Inscriptions inscribed on the Western Land
【Scholar Talk】
Art has an affectionate expression in western China. The mountains and rivers there have nurtured a heroic nation and a profound civilization. The myths of the Queen Mother of the West and the Nuwa of Fuxi, the cherishing of things and loving the people by Emperor Xuanyuan, the founder of humanities, and the whimsical ideas brought by King Mu of Zhou's "eight horses traveling 30,000 miles a day" are all evidences that Chinese civilization was nurtured in the western region. The water system here is prosperous vertically and horizontally, the land here is vast and colorful, and the civilization here is even more diverse.
Western prints, along the way of a long civilization. The mighty Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the splendid Tianshan Mountains, the magnificient Yellow River Basin, the beautiful Jinsha River, and the beautiful Sichuan-Guizhou Basin...the cultural heritage of prints can be seen everywhere. Prints are full of powerful imprints, recording important stages of the development of civilization in the western region. They are symbols and history.
western smile
The "Human Head-shaped Painted Pottery Vase" unearthed at the Dadiwan Site in Qin'an, Gansu Province, the "Ji Lotian" in the murals of the Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang, and the "Tara" on the Tibetan Thangka all show the bright smile of Western civilization.
This eternal smile has revealed the vast history of civilization in the western region.
The West's attitude towards nature and the world is smiling, and history and culture touch every inch of the land here in a gentle gesture.
The creation of western prints took root and flourished on the plateau of western culture. Young artists expressed multiple smiles by using the rich language of modern prints in their creations.
Yang Yue's "Nianhuahua" uses symbolic language to convey the message of a smile. The indistinct network between the hands and the flowers affects the emotions of sign language and flower language, making the black-and-white woodcut even more mellow.
Yin Xiaoyong's copper engraving work "Migratory Bird Migration Series One" shows the happy habitation of birds in the southwestern tropical forest.
Su Su's black and white woodcut work "The Wind" uses black, white and gray dots, lines and planes to create a sense of layering in a two-dimensional space. The more abstract schema expresses the wind of harmony and the joy of harvest in the west.
Peng Shuai's lithograph "Raising Your Head" selects scenes of lush vegetation to depict, and the moment when the birds play is the smile of nature.
Song of the West
The rich and colorful national culture is a gift from the western land.
People from the west, cattle and sheep, trees, mountain flowers, and grasslands laugh in the singing and dancing of people of all ethnic groups.
"The sky is bright, the wild is vast, the wind blows the grass and the cows and sheep are low." "In the blue sky, the white clouds float, and the horses run under the white clouds. It never stops, the joyous song is melodious and lingering under the wrapping of the big river in the Hengduan Mountains or the surging river in the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon.
This is the joyous song of western civilization, in the high-pitched and profound Northwest folk song "Hua'er", in the intoxicated Guozhuang Xianzi of the Tibetan people, in the Yueqin Sanxian tune of the Nansani people of Caiyunzhi, and in the various forms of western prints and in the content.
Aruna's woodcut work "Return" is inspired by the Mongolian folk life and is rooted in the western land.
At the Naadam Conference, Mongolian wrestlers dressed in Boke costumes are strong and stride. That is the attitude of the winner. The party with singing and dancing is waiting for friends and friends from all over the world.
The images in her other black-and-white woodcut work "Tracks" seem to have some origins with the ancient Yinshan rock paintings. In addition to the form of expression, the subject depicted is also the presentation of daily life in the grasslands.
The herd of antelopes galloped on the grasslands, stirring up a whirlpool-like rhythm. Such joyous songs seemed to come from the rhythm of nature.
Chen Ciyong's black and white woodcut series "Blast" shows the author's solid skills.
The strong wind knows the strong grass, and the young man galloping in the cornfield in the mountains symbolizes the explosive force of the west toward the modern age. This cheerful running seems to have provided a strong boost to the social progress of the modern western region.
The Wonders of the West
Fascinating west, full of fantastic pictures.
There are towering mountains, dense forests, rushing rivers, vast grasslands, vast deserts, and the colorful landforms highlight architectural styles that depend on different terrain and climate.
The yurts are easy to carry and protect against cold and earthquakes, the "Ayiwang" style dwellings with elegant layout and exquisite decoration, the majestic and stable watchtowers, the simple and elegant "four-in-five patios" with high walls and small windows, and the space is compact. The "one seal" and so on, all convey the passion of art and the enthusiasm of humanities.
Wu Xinlin's works firmly grasp the language characteristics of out-of-print woodcuts. He is good at capturing the sun-drenched western land, and uses high-purity colors to express the unique brightness and purity of Yunnan.
Wu Xinlin is a native of the Yi nationality in central Yunnan, and his visual impressions of Yunnan such as red soil, distant mountains, and colorful clouds, as well as his perception of the sunshine of the plateau, are buried deep in his heart.
His works "Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau" and "Cultivation of the Land" record the fantasy color of western civilization with unique artistic expression and ordinary and simple perspective.
Coincidentally, Mao Xiangyan's out-of-print woodcut works "Yi Family·February 8" and "Impression of Zhuomu Lang·Embroidered Shoes" are also excellent works with unified form and content.
The post-80s printmaker teaches in Dali. He loves to express the life of the "Zhemo people" in Dali. The strong colors of the traditional costumes of the "Zhemo people" inspired his creative inspiration.
In these two works, he made full use of the unique formal language of out-of-print woodcuts to convey the civilization genes in clothing symbols, and deepened the presentation of this printmaking technique. The pictures are rich in layers and intriguing.
Zhang Hongwei's color-coded woodcut "The Forgotten Village" records the ordinary scenery of the vast land in the west, and expresses the love and concern of the new generation of westerners for their hometown.
In the pervasive thoughts, the distant mountains and villages are still thick and vast.
Zhao Ziliang's silkscreen print "Reviewing the Old and Knowing the New" expresses the youthful thinking of young people in the west. The author uses abstract lines and color elements to explore the connotation of the language of modern silkscreen prints, and the beauty of the intertwined thoughts lingers on the picture.
In Wu Xinyu's silkscreen print work "Empty Wish", visual symbols are looming in the interlacing of plane images. The author uses the contrast of high-purity color blocks to make the picture more fresh and rhythmic.
These innovative prints are full of visible western scenery and sensible western style.
The unchanging majesty of the western land makes people feel the beauty of the world without saying it.
The west is vast, with many rivers known as the cradle of human civilization, as well as famous plateaus, lakes, basins and deserts.
It can accommodate cultural diversity and ideological multi-dimensionality, where tradition and modernity meet, and young printmakers in the west express their meaning with creative works of art.
The spectacular Hexi Corridor connects the trade and culture of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.
The grotto group scattered all over the west, its rich image symbols intuitively show the trajectory of civilization.
From the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the Liao, Xia, Jin and Yuan Dynasties to the present, how much Chinese history flows in the west, allowing time to touch.
With such a profound cultural heritage, the creation of western youth prints should add a great deal of splendor to western art.
The words engraved by the artists in their creations are not only their visual observations, but also their inner feelings and hopes.
(Author: Long Yimei, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Yunnan Academy of Arts)