Dazhen Shao, famous art critic

 

Feelings involve with natural, arrives at the boundary of poetry

Appreciating Mr. Zhang’s landscape painting

 

Since Zhang has ever got strictly trained in the Central Academy of Arts and Design, he has the accomplishment of both sculpting and handicrafts making. Thanks to his strong ability of sculpting and fine art creating techniques, he was selected to be a teacher in the Academy after his graduation, specializing at painting. After years of practical hard working and exchanging ideas with artists around the world, Mr. Zhang has yielded substantial results in his landscape painting.

 

Zhang's art creation combines Chinese traditional techniques with western painting styles. This model which has been popular in the art education and creation since last century has very important effect on the modern Chinese painting creations. Involving the western painting ideas and techniques in the creating of Chinese traditional ink and colour painting is one of the big progresses for those "scholar paintings" which hold the old concepts of following and copying the traditional painting only. Properly adopting the western painting ideas from reality or life is no doubt playing an improving role at the Chinese painting reforms. However, in the process of combination, another upset trend arises. Putting more and more western elements in the expression of the paintings often ignores Chinese unique ink painting techniques and the poetry prospect. That directly results that those combined paintings are lack of the unique charms and attractions which the traditional Chinese paintings are supposed to possess. At the beginning of Mr. Zhang's creation road, he was puzzled in the same way. However, he continued his discovery and he was good at finding and understanding the real art principles. Soon he realizes that though the western and Chinese painting systems are different, the appreciation of art is no difference and even some of the techniques are interlinked in some ways. Then he puts his every effort to deeply study the composition and unique techniques of traditional Chinese ink painting, and meanwhile he adds the western reality painting and sculpting into his artworks. In this way his artworks are full of Chinese painting style and meaningful feelings. Those paintings are vivid and close to real life at the same time. Mr. Zhang's creations are in a wide range, like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, great snow mountains, and the water views of the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, even some of the magnificent Canadian constructions.

 

He expresses his real feeling through his artworks. He is good at creating the sense of beauty by properly applying the harmony and comparison of colours. His works are colourful in range, and delicate in the changing of hue. He is good at controlling the amount of water applying in his black ink paintings, colour paintings and watercolour paintings. The unique controls of the water and ink in his works create a kind of music like rhythm.

 

Zhang respects the beauty of nature. All of his landscape paintings are derived from natural world, and are the reflection of his real feelings as well. Some of his abstract paintings are evolutions from the inspiration of the nature world, too. He often mentions "Painting in my ways and expressing my real feelings". Emphasizing "my" in his words clearly tells people that he has a good understanding in the art creation. Great landscape paintings are not only the drawing of natural beauties, but also expressions of the artist's inner world. The profundity of art is the direct reflection of the artist's perspectives, vision and accomplishments. From the appreciation of Zhang's landscape paintings, we understand that he loves the water and mountains, and he learns from the nature. At the same time, he always takes considerations of the people. He is communicating with people through his paintings. The reasons why his works are often popular are simple---since those paintings may cater for different tastes of people in some ways.

 

With rich life and art experiences, Mr. Zhang is going forward to his own goals. We believe that Mr. Zhang will achieve more and more good results in his art creation road in the future.