Part 03: Liu Youju's Art Chinese Dream

(1)

Chinese painting is a life of hardship. Kang Youwei proposed as early as 1917, "The decline of modern Chinese paintings is extremely severe

For thousands of years, people have placed too much burden on Chinese painting, almost carrying all the cultural spirit. Your work should reflect: the profound meaning of philosophy, the natural sound of poetry, the profound precision of history, the combination of hardness and softness in martial arts, the cleansing of the Zen mind and the purification of the five elements of yin and yang in traditional Chinese medicine... All of these are not enough. There is another ruler waiting to measure whether you comply with the rules, which is the "Six Laws", Maybe you will be labeled as a 'wild fox fairy'.

It is mainly because people's excessive harshness towards painting has led to people's respect and love for painters. Therefore, even if painters do "bad things", they are interpreted as so-called "good stories" or simply false, such as "Tang Bohu doting on autumn fragrance".

There seems to be a horizontal gap between Chinese and Western cultures, but in terms of art, they share the same rules beyond their respective personalities, just as Western sketching and Chinese calligraphy are ultimately dealing with the relationship between black, white, and gray. In terms of calligraphy, the "five color" ink changes on silk, and from an artistic perspective, it is just a sketch. However, in terms of "form", calligraphy is more abstract, and this abstraction is at the highest level.

Chinese characters, as a form of pictographic writing, have undergone a sublimation from form to symbol. Today's calligraphy art is only fortunate to have become the spokesperson for the long-standing Chinese civilization. Moreover, besides the factor of "form", calligraphy also has its literary significance. Therefore, casually picking up phrases and phrases can make one feel "March without meat". So Chinese artists with conscience should first thank our ancestors.

I am not avoiding vulgarity, but doing what I am willing to do. In addition to art, I am also truly incompetent. Sometimes I feel like I am betting my life on it. I have never imagined that the ancient Chinese saying "A man with a heart never fails" is also practical abroad. After a period of hard work, there will definitely be unexpected gains. So, I have changed my exhortation when I first came to New York from 'dreams still exist, aspirations unwavering' to 'viewing art as our mission, not bearing the burden of the heavens'. What about the realm of 'telling the truth'?

The concept of "Chinese painting" became a type of painting after the introduction of modern Western painting to China. Shortly after its emergence, the concept of "New Chinese Painting" also emerged. In the face of the inheritance and development of Chinese painting, there was almost a consensus in the 20th century Chinese art world that was reform. This magnificent New Chinese Painting Movement is one of the greatest contributions in the history of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Under the common goal, artists of that era proposed different solutions. Qi Baishi, Pan Tianshou, and Huang Binhong refined the traditional paradigm of Chinese painting, making ink painting more pure and reaching a new peak. However, they still failed to break away from the atmosphere of old-fashioned literati painting and could not fully adapt to the new era. Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe, and others integrated traditional Western realistic art to improve Chinese painting, using it to express contemporary themes and greatly expanding the space of Chinese painting, especially figure painting. However, this combination still appears somewhat rigid in artistic language and lacks the traditional Chinese ink and brush interest. Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong absorbed the creative concepts and techniques of Western modernism to improve Chinese painting, opening another window in Chinese art and having a particularly profound impact on artistic creation after the 1980s. But just as Wu Guanzhong is unwilling to call his ink and wash works "Chinese painting", this artistic exploration has broken away from the basic norms of Chinese painting and become another form of art. Only Li Keran has taken a unique approach and adhered to traditional values, absorbing nutrients from various cultural resources, and creating a new path of Chinese painting that is both in line with traditional aesthetics and has contemporary value. Liu Youju is a contemporary Chinese painting artist who continues to promote and flourish on this path.

