There are pictures in the piano, and there are piano sounds in the paintings. On the afternoon of July 10, a unique dialogue between Chinese painting and Chinese music was staged at the Guangdong Museum of Art. Chinese music master Fang Jinlong showed up at the Guangdong Museum of Art with musical instruments such as yu, guqin, shakuhachi, and pipa, and played four pieces of music emotionally in front of Laizhigang's landscape paintings on display here.

Fang Jinlong performs "Remembering Jiangnan"

Standing in front of Laizhigang's huge landscape "The Tide", Fang Jinlong played a piece of "The Tide" in his heart with an ancient instrument from the Central Plains 8,800 years ago, trickling into the sea and the weather opened; He used the guqin to perform the Lingnan qin piece "Bijian Liuquan"; he played the shakuhachi in front of the huge ink painting "Gap Road", blending the artistic conception of mountains and rivers, clouds and objects reflecting belts; finally, in "Mengxi Garden Photo Volume" Before playing the pipa song "Remembering the South of the Yangtze River", a landscape of Jiangnan gardens surrounded by rivers, stone paths and flower walls, intertwined with music and pictures, came into view.

There is a picture outside the string, and there is a sound outside the picture. In this cross-border dialogue titled "Rural sages meet, lively and colorful", they played the piano and played together, showing the bearing and demeanor of "aspiration in Taoism and art".

"We are all traditional bitter school"

Fang Jinlong and Laizhigang were born in the same year, both from Anhui, and they also lived in Lingnan for many years. Both are traditional bitter schools.

Fang Jinlong has been practicing classical musical instruments for decades and has millions of fans at station B. He is a master of Chinese music who leads the "out of the circle" of traditional national musical instruments. For more than 40 years at Zhigang, he has worked hard to study the "ink accumulation" painting method, and traveled to ask seniors such as Gong Xian, Huang Binhong, and Li Keran to advance "ink into five colors" to "ink Wuji".

Fang Jinlong's dialogue with Laizhi's piano painting

In Laizhigang's huge landscape "Art Dao", he uses twelve unicoms to stand on the screen, showing his decades of grinding and questing for the brushwork of Fan Kuan, Li Tang, Gong Xian, Huang Binhong, Li Keran and other generations of masters. Art critic Chen Chuanxi commented: "Three hundred years of culmination of dots, lines and planes, the way of heaven and earth, and the rhythm of nature are all reflected in the bottom of the pen."

Two artists in front of "Art Dao"

"With the greatest skill" into the tradition, Fang Jinlong felt the same. He has been practicing the pipa since he was 6 years old, and he gets up at four every morning. For decades, he worked hard for more than ten hours a day. "We are all doers, not born out of nowhere, but really stepping out of tradition step by step." Fang Jinlong said.

Fang Jinlong played "Remembering Jiangnan" in front of "Mengxi Garden Photobook"

Laizhigang's work "Photo Scroll of Mengxi Garden"

Find yourself in "change" and "live"

In the exhibition hall, Fang Jinlong quite agrees with a painting quotation from Laizhigang. Laizhigang wrote: "My whole attention in painting is focused on 'change' and 'living'. Vivid charm means that your paintings are alive, breathable, born out and have vitality."

"Laizhigang's paintings are very similar to my experience. We are not rigidly imitating any master, but we have learned a lot of everyone's things and then turned them into our own language." Fang Jinlong said.

The work "Tide" created by Laizhigang in 2020, countless dots of ink and chapped rendering, play the surging tide of the times. Laizhigang's interpretation is that every unforgettable experience in life is a symbol in the picture. Among the countless traces, there is this stroke, and there is another stroke. Harmony and unity.

Playing ancient musical instruments in front of the huge landscape "The Great Tide"

"The Tide" (detail)

"Learning tradition, in addition to knowing, understanding, and understanding the three realms of analogy, you must also be able to 'use' and be good at turning 'ancient' into 'own'." Lai Zhigang describes himself as a "spider" and understands "what is in the web." things”, and ignore the things outside the network. Good at finding the "unchanged" in "change", going straight to the subject, stripping away the complexity, and grasping the truth. "Everything is obtained in stillness, and the mind can smell the wonderful fragrance. Artists must use penetrating eyes to discover the essence and find the 'way' of art that others cannot see."

Fang Jinlong also summed up the true meaning of seven characters for the realm of seeking art: "The first is stillness, which can produce wisdom; the second is purity, and the mind is free from distractions; the third is respect, and there is awe for nature and tradition; the fourth is a mirror, often looking in the mirror for reflection. Self; fifth is path, direction is more important than speed; sixth is environment, pursuit of realm; seventh is competition, only with the first six points can one have cultural self-confidence and be more competitive.”

·dialogue

"Out of the circle" is not created in a day

South+: How do the two artists view the relationship between tradition and innovation?

Fang Jinlong: Inheritance is not conservative, and innovation is inseparable. This is what I have been following for so many years. No matter how innovative it is, the root things cannot be lost. Just like we Chinese often say, there are no rules and no square.

