Zhang Yongquan

Zhang Yongquan

Zhang Yongquan, male, Zide, Changshu: Yongquan. He is from Shanxi Province and now lives in Beijing. He once worked in the Palace Museum as a painter. He has studied in the Central Academy of Arts and crafts and Tianjin Academy of fine arts. Since 1986, he has been mainly engaged in the painting of the Chinese zodiac, exploring a new way of his own between traditional meticulous painting and small freehand brushwork. Since 2006, the exhibition of "New Year picture of dog" in Beijing caused repercussions, it has successively held special exhibitions of "New Year picture of pig", "New Year picture of rat", "New Year picture of cow", "New Year picture of tiger" in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places.

Representative paintings

2006 New Year picture of dog

Dog is also called dog. "Etymology" explains: "when speaking, the big dog, the small dog." I'm afraid I'm the first to mention dogs in the book. In Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu has a well-known saying: "neighbors look at each other, chickens and dogs hear each other's voices, old age and death do not communicate." "Erya? Animal interpretation" said: "bear tiger ugly, its son dog." It means that the "son" born from the mating of a bear and a dog is called a dog because of its ugly appearance. No matter what the ancients said, today, the status of the dog has risen to an unprecedented height. Many people regard the dog as a colossal object and dress and make up for it. This animal, which has been criticized, has now become the apple of some people's eye. The reason why dogs can last for a long time is due to their own reasons and conditions. First of all, dogs can live with people. It is not as violent as other animals, most of the dog's temperament is more docile, for the owner of boredom, will please the owner. Second, good breeding. As omnivores, dogs are hungry, so most people can afford to raise them. Third, to be a "security guard" for the host. The dog's vigilance is very high, no matter day and night, or wind and rain, it can be loyal to duty, all thieves who come to their master's home, it must be barking and pouncing, which makes Liang Shangjun scared. Fourth, loyalty to the host. As the saying goes: "the son does not dislike the mother ugly, the dog does not dislike the family poor." That's true. As long as a dog is adopted, it will not leave the adopter easily. Sometimes it is driven out of the door by the host many times, but it will still go back to its home and serve the host as usual. dogs are the earliest domesticated animals, and there are many stories and metaphors about dogs in China. Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty once called the meritorious officials except Xiao He the meritorious dogs. Genghis Khan's four most valiant generals are known as the four dogs, including hubilai, Zhebei, zhelimai and shubutai. Song Xilian, a famous general in Huangpu of the Kuomintang, was known as "general Eagle dog". Especially in Manchu and other northern nomadic people, smart and brave dogs once saved Nurhachi, the old king of Han. Manchu people taboo killing dogs, eating dog meat and wearing dog skin hat. There are similar taboos among Pumi, Lahu and Tibetan. Guo Moruo is in the new poem "dog" in a loud voice to call himself: "I am a dog ah, I swallow the moon, I swallow the sun, I swallow all the planets, I swallow the whole universe, I am me!" The imagination is rich and peculiar, showing the unparalleled spirit of positive romanticism. The burning verses are like a noisy heat wave, roaring with the strongest voice of the May 4th era. Dogs were once regarded as ancestors of human beings. As early as in the matriarchal clan society, primitive people living in the Yellow River Valley had dogs. In Zhouli, there was an official post of dog man, which was specially responsible for dog leading for sacrifice. The dog warden set up by the Han Dynasty was the official in charge of the emperor's hounds. The dog shop in the Tang Dynasty was an official office for the emperor to raise hounds. When human society entered the period of animal husbandry and small-scale peasant production, dogs guarded households, called the police and looked after herds In the Chinese zodiac, there is a place for dogs. In the Han Dynasty, twelve local branches were used to record the twelve hours of the day. From 5:00 to 7:00, you can see that night falls and the chickens begin to return to their nests; from 7:00 to 9:00, you can see that the dogs begin to watch the night Dogs play an important role in human society. Small to watch the house, hunting, toys, shepherds, to be a guard, lead the way, sniff drugs, services for the disabled. The word "Fu" in Chinese characters is the embodiment of human's superior and inferior attitude towards dogs: the relationship between dogs and people is always as hard to give up as the word "Fu", and dogs are always loyal to their owners! Roland once said: "the more people I deal with, the more I like dogs - dogs are probably the animals that have the closest relationship with human beings and make the greatest contribution in the animal world." Darwin said of dogs: "love for people has become a dog's instinct, almost no doubt." There are many advantages of dogs, but many of them are derogatory. Pour out a torrent of abuse more worthiless than pigs and dogs. This is not so much a disparagement of the dog as a taunt of the dog. In the year of bingxu, Xu is the year of the dog in the zodiac, and bingxu is a self sleeping dog. Twelve zodiac corresponding to the Big Dipper, the dog is the seven stars in the Tianji star, also known as Lucun star. However, there are two algorithms for the first day of the year of the dog: one is the first day of the first lunar month as the beginning of the year, and the other is the beginning of spring as the beginning of the year. That is to say, 2006 enters the year of the dog on January 29 or February 4. Bingran's view of all things is that all things are born with a bright and dazzling appearance. Bingran is also called Rouzhao. Xu means that all things are extinct. Xu is also called Weimao. There are three heavenly stems, Xin, Ding and Wu, hidden in Xu. Bingxu is also called Rouzhao Weimao year. According to the Nayin and five elements, which are combined by sixty Jiazi and five tones and twelve rhythms, C and D belong to fire, Xu and Hai are the gates of heaven. Fire is hot, but earth is not. So it is called wushangtu. The person born in 2006 belongs to wushangtu. It is commonly said that it belongs to local dog, which means brick and tile. The splendid roof and tile is a symbol of great fortune.

