Text / Jia Dejiang
Chinese painting in the last century 80s, learning from western modernism is the trend, the pursuit of fashion, avant-garde is fashionable.
Since 1990s, to enter the art market has become a major trend, and based on the theory of brush and ink on the return to the traditional, and become a new fashion; in the new century, with the deepening reform and the rapid development of economy, culture art is very active, the artists are facing opportunities and challenges hitherto unknown.
For more than 20 years, all sorts of reasons have made artists in a fickle situation, and few people go to the lonely road for serious artistic pursuit. Reading the works of Professor Zhao Guoyi, I give him cheers for the spirit of perseverance and the spirit of not catching up with the fashion and tide.
Over the years, Zhao Guoyi has been sticking to the principles of realism, trying to show the anger and sorrow of the so-called "vulnerable groups", such as forestry workers, coal miners and migrant workers, paying close attention to their fate and future, reflecting strong sense of the times and social responsibility. To this end, he unremittingly deep in the forest, down to the mine, accumulated a lot of sketch material, began his theme figure painting creation.
The painter focuses on the simplicity, innocence and diligence of the labourers, with a strong breath of life and noble feelings. In these works, we can see the painter's modeling and serious attitude; you can see the painter in the realistic premise, to maximize the ink characteristics, especially in the very fruitful exploration of the relationship between sketch form and structure into the relationship between brush and ink order.
In modeling, the artist emphasizes the fine depiction and grasping of the characteristics of the face, hand and body, and conveys the artistic language with the vivid modeling of the characters, so as to reveal the personality characteristics of the characters deeply.
In the technique of expression, painter uses ink deposition method in the landscape painting, resulting in heavy volume sense, and adopt the method of light and shade, and the Western sketch, make the picture level of rich, rich atmosphere, with plain and the real aesthetic trend of thick and real, opened the reader's heart.
Zhao Guoyi's art is not flashy creed, and strive to honest, although attention skills, but not play with brush and ink as possible. I believe that as long as going on firmly, Zhao Guoyi will create more outstanding works worthy of the times in the future of artistic exploration.