Acknowledgments: Chinese Calligraphers Association Teacher Zhang Xuguang
For a calligraphy work, how can it be praised well or how can it be praised poorly? It is often a matter of opinion between the beholder and the wise. Mr. Zhang Xuguang believes that there are many specific criteria for whether a work is good, from lines to fonts, from composition to artistic conception, as well as the ability to use ancient methods and innovation capabilities, but they can be summarized in four words during the review, namely "in place" and "taste" ".
About "in place"
in place,It refers to the degree of perfection of the ability to use traditional ancient methods, that is, the proficiency in mastering all the elements required by the ontology of calligraphy, such as lines, structure, and composition. Whether you study "Wang" or "Yan", you need to master his writing habits through scientific training, change your own writing habits, and write like him. In layman's terms, it is "Kung Fu Master". Only on this basis can you pursue changes. premise. The problem is that some people have not been writing for a short period of time, but they have few ancient methods and have been repeating their own habits. They have nothing from the ancients and have not used the habits of the ancients to change their own habits.
About "Taste"
smell,It means that the author's unique aesthetic pursuit shown in the work is different from the emotional expression of others, and this individual emotional expression is presented as the line language or form of calligraphy after repeated refinement by the author. He said, I recently wrote a four-screen "Heart Sutra". According to the content, I opened up the font type, purified the lines, made them more empty, increased the line spacing, and focused on the empty space. When writing scriptures, I must purify it. This "flavor" is built on the basis of being in place. If the basic skills are not "in place", pursuing "taste" is empty talk.
How to make it "in place" and still have "taste"?
Mr. Zhang Xuguang said: If you want to be "in place", you must study more, copy more inscriptions, learn more about traditional culture, improve your understanding of inscriptions, and at the same time, improve your modern aesthetic ability. There are a lot of things in classic inscriptions that are consistent with modern aesthetics, such as melody, rhythm, space, shape, etc., but if you don't have high aesthetic ability, you won't be able to find them. Mr. Zhang Xuguang pointed out that contemporary calligraphers have insufficient accumulation of traditional culture and lack of modern aesthetic awareness beyond their skill level, which directly affects their in-depth understanding and grasp of tradition, and also affects the improvement of their calligraphy realm.
He gave an example: To study the Two Kings, you must know that the era of the Two Kings was an era of metaphysics, and the three pillars of metaphysics are "Zhouyi", "Zhuangzi" and "Laozi". These things have a great influence on people's world view, values and artistic pursuits. For example, Taoism's pursuit of inaction and Taoism follows nature, which requires the abandonment of artificiality in calligraphy creation; Confucianism's emphasis on moderation requires that writing should be non-stimulating and self-regulated. Wait far.
Some of our works, in terms of the application of ancient methods, still feel "in place", but they are just mediocre and not exciting. The fundamental reason is that the traditional classics are not explored enough, and many wonderful things in the tradition are not incorporated into the works. This is It has a lot to do with the lack of accumulation of traditional culture.