Bai Juyi once said, "The mountain temple uses the middle to search for the osmanthus, and the county pavilion pillows to watch the tide." There was a surging aura in the faint anticipation. Grand art often relies on a generous life. Lu Xun said in his introduction to "The Symbol of Depression", "Unless there is a great spirit like a heavenly horse flying in the sky, there is no great art." In terms of artistic innovation, facing various confusions, artists need a broad perspective, a great pattern, and a grand spirit, as well as a great kindness, compassion, and love hidden in their hearts. It is important to note that Buddhism, which is popular, did not originate from China. It was not until the Wei and Jin dynasties that Buddhism gradually spread to the east and became Zen Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty. According to investigation, the strokes of Gou, Le, Cun, Wipe, Dot and other techniques in ink painting, as well as the ink techniques of Baking, Dyeing, Breaking, Accumulation, and Splashing, have developed into another branch as early as during the periods of the Inca Kingdom and the Qiang independence (now India), the Wang Goryeo (now Korea), and the Dahe Kingdom (now Japan). In the Chinese and Han cultures, the earliest source of using the three characters "Chinese painting" consecutively was Ming Gu Qiyuan's "Visiting Words". In 1957, Zhou Enlai officially proposed the use of the name "Chinese painting" at the founding conference of the Beijing Chinese Painting Academy, which led to the conclusion that the name "Chinese painting" was accepted by society. In contemporary times, the integration of ethnicity, modernity, and the world should continue to broaden and develop, transcending the context of agricultural civilization and the cultural mentality of chauvinism. It is necessary to integrate Chinese excellent culture into the world and let the world understand it. At the same time, Chinese artists should stand at the height of the world and see the innovation and development of our own Chinese painting.

After nearly 20 years of baptism after the Eighth Five Year Plan movement, Chinese painting is in a critical period from external form innovation to internal spiritual enhancement. The attention and questioning of culture have led to this improvement, constantly surpassing it from a technical level to a spiritual level. The recent Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Nine Person Exploration and Exchange Exhibition held at the Chinese Painting Research Institute, as a phenomenon, has made us more confident in the innovation of traditional Chinese painting, and at the same time, our determination to promote Chinese painting to the cultural and spiritual levels has also become more firm.

The essence of art lies in the expression and promotion of spirit. It is precisely art, the most meaningful form of life expression, that maximizes and profounds the expression of human will and essential power at the limits of human nature and cognition. So, Chinese painting has never been a matter of pen and ink, but a unique and emerging issue of internal recognition and continuous transcendence of the essence, national spirit, and human spirit. Being able to consciously express the ontological spirit is the first realm of Chinese painting; Being able to consciously express the national spirit is the second realm of art; Being able to consciously express the human spirit is the third realm of art. Each transcendence of these three realms is quite difficult, but we must also transcend it. Only when you have completed the transcendence of these three realms will your art have the meaning of existence.

From Liu Youju's paintings, one can feel a concern for the fate of humanity. Through his plain and innocent brushstrokes, he achieves a spiritual expression of the beauty of neutrality in a free, transcendent yet direct life experience. And this beauty of neutrality is also a spiritual and artistic realm that humanity in the 21st century needs very much.

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He Haixia once said, "This is a great era that should have brilliant colors, and there should be Huang Zhong and Da Lu... it's best to match this era

Liu Youju is indeed an alternative! He has a chivalrous spirit of "iron shoulder and moral righteousness", and advances despite difficulties. The most distinctive feature of his illusion painting is the unwavering color.

Chinese painting, starting from the art of painted pottery, has a history of over 6000 years. Out of 6000 years, 5000 years are all colorful times. From the simple and lively colored pottery in primitive society, to the magnificent and magnificent religious murals of the Western Han Dynasty, from the silk paintings unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, to the elegant and solemn palace paintings of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and so on. The specific symbolic meaning of its colors, distinct decorative taste, structural characteristics of colors, appreciation and usage habits of color categories, and even the unique production and use methods of colors, have they never been completely different from the objective and natural reproduction color system of Western tradition due to their distinct national and Eastern characteristics? They are the main organic components of the Eastern painting system. When we revere ink and wash as a traditional Chinese painting tradition, we overlook one of the most important elements in painting art and the most stimulating and sensory signal in human visual perception - color. This not only deprives modern Chinese painters of the possibility of exploring, researching, and inheriting valuable traditional colors, but also affects and limits the understanding and communication between works and modern audiences. Liu Youju's illusionism painting uses brushstrokes and colors to touch life, using simple painting language, without deliberately outlining the image of things, without human feelings or traditional methods, and pursuing the integration of soft freehand brushwork and abstract beauty in creation. Between the similarities and differences, one expresses one's inner emotions to the fullest, conveying a sense of emotion, elegance, romance, and pride. He used the shapes, colors, and language of bamboo to construct the visual image he longed for, exploring artistic expression forms that matched his ideals.

