Guo Hang

Using a Pen to Express Feelings for "Landscape" — A Record of the Famous Chinese Pen Landscape Painter Guo Hang As we all know, pen drawing is a category of Western painting. It has been introduced into China for a hundred years. In the 1970s, people usually saw pen drawings in comic books and book illustrations. These drawings were very small in size. Pen drawings are mainly composed of complex, delicate, and varied lines, forming shapes with lines and structures with shapes. Because the strokes of a pen are very fine, they emphasize changes in lines and color contrast, requiring extremely high modeling ability and extraordinary patience. In recent years, whenever we see Mr. Guo Hang's pen landscape paintings through media, it gives us a completely new understanding of pen drawings and him as well. Guo Hang, a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is also known as (Jiangnan Qiaofu). He is a contemporary famous Chinese pen landscape painter, a national first-class fine artist, an international professional portrait photographer, and a professor of social psychology. He currently serves as the president of Jiangnan Hanlin Academy of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting, the deputy director of the Art Exhibition Hall of China's Hundred Cultural Network, and the vice president of the Artist Committee of China's Poetic and Calligraphic Painting Network. He has successively joined the China Fine Arts Masters Association, Zhejiang News Photography Association, China Portrait Photographers Association, China Photography Art Association, China Entrepreneurs Photography Association, Hangzhou Ancient Capital Culture Research Association, China International Calligraphy and Painting Association, China Calligraphy and Painting Masters Association, China Hard Pen Calligraphy and Painting Association, China Calligraphy and Painting Art Development Research Association, and China News Calligraphy and Art Academy. Looking at Mr. Guo Hang's works of Chinese pen landscape paintings, there are not only exquisite small pieces but also some magnificent long scrolls and large-scale works. Short ones are several meters long, while longer ones reach tens of meters. Mr. Guo Hang's pen landscape paintings feature stable lines, meticulous depictions, broad themes, and rigorous compositions, blending and permeating the charm and rhythm of Chinese landscape paintings. In his hands, various landscapes are elegant and captivating, with features of grandeur, depth, magnificence, and splendor. They are both profound and full of vitality, possessing the charm of traditional landscape paintings while exuding the breath of contemporary literati paintings. The pen lines in his landscape paintings resemble various cun techniques in Chinese paintings, such as mountains, forests, and clouds. Each piece is drawn with lines to form surfaces, leaving blank spaces, making us marvel at how such a simple black-and-white world can be so rich in meaning. A landscape painting must have feelings for the mountains and waters, rather than confining emotions merely within the ink and brushwork. It is hard to imagine that someone who has long lived in a bustling city can paint landscapes in an otherworldly manner. Observing the forms of mountains and listening to the sounds of water, breathing together, exhaling together, immersing oneself entirely in the embrace of nature. The work "Traveling Through the Mountains and Waters" can be said to be Mr. Guo Hang's most representative piece. Landscape paintings do not just emphasize beauty but also require a sense of artistic conception and depth. This work does not rely on additional colors for embellishment or superfluous details. With proficient brushwork, it portrays a majestic and imposing quality, capturing the spirit through form, achieving both form and spirit, and conveying a vivid aura. Particularly striking is the depiction of the mountain body, which has a strong visual impact. The tranquil lake at the foot of the mountain contrasts beautifully with the mountain, further highlighting the characteristics of the scenery. The entire painting combines elegance and strength, with a strong sense of three-dimensionality, layers, and visual effects, and carries significant humanistic elements. It fully displays the grand artistic conception of natural landscapes while adding a human touch through the inclusion of scenes with people. The thematic depth of the creation is even more subtle and abstract in its expression. The intention of the work is deeper and more objective. Nature and the emotional expressions conveyed by the artist blend together to form an artistic realm, profoundly and truly reflecting the characteristics and multiple beauties of nature, thereby providing immense aesthetic enjoyment. Mr. Guo Hang has poured immense effort and energy into creating these exquisite works. Watching him create, he is completely different from his usual self. During creation, he is fully focused, meticulous, and conscientious. For instance, depicting a mountain peak requires drawing many crosshatching lines. Completing a single work requires tens of thousands of strokes, taking anywhere from a few days to several months, day and night. Who knows how many pens he has worn out? Looking at the thick and calloused skin on his thumbs, admiration arises naturally. A fresh and elegant atmosphere fills the paintings, offering unique visual beauty. The layered peaks, lush green trees, flourishing grasses, and houses nestled among the mountains appear faintly visible. In the distance, the cliffs rise thousands of feet, creating a vast scene with dense scenery and a magnificent aura. You can see the spirit of the mountains and waters flowing from the tips of the brush and ink. Simple brushwork, lines, or composition, with overwhelming presence, reaches perfection. Expressing the chest and ambition of internalized landscapes, it fully captures the grandeur and magnificence of the mountains and waters, indescribably wonderful! Mr. Guo Hang's love for landscapes is sincere and deep. This love has naturally etched itself into his bones, allowing him to appreciate the unique charm of landscapes through the touch of the brush and ink, providing a delightful and warm experience that is full of life force. With his unwavering artistic spirit, distinct creative themes, unique line charm, and visual impact of black and white contrasts, Mr. Guo Hang presents Chinese pen paintings in a completely new form, opening up new artistic spaces for the development of Chinese pen paintings. For decades, Mr. Guo Hang has walked this path that seems monotonous, dull, and arduous. Year after year, he has been tirelessly exploring in the field of pen painting art, fusing and innovating the