two hours a day to write and paint.

The path of art never ends. In the summer of 2022, Tan Xiaoping used his vacation time to study and Xi murals in Dunhuang with a project led by Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. With the systematic and in-depth exploration of line drawing modeling, material analysis, color application, picture processing, etc., Tan Xiaoping's knowledge and understanding of Dunhuang murals have been continuously improved, and he has become the one with the largest number of works produced in this project.

Tan Xiaoping's painting "Rebound Pipa Dance Music Picture". Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"I studied Xi in Dunhuang for a month, and after I came back, it took me more than half a year to complete 60 murals. Many of these murals will be featured in this exhibition. Tan Xiaoping said that in order to paint these works, he specially commissioned someone to buy various painting materials from Dunhuang, hoping to make his paintings closer to perfection.

The reporter learned that among these works, there are not only objective copying works that are faithful to the original, but also mural paintings formed after finishing and processing, as well as panel mural works that have been recombined to give the works new meaning, including many colorful and highly decorative pattern works. These works are combined with the art of calligraphy to complement each other and have a unique visual effect.

Tan Xiaoping spends most of his free time reading, Xi, writing and painting, and has a deep study of Chinese characters and classical Chinese literature. He said: "Chinese calligraphy and painting works have their own aesthetic tastes and aesthetic Xi habits, what we need to do is to not only take root in the tradition but also bring forth the new, out of our own world." As the so-called diligent cultivation of Han Mo is free, the taste of the world is pure joy. (ENDS)