Painting is a visual art, and the language of the creator is conveyed to the audience through the shapes and colors in the images. In terms of visual perception, colors are stronger than shapes. Shape enters the brain through the retina, combines, and generates emotions, while color directly stimulates the nervous system through the retina to generate emotions. Color is the most indispensable and important component in visual art, and different preferences for color are also external psychological symbols of a nation's spiritual style. The 20th century is vastly different from ancient times in terms of politics, economy, culture, and other aspects. People's living environment, cultural concepts, knowledge structure, and aesthetic mindset have undergone tremendous changes compared to the ancients. With the changes of the times, the disappearance of old literati, and the changes in social environment, the monochromatic "black and white way" can no longer meet the diverse aesthetic requirements of the times. It is already difficult to depict a colorful life using traditional aesthetic taste and creative techniques. Each era has its own iconic cultural characteristics, and as the art of painting in Chinese culture, its innovative techniques and color changes should also keep pace with the times. The view that ancient forms of brush and ink are the only representative of Chinese painting tradition, and the view that traditional literati and painters' ink aesthetics are regarded as Chinese artists' color views, all clearly deviate from the essence of traditional Chinese art that "brush and ink should follow the times".

Chinese painting and Western painting from the 14th to 18th centuries also almost all used fixed color patterns to shape images. The Impressionism that emerged in the 19th century typically represented the concept of conditional color in color design. The expressive and decorative colors in painting fully utilize the sensory expression of colors, triggering the emotional resonance of the viewer's thoughts.

Liu Youju's illusion painting does not follow the footsteps of his predecessors and does not seek to reproduce the realism of the object. Instead, it treats colors as calligraphy and freely spreads them, pursuing the charm of the Eastern freehand brushstroke, forming his own image language of silent writing. He doesn't care about telling the audience what this is or that is, but instead pours out a passion, a flow of emotions with the audience. It is all based on the love that arises, and heaven and earth create colors. Emotion comes first and takes shape later. With quick strokes, it expresses a musical rhythm, composing bright and colorful movements. Especially after returning from his visit to the United States, he became even more determined in his belief in turning splashing ink into splashing colors. He used his pen to express his emotions, and the strokes were emotional and lifelike. Color is the color of emotions, the color of life, sincere and meaningful. Color itself has independent aesthetic value, sublimated into a higher realm of artistic charm.

Liu Youju's transition from filling to writing, from thin to thick, and the changes in water absorption, expansion, and contraction of rice paper caused by the application of ink during the creation process; The burst resistance, crack resistance, corrosion resistance, and light resistance of paper, as well as Chinese painting pigments, acrylic pigments, and other plant pigments, have specific core/shell particle structures that involve the collection of polymer active functional groups. They react with the polar groups of rice paper to form chelates, which can carry the maximum value of ink and pigments, achieving accumulation, color accumulation, splashing, and multi layer rendering on rice paper, Strengthen the effect, achieve the "old, fresh, beautiful, and moist" effect of ink and color, achieve the special texture effects of rough, reduced, dry, wet, dry, burnt, trembling, chapped, watered, waterlogged, heavy colored, and light colored strokes, to express their spiritual momentum, convey the author's temperament, personality, and aesthetic pursuit.

In addition, he established illusionary imagery in the accidental aura of color and ink, creating a natural realm. The painter created a new ink language family through the fusion of color and ink, creating a self owned illusionary context.