artistic conception of Chinese paintings with the Western sketching perspective theory. He broke through the traditional appearance of pen paintings, such as illustrations, comics, and small pieces, allowing pen paintings to make a qualitative leap in creation and enter the pure art hall with dignity. He enriched and renewed the techniques and aesthetic connotations of traditional pen paintings, paving a new way for the innovation of pen paintings and promoting their development, laying the foundation for the Chineseization of pen paintings. "Ten years to hone one sword," with effort comes reward. At the age of sixty, Mr. Guo Hang reaped abundant artistic fruits. His works have become increasingly broad and distant, with a deeper and broader artistic style. In the contemporary cultural context, Mr. Guo Hang clearly positions himself, striving for innovation on the basis of inheritance. His art reflects rare substance in the process of accumulation and outburst. Regarding Mr. Guo Hang's pen landscape paintings, former China Academy of Fine Arts president Xiao Feng once praised him with the words "magnificent and substantial." These four characters constitute the most distinctive artistic style of Mr. Guo Hang's Chinese pen landscape paintings. "Magnificent" and "substantial" embody the natural beauty of great simplicity. "Approaching nature, integrating into nature, following nature, naturally, and then rising to a state of Daoist naturalness." Mr. Guo Hang's "magnificent" and "substantial" painting style also comes from the aura and changes. Landscape painting places the greatest emphasis on aura. The aura in the painting emanates from the life consciousness of the painter. Without the observation of life consciousness, the painted landscape will inevitably lack aura. When viewing a work, we should not only look at what the author has painted or written on the surface but also look beyond the surface to the essence. A successful work of art often conveys information beyond the artwork to the viewer. Therefore, a good work is jointly completed by the author and the viewer. Besides conveying aura, the eternal subject of a painter's creation is change—changes in artistic techniques, brushwork methods, as well as changes in intention, composition, density, and sparse arrangements, dry and wet ink, and light and dark tones. However, these changes are not deliberately seeking novelty but the result of the painter's accumulation and outburst. Although painters are not philosophers, they cannot be painters without thoughts; although paintings are not literary works, they cannot be paintings lacking literary depth. Every stroke in the painting is infused with the artist's heart and blood. Mr. Guo Hang has profoundly felt that Chinese painting has always focused on nature, portraying mountains and waters, giving natural landscapes imagery. Landscape paintings often contain the multi-layered meanings of the painter's gaze at the world, self-expression, and contemplation of life. Throughout history, people have agreed on one truth: nature and life are the source of art. In Mr. Guo Hang's eyes, "sketching from life is not about simply portraying the pure object or the pure self but about the artistic realm inspired by the fusion of object and self. Each stroke and each block of color should touch the excitement and vitality. It is a life form with innate talent, highly driven and fully released under the impetus of natural beauty." "Innovation is the mother of tradition. Without past innovation, there would be no present tradition. Tradition can not only be passed down but also brought together. " Mr. Guo Hang's "magnificent" and "substantial" painting style also stems from tradition and innovation. Artistic creation is the externalization of the human inner spirit and deep psychology, serving as a means to convey the artist's thoughts. "Artists must use a unique painting language to express their insights into life and the universe. The innovation of landscape painting should adhere to the principles of mastering tradition and daring to innovate." Therefore, in Mr. Guo Hang's works, one can not only see traces of innovation but also deeply feel his profound traditional painting cultivation. Mr. Guo Hang has devoted over forty years to studying pen landscape painting, pioneering a unique style of Chinese pen landscape painting. He has created nearly ten thousand pen landscape paintings of various kinds, of which more than five hundred works have been published in over 180 newspapers nationwide. His personal achievements have been featured in over 280 national media reports including People's Daily Overseas Edition, CCTV, Yangcheng Evening News, Xinmin Evening News, China Teacher Newspaper, Zhejiang Daily, Zhejiang Economic Daily, Zhejiang TV Station, Zhejiang Education Daily, Hangzhou Daily, Metropolitan Express, Daily Business Report, Hangzhou TV Station, China Calligraphy and Painting Network, China Calligraphy Network, Encyclopedia of Chinese Celebrities, China Calligraphy and Painting Masters Network, China News Training Network, China Professional Calligraphy and Painting Network, China Mass Calligraphy and Painting Network, China Calligraphy Platform, China Book Network, New People's Art Network, People's Artists Network, Jinghua Calligraphy and Painting Society, Art Interaction, Art Headlines, Art News, Tencent, Zhejiang Online Zhejiang News Network, 360 Encyclopedia, Art Masters Network, NetEase Subscription, Hangzhou Network, Hangzhou 19th Floor Network, Shanghai Hard Pen Calligraphers Association Network, Contemporary Artists Network, Contemporary Calligraphers Network, Baidu Library, Baidu Encyclopedia, Painting大全Network, Sina, Mobile Sohu, and others. His compiled book "Teach You to Draw Pen Landscape Paintings" was published by Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House in May 2012. Multiple works have been exhibited in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Henan, Shandong, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Singapore, and the United States. His works have won awards multiple times in international and domestic calligraphy and painting art competitions. Many of his works have been collected by the National Museum of China, Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China Tea Museum, China Silk Museum, Nanjing Museum, Xi'an Museum, and other art institutions and domestic and international friends. His personal achievements have been included in "Times Talents" published by the People's Public Security University of China, "Outstanding Talents of China" and "China Master List" published by China Literary and Art Federation Publishing Company, and he has been hailed by many media as the first person of Chinese pen landscape painting. Cancel