"Change" and "live" finally boil down to one word, "true". Really science, goodness is faith, beauty is art.

Laizhigang: For more than 40 years, I have been studying the tradition in the cold window. I have come to the traditional way of painting in the Tang and Song Dynasties. I have been painting every day, almost isolated from the world. I use tradition as a "dojo" for cultivation, and such innovation is not water without a source.

All my artistic pursuits are the word "truth", grasping the true nature of things with a sharp eye. In my opinion, "change" is the truth of the universe. Painting must grasp "change" and "live", and only when new artistic styles appear, can something with vitality be produced.

Playing shakuhachi in front of the huge ink painting "Gap Road"

"Gap Road" (detail)

Nanfang+: Mr. Fang’s biggest label over the years is to “get out of the circle” with the tradition. What do you think of this label?

Fang Jinlong: In 2005, I had released more than 40 solo albums, but it had no impact. I'm starting to wonder what's wrong? It turned out to be "cannons to hit mosquitoes", do mosquitoes need cannons to hit? Mosquitoes need insecticides. I thought, folk music should be fun with the people, how can we make things that the people like?

I interspersed the "Fang's" talk show with my performance. I competed with a hundred Western bands by myself to form an impact. I cooperated with the virtual character Luo Tianyi to play "Jasmine", and then suddenly exploded on the B station.

Many people ask me, how many years have you been preparing for station B? I said that I have been preparing for more than 40 years, and many things have been accumulated over time. Twelve years ago, I founded the Fanghua 18 Women's Fashion Chinese Orchestra in Guangzhou, and later founded the brand of "Four Heavenly Kings of Chinese Music"... In fact, I was able to "get out of the circle" today, not a day, but a little bit. Exploring and accumulating.

Rather than "getting out of the circle", it's better to say that what I have been doing is how to attract the audience.

Chinese music and Chinese paintings interpret the community with a shared future for mankind

Nanfang+: Both of them show strong cultural self-confidence. What is the origin of this?

Fang Jinlong: The National Music Festival is a brand that I participated in creating in Guangdong. Why isn't it called the Folk Music Ceremony? We Chinese have Guoxue and Chinese painting, why can't folk music be called national music? I have verified that there is actually a saying of Chinese music in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and our Cantonese music is also called Chinese music.

Take a look at our national musical instruments, all the names with one character are local, and most of the two characters are foreign, such as dulcimer, pipa, huqin, suona, and Konghou are foreign. Therefore, we Chinese are a nation that speaks of "harmony". Harmony and difference, the style of a gentleman, this is the virtue of our Chinese nation.

The word "national music" means that the country is the country of the United Nations, and music is the music of the world. In ancient times, we learned musical instruments from different countries and turned them into our own national musical instruments. Today, we need to integrate them even more. In my opinion, national music itself represents and conveys the community of human destiny. I used 8,800 years ago to play abroad, just to tell the world that we Chinese created the heptatonic scale more than 8,000 years ago, which is very remarkable.

Laizhigang: Mr. Fang and I have the same path to explore the traditional way. I have been immersed in it for nearly 50 years, at least on the basis of the wisdom accumulated by Qi Baishi, Li Keran, and Jia Youfu for several generations, that I have advanced "ink into five colors" to "inkless", and greatly advanced the expressive power of Chinese ink painting.

In my opinion, the impact, expressiveness, and texture of Chinese ink painting are no longer inferior to Western oil paintings, and its expressiveness has also greatly surpassed its predecessors, and it is ushering in a new era of peaks.

Play the Lingnan qin piece "Bijian Liuquan" in front of the poetic painting

Laizhigang "Xanadu" (detail)

Will join hands with Dunhuang to have a dialogue with world music

Nanfang+: The two artists have lived in Guangdong for many years, how do they feel?

Laizhigang: It is often said that spring water washes the heart, and the realm of ink painting I pursue is spotless and clean. I live in Shenzhen for half a year every year, almost completely hidden in the city, isolated from outside interference. The social and cultural atmosphere in the south is more active, which also provides the soil for my innovation.

Fang Jinlong: I came to Guangdong in 1988. Over the years I have always wanted to do something for Cantonese music. Last year, I participated in the “Red China, Cantonese Rhythm Flying” Guangdong music boutique concert, which was created by me. I explored and reproduced the history of Guangdong’s red music. I also created works such as “Ta Shadow Cantonese Rhyme”, which were widely popular throughout the country.

I hope to represent Guangdong, as well as China and oriental culture, to have a dialogue with the world. Recently, he is cooperating with Dunhuang, planning to prepare the Dunhuang Drum Orchestra, and planning to hold the World Pipa Festival in Dunhuang next year. The ancients said that pushing hands is called Pi, but leading hands is called Pa. The Arabic oud is the lute, the Indian Sitar and the Spanish guitar are the lute. The picture of playing the pipa appears repeatedly in the Dunhuang murals. I hope that in the future, Dunhuang will be the pipa capital of the world.