Liu Youju explored techniques in color art and summarized the idea that art must keep pace with the times through his research on traditional "ink accumulation method" and his reflection on Western art. He believed that the application of color and methodology originated from the connection between people and the times. Modern thoughtful painters focus more on not pursuing and surpassing the ancients, let alone adhering to the past, but rather on the contemporary era, Based on Eastern civilization and originating from Eastern cultural connotations, we aim to create new and representative paintings of modern Chinese society with contemporary characteristics.

Through repeated practice and exploration, Liu Youju gradually realized and innovated his own color techniques and procedures. In his new works, he used more splashing colors. His splashing colors seek change through splashing, and splashing requires the natural flow of colors to produce painting effects that cannot be expressed with a brush. Masters such as Zhang Daqian and Liu Haisu often use this method. Liu Youju's color method is written with pen and brush, layer by layer, fully reflecting the role of brushwork in painting. The painting elements such as brush, ink, rice paper, clear water, and color are all imbued with the concept and expressive language of the times, using rich "ink and color" to express the creator's emotions and express the creator's subjective and objective inner pursuit of beauty.

Liu Youju's painting themes can be said to be more colorful and diverse, making this art not only inclusive of painting materials, but also has forms and aesthetics, and even integrates multiple factors of visual beauty at the color level. It is a form language of "Chinese illusion painting" that combines multiple painting types, inheriting and innovating, integrating the relevant artistic forms of Chinese and Western painting into the level of "Chinese illusion painting", Maintain a deeply rooted Eastern plot.

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The formation of visual realm is nothing more than the formation of mental state. The depth of realm is nothing more than the nourishment of cultivation.

To lead to an excellent and elegant painting environment, form a context and mood, and create a captivating artistic conception, there is no better way than to first enrich the inner world, while emptiness and nothingness are the ways to free the soul from worldly substances and reach a state of emptiness and stillness, in order to receive and nurture the spirit, and ultimately, it is the soul and technology that achieve everything visual.

Liu Youju's illusion painting has developed the pursuit of artistic conception in Chinese painting, and his works are a manifestation of a utopian and Eastern aesthetics, that is, a true fusion of Eastern and Western aesthetics in spatial sense. It is a unique contribution to the development of Chinese painting and a miracle.

Due to his innate nature and extraordinary artistic perception, Liu Youju developed his own unique painting style while understanding and inheriting the artistic ideals of the Lingnan School of Painting. This is a peak in art that many people want to climb, and it is also a Jedi for many people. However, art is so ruthless. Although many people walk delicately and even cleverly on the small path, few people walk on the main road. However, those who walk on this path are free and naturally free from countless distractions to travel in the art kingdom, as if endowed with magical power. Just like Liu Youju's paintings, which are full of artistic explosive power, like spiritual treasures that easily form a spiritual transcendent artistic conception.

Liu Youju's paintings successfully created a unique color ink space, emphasizing the sharing and harmony of lines and colors, as well as the contradiction and unity of Eastern and Western aesthetics. He used unique painting techniques to increase the intensity and speed of the painting. As a platform, the screen portrays a new interaction and exchange of Eastern and Western beauty. In his paintings, under his unique painting techniques, Western colors have become more proactive, and the traditional sense of color and beauty in the East has become stronger. The rhythm of Eastern and Western beauty is integrated under the beauty and naturalness of Eastern and Western harmony, making the entire painting present a deep and multifaceted intuitive expression, and integrating the framework into this artistic movement of beauty in the process. The picture is realistic and full of artistic sense of life. He always prioritizes the pursuit of artistic nature, and his paintings are full of dreamlike natural texture, sense of time and space, and a sense of modernity. He is a typical pioneering and creative painter.

