The Chinese Dream of a Great Man-Art for Art’s Sake
On 26th April, 2015
Abstract: The first sight of Zhenqian Guo was bright and
impressive. He wore a long-curly hair and a white shirt with colorful
spots and behaved himself in a definite manner of an artist.
The Famous Contemporary Artist-Zhenqianguo
A Council Member of Chinese Artists Association
ZXART
News (by Ying Hu) The first sight of Zhenqian Guo was bright and
impressive. He wore a long-curly hair and a white shirt with colorful
spots and behaved himself in a definite manner of an artist.
I
was convinced by his works of “Dragon Horse and Son of Heaven” with a
really intense sense of artistic appeal. The paintings demonstrate magic
and swift horses that are bright, brave, righteous, unyielding and
mighty, running in the boundless wilderness. Sometimes, the artist
presents the positive image of the exotic creatures as if they are
patrolling with vigorous strides and merry dance in sunshine, feeling
like immortal couples, bosom friends, soul mates or faithful fellows.
Sometimes, he tries to describe a group of horses running through the
seasons without halting to rest, the energetic form of ancient heroes
featuring with lofty ambition and tender passion. The curly and
beautiful hair and graceful pony tail are giving a joyful rhythm to the
spectators while the vigorous strides are diffusing clip-clops lingering
in ears.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
The
splendid atmosphere of the horse painting by Zhenqian Guo is amazing as
it is an epitome of intense sense of art from the artist. The horses in
the painting are far away from the reality, they are the greatest ones
from his mind, idea and dream which are running on the ground or flying
in the sky. Zhenqian Guo concentrated on the major contours and
extracted the inherent quality of horses with super wonderful brushing,
simple and expressive lines and exaggerated and distorted images. It
reveals a vivid picture of swift horses as illustrated in ancient
stories, having the bell-shaped eyes, sharp ears, broad nose, long hair,
round hoof, flat abdomen and fat haunch. It is an overall comprehension
on paper to show the intelligence, nature and wildness of horses in the
distinct characters and artistic symbols.
At
the beginning, I was extremely curious about the hairlines blowing in
the wind. They break the traditional forms of ink and brush of
horizontal or vertical lines or circles and generate elegant scenery of
curly long hairs of a lady at one stroke. I wondered to see how the
artist made that happen and fortunately encountered to the process of
his painting personally. The performance of horse hair by Zhenqian Guo
was overwhelming, as he stood firmly with full-hearted confidence and
burst out with fast and furious power that was cultivated over the
essence of Chinese painting. I saw that he gathered all his strength in
the body to advance the brush with smooth turns and continuous brushes,
playing a grand releasing of spirits and emotions. As a matter of
course, since he has poured all his love and passion over the painting,
the left hand was coordinating with the movement of the right one. The
passionate gestures were fermented into the fantastic creation of
rhythmic, vivid and lively horses that is as beautiful as a frozen
episode of music. There is no less than an experience of fine art for
the spectators in the disconnected brushes and coherent implications.
The moment when the floating hairs were done, Mr. Guo was completely
refreshed with the exercise and dripping sweat.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
According
to Chinese Zodiac, Zhenqian Guo was born in a year of horse. He loves
horse and paints horse. Indeed, he raises a pretty horse to get a better
understanding of the animal for painting them. It seems that he was
born to art and there is no exaggeration to say that he creates a series
of unique and artistic horses beyond his indefinite imagination and
ridiculous thoughts. The pretty horses with handsome and elegant long
hairs and tails are the symbols of heroic qualities and majestic manners
of the creature.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
The horse chest is figured in the shape of “女”- a character referring to female in Chinese. When it is put together with “马”- the Chinese character of horse, there comes a new character “妈”，the
great character of “mother”. The presentation is served to express the
heart-felt eulogy of the artist towards horse, female and maternity.
The
heavy ink applied to the chest part in one brush is looking soft and
flexible, rendering the quality of lines specified in Chinese paintings
and defining the features of understanding, human-nature and warmth in
horse.
The
horse created by Zhenqian Guo is simple beyond the easy comprehension
and expression of Chinese painting lines. The robust horse legs also add
fascinations to the picture as they are giving the clip-clop sounds
from far and near and stunning around due to the perfect lines applied
upon the part. It displays a magic congregation of coarse and fine
lines, structure and tempo, ink and pace in a few brushes, implying with
thorough conceptions and full sense of vivid which flattering the eyes
and ears.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
As
a result, Zhenqian Guo utilized lines, conceptions and bright
colorizations to integrate his subjective ideas and aesthetics into the
objective reality. He creates a symbolized contemporary horse art that
is new and distinguished from traditional art. Zhenqian Guo said that
his creation is tended to increase the conflict and contradiction
element in the painting in the same reason of creating a rushing
mountain streams. He tries to reach the extreme levels of the highest
and lowest in the painting and produces faster stream and more rhythm to
console the spectators. The artist is fond of bright spots and positive
energy since they are immediate inspiration to his hearts and spirits.
The spectator will enjoy the distinct characteristics of horse, the
vivid sense of art and modern aesthetic sentiment in the eyes of the
artist. Isn’t that just the creation created for art？
Chairman
Xi calls on artists that innovation is necessary for the art
development. In the views of Zhenqian Guo, he is agreed that excellent
creations and conceptions of today might turn into tradition in future.
Learning from tradition is not for the purpose of imitation or
recreation, but for development and creation on the basis of
inheritance. That’s to say that learning from inheritance is for
innovation and development, so originality is a must element for great
artists to stand out from the ordinaries. In this regard, Zhenqian Guo
is carrying forward the spirit, creation and appeal of art. Aside from
that, he is particular about seal to embellish paintings and always
arranges them in ladder patterns. The beautiful form implies the meaning
of rising higher and higher and adds brilliance to paintings to define
the unique art symbol of the artist. The frequent seals appeared on his
paintings are “Full of vigor”,“Wish for success”,“With you”,“Heaven and
earth”,“Awakening to truth”.They are displaying a vision looking forward
to grace, awareness and wonder in the realm of art.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
When
mention about the artistry of Zhenqian Guo’s paintings or his exquisite
seals, it compels us to get to know his legendary experience and inborn
sentiment to art. He started to work in factory as a trainee and became
a technician and chief of technical department afterwards. For a while,
he indulged in music and continued playing violin for five hours every
day. He was enrolled as an art solider but had to give up the chance
since his mother was paralyzed at that time. Moreover, on photography,
he joined in the textbook compilation for Central Radio and TV
University and won a national silver medal for his works. There were
many awards for his art creations in various events and activities in
national wide. He has found a place for himself in art and creation and
presented on CCTV news and programs with his special design of festive
lanterns and other art works. The state council commends his significant
contributions in the undertaking of literacy and art to our nation,
confers him with special allowance from the government of state council
and enrolls him to the National Talents Project of China. Now at the age
of 61, he is still in high spirit and absorbed to his own world of art
as art and creation are as important as his life.
Dragon Horse-Son of the Heaven
Zhenqian
Guo gives a conclusion about art, saying that painting is a kind of
frozen music and music is a kind of flowing painting. He gets
inspirations and expressions for art creation in the confluence and
interaction of music and painting, and gains the driving force for art
in real life and practices. He is grateful and expects nothing in return
except of the infinite great dream for art, a dream that comprises the
music of “The dragon horse and the son of the heaven” followed with “a
bright and colorful Chinese dream”. At this moment, Zhenqian Guo is on
the way of a bright and colorful life that pictures creative, colorful
and hopeful scenery, as if he is a vigorous horse running to us in the
warm and sunny day.