王志強教授“云凝山空”旅加水墨作品展4月在多伦多大学东亚图书馆举行

Exhibition : 

April 4 — 25, 2018, free adimission
Hours: 9am-7:30pm, Mon-Thurs / 9am-6pm, Fri / 12-5pm, Sat
Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto
Room 8049, Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street

Opening Ceremony & Artist Demonstration: 
Wednesday, April 4 2018, 2-4 pm
Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto
Room 8049, Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street

Artist Statement:

中国水墨画的特殊魅力不在于描绘现实，而着力于抓住现实的本质、活力和精神，并传达出一种游于艺的情趣状态。加拿大落基山脉地带峰峦叠嶂、碧水如镜、青山浮水、倒影翩翩，沿途景色犹如百里画廊。以中国传统的绘画工具和笔墨技法把加国山水的有形之象，空谷雲氣幻化为意境悠远、笔墨韵致的山水清音是艺术追求的本质所在。

无论是中国本土山水还是加拿大风景，紧要的不是要通过作品表达一种文化差异，而是呈现出凝聚在作品之中可以畅游的思想、精神。无论是扇面、手卷、条屏或是其他承载形式，都力求以线条的交纵游走，水墨的韵化变幻，融通传统与现代。一棵树、一片云、一面山、一湖水，一幅作品，是音乐的诗、是诗意的画，更是对中国传统文化的传承与创新。

Instead of picturing the reality, the core value of Chinese ink wash painting is to catch the essence of objects, grasp artistic spirit beyond reality, and to bring out a sentiment of what Confucius said, “roaming carelessly and boundlessly in polite arts.” The Rocky Mountains in Canada make people stand in awe with its looming ridges. While the lower waters shine as blue crystal sapphires, the upper peaks wear a cloak of greenery and are crowned with a headdress of ice, as if fairy admires her reflection in the mirror. The breathtaking sceneries along the passes are like a divine gallery. By employing the traditional Chinese painting tools and techniques, it is my artistic pursuit that transforming the substantial form of Canadian’s landscape, as well as the clouds in the empty valleys, back to the formless and invisible pure songs of arts, with its far-reaching sentiment of roaming in relaxation and joy.

For either native Chinese landscapes or Canadian sceneries, the most important idea of my paintings is not presenting the cultural difference, but to illuminate the carefree thoughts and spirit of roaming. No matter the fan-paintings, hand-scrolls, hanging-scrolls, or any other means of presentation, by delicately controlling the brush and lines, and mobilizing the multi-forms of the water and ink, all my paintings strive for bringing tradition and modern together. A single tree, a piece of cloud, a cluster of rocks, a pound of water, a portion of artwork, all of which are symphonic poems, poetic paintings, furthermore, they are the continuation and recreation of traditional Chinese culture.

--- Wang Zhiqiang, in Toronto, March 5, 2018

Artist Bio:

Wang Zhiqiang, the artist with the Hao (號) of Qingtung Jushi (青桐居士), was born in Nanjing, China. He was graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of Nanjing Normal University (南京師范大學). He is a professor at Nanjing Xiaozhuang University (南京曉莊學院) and also a visiting scholar at Department of East Asian Studies at University of Toronto. Dr. Wang is member of the China Folk Arts and Literature Association, the Council of Ming Dynasty Studies, as well as the Artist Association of Jiangsu province.