Liu Youju's illusion painting is not only a style, but also a realm. His illusory painting not only stems from his new level of understanding of traditional Chinese painting techniques, but also from his taste in life. Kant once said that whoever is alone is either a devil or a deity. So, in the eyes of some people, Liu Youju is a madman, while in the eyes of others, he is a deity. Liu Youju faces life with morality and righteousness, but he is by no means a hypocritical "sage" in his behavior and conduct. He is generous in his actions and neglects his wealth, laughing and cursing, which often leads to resentment. He is well versed in the martial arts world, but he never uses his bad habits to seek advice from others. He may seem mean, but in fact, he is a generation of heroes who are compassionate and deeply childlike. Therefore, there is a kind of beauty of the grand road that arises from the frank and dynamic ink color in his paintings. In the character of Chinese painting, it belongs to the top grade and has a strong appeal.

Liu Youju never taboos that his aesthetic concept is "art for the sake of art". He believes that art has eternal standards. He devoted all his life to exploring from a macro cultural perspective and even from a technical perspective. He regards artistic creation as something similar to religion. Art is thus a part of his life. I believe that at this level, his art has transcended fashion issues such as' contemporary 'and' reality '. The aesthetic realm he pursues is beyond reality, pure, and a full expression of human aesthetic ability. He even believes that this ability should be universal, not simply a matter of East and West. So, Liu Youju's paintings are not a pen and ink game. It is a pure realm. This is why Liu Youju does not consider himself a "new literati painting" painter. No matter Liu Youju's character or painting, there is no vulgar atmosphere of "game life". Here, 'realism' refers to the targeted and critical nature of aesthetics. Obtaining the soul of Liu Youju's art also comprehends his style. Then, one will clearly discover their own path, which is the 'avenue'. This is also what contemporary Chinese art requires, and we need a true artistic belief.

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China is on the rise, and contemporary Chinese art in the cultural field is becoming increasingly attractive, which is precisely due to its unique Chinese flavor. This taste stems from the fact that different cultural traditions have different thinking habits and methods of viewing the world, namely the Chinese perspective. Under the influence of Western art, Liu Youju not only broadened the field of creation and the possibility of materials, but also retained their own reflection on society and persistence in life. Liu Youju's illusionist painting is a choice and rebirth on the artistic path, a reflection on the traditional spirit from the heart, coupled with an unbiased and comprehensive absorption of resources from different civilizations, as well as the pursuit of presence in the social reality environment, to conduct his own contemporary art experiment, creating an art that conforms to the changes of the times and presents his own temperament from a new style and perspective.

We are fortunate to live in an era of highly developed civilization, where we can easily appreciate the cultures and arts of various ethnic groups around the world. The rapid development of civilization has led to the globalization of culture, like economy and technology, which is an inevitable trend. The boundaries between traditional Eastern and Western cultures will also become increasingly blurred, making it difficult to distinguish between them.

The inherent qualities of different cultures share the same principle as the existence of any life, and the inherent individuality and differences are the essential forces that drive the endless growth of culture. Therefore, maintaining and promoting the inherent, futuristic, and valuable differences of each ethnic culture is an important aspect of our contemporary artists' work. Eastern and Western cultures have influenced each other in the development of human civilization, creating their own poles and building monuments of human civilization.

With the advancement of technology, rationality has gradually emerged in various fields of human thinking, and the gaps that cannot be avoided by the web of rationality can only be filled and filled with keen sensitivity.

The essence of a culture comes from its basic attitude towards nature.

Paying attention to the perception and intuitive expression of natural life itself is still the best choice for us to communicate with nature. This way of feeling that transcends existing knowledge barriers in humans allows us to touch a more mysterious side of the world, expanding our sense of touch and thinking.

We fully explore and carry forward our rich and great cultural traditions of sensibility, without infinite sensibility, and human rationality is also shallow and childish.

We emphasize that Eastern beauty does not seek barriers and oppositions in culture, but rather seeks the meaning and value of individuality in the overall culture, making the increasingly globalized culture more dynamic and gaining stronger and lasting vitality. Our inheritance of great traditions is not the visual styles left by tradition, but the excellent spiritual power and unique ways of perceiving the world in tradition. The art we aspire to is rich in Eastern wisdom, with Eastern sentiment, and is the ultimate concern for humanity in the sense of modern humanities. It is a great art full of sunshine, love, and kindness. Like all other healthy ethnic cultures, advocating the freedom and equality of individual life is our constant humanistic spirit.

For over a hundred years, through the acceptance and refinement of Western culture, our culture has integrated many solid and rational elements on the basis of sensibility, giving our culture a more solid soil and stronger vitality. Our artistic efforts contain a lot of essence that we have learned from western culture and art in the past hundred years.

Ultimate care should include the dissemination of goodness and respect for life.

The art palace we have built aims for everyone who enters to have a dialogue with their souls and artworks, to let go of all troubles and hatred.

Liu Youju has absorbed a lot of nutrients from traditional culture in his artistic creation. However, he never simply adheres to the standardized mode in tradition, but emphasizes the interpretation and application of modernity by emphasizing the excellent elements in our culture. Respecting one's own eyes and more respecting one's own soul is precisely where his modern Eastern painting forms are created.

Liu Youju believes that the responsibility for the fate of Chinese culture is the bounden duty of Chinese intellectuals. The main characteristic of a nation's culture, which is at risk of decay and even decline, is the loss of critical and creative spirit. In the era of reform, there is a special need for sparks of thought, support from thought, smooth speech, criticism of current shortcomings, a hundred flowers blooming, a hundred schools of thought contending, bold exploration, and inclusiveness. A great artist should carry the enlightenment of culture and ideology, and great art should be above all secular power. Great art requires the lonely, brave, and rebellious spirit of the Renaissance, where "the world is for me to roam and the world is for me to observe". What today's Chinese cultural figures lack is the personality state of Qu Zi's famous line in "Nine Chapters": "Su Shi is independent, horizontal but not flowing. He is selfless in morality and participates in heaven and earth. Although not everyone likes to listen to the truth, I will also uncover all kinds of hypocrisy and lead, and not avoid the fixed mindset that the meaning of the title of intellectual lies in the pursuit of truth, and even in the passionate lamentation and sacrifice of life for righteousness, which is also the most exciting aspect of Chinese cultural spirit. In addition, "literature is cultural cultivation, people are moral character, and painting is painting skills." There is no shortage of one of the three. The so-called painting art of many people in the temple, although its appearance and craftsmanship are quite authentic, is only a superficial expression that has not entered the spiritual dimension of culture and art. It has not yet gone beyond the imitation of templates. The dogma in artistic methods is unbearable, the exhaustion of creativity and the conservatism of ideas are obvious, and it does not diminish the mediocre nature. One of the fundamental characteristics of art is personalization and originality. There is no rigorous practice in craftsmanship, a lack of depth in spirit, a lack of anemia and paleness in culture, and a fundamental inability to enter the human soul, as well as to enrich the expressive power and aesthetic connotation of Chinese painting vocabulary. What is even more tragic is the creation of decadent, vulgar, hidden and greedy profit chains and a huge network of vested interests. The so-called "traditionalists", "liberals", or "achievers" who are hypocritical and playful in the world not only cannot provide profound ideological resources, but instead fall into nobility and lowliness as a group of birds of a feather, with as thick a face as possible. They are filled with the ugliness of corruption and the trade of power, money, and sex, spreading throughout the intellectual circles and corrupting the atmosphere. A very few vested interests in power have become increasingly degenerate and become obstacles to institutional reform and improvement measures. In the testing and elimination of social and era changes, anyone who wants to maintain the outdated set is unable to do so.

Zhuangzi said, "Abnormality in human nature, but in heaven." He criticized a generation of cultural elites who were full of knowledge, either aloof and upright, or stunning, or wild and unrestrained, or with bumpy backgrounds, but created artistic achievements that reflected the cultural spirit of their era.

In today's emphasis on universal values, it is necessary for artists with conscience like Liu Youju to set the pace of contemporary art and lead the realization of the Chinese Dream of Art and the revival of the Chinese contemporary art dream.