2009 year of the ox

In Chinese culture, the influence of cattle is not limited to farming civilization. In ancient times, the music of the GeTian tribe was "three people holding the ox's tail and singing eight songs", so the first chapter of the history of Chinese music included a paragraph about the ox. There is a Chinese idiom "playing the piano to the ox", which refers to ridiculing people for not looking at the object of their speech, or to reasoning with people who don't understand the truth. In fact, it was discovered in the 1960s that playing music on a dairy farm would greatly increase milk production. But the music has to be beautiful and soothing. Michael Jackson's rock music is not popular. It can be seen that cow has musical cells, and the meaning of "playing the lute to a cow" seems to need to be reevaluated. Laozi, a great thinker in ancient China, rode a green ox out of Hanguguan (the junction of Henan and Shaanxi) to the west, leaving an immortal philosophical masterpiece Daodejing for later generations. Who would have thought that the final conception and finalization of Lao Tzu's works were completed on the back of the ox. the ox not only left traces in the history of philosophy, but also remained immortal in myths and legends with the deified Lao Tzu. In 627 BC, Xian Gaolu, a businessman of the state of Zheng, met the Qin army who came to attack the state of Zheng. He immediately rewarded the Qin army with 12 oxen under the pretext of the king's order. At the same time, he sent people back to the country for emergency. Seeing that the state of Zheng was on guard, the Qin army had to withdraw. Xiangao used 12 cattle to stop a war, leaving a good story through the ages. in 284 B.C., Yan general Le Yi led his army to attack Qi, even more than 70 cities, but Jimo, which Qi general Tian Dan held fast to, failed to capture. In 279 B.C., Tian Dan made the king of Yan change into a general. Then he pretended to surrender and paralyze the Yan army. At the same time, he put 1000 oxen on colorful clothes, Spears on the horns and fire on the tail. He opened the city gate at night, and the oxen ran in pain, and 5000 warriors rushed to kill them. Yan army was defeated and died in the battle. Tian Dan took advantage of the victory to recover more than 70 lost cities. The "fire ox formation" has left a brilliant example in the Chinese military history. Tian Dan and the 1000 fire oxen will be forever in the annals of history! Cattle are closely related to human beings, so they frequently appear in folklore. The most popular and romantic love story in the East is the love story between the Cowherd and the weaver girl, in which the cow is an indispensable role. Finally, Niulang and Zhinv were separated by the Milky way under the queen mother. The jade emperor only allowed them to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh lunar month by stepping on the bridge built by magpies. In the clear night sky, we can see the bright galaxy on both sides of Altair and Vega far away. Altair is the alpha star in the constellation Aquila. On both sides of Altair, beta and gamma stars are the children of Cowherd and weaver girl. Vega is Lyra α, the brightest star in the northern sky, known as the "Queen of summer". Four small stars arranged in a shuttle shape nearby make up her weaving shuttle. In the eyes of Westerners, these five stars are the lyre in the hands of Orpheus, the son of Apollo in ancient Greek mythology. it is said that on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, hiding under the grape trellis, one can hear the Cowherd and Weaver Girl's family telling their sorrow of parting. Sometimes when it rains, people will say that it's the tears of Cowherd and Weaver who "it's hard to leave when we meet.". People hold infinite sympathy for the Cowherd and the weaver girl, but also cherish the deep memory of the old cow who has fulfilled the love of the Cowherd and the weaver girl and sacrificed his life.

Painting features

Looking at Zhang Yongquan's fine brushwork paintings, whether it is animals, flowers and birds, or figures, all show his own distinct personality. In composition, he strives to be vivid and vivid. In bingxu's "golden dog Ruifu", the dog's loyalty and alertness are vividly expressed; in Dinghai's "golden pig baby", the pig's appearance in reality is boldly changed, and it is depicted as round, clever, naive, warm and affectionate. In the year of Wuzi, Zhang Yongquan's New Year picture of rat had created 20 styles. After soliciting everyone's opinions, he decided to give priority to the naughty and lovely squirrel. For this reason, Zhang Yongquan went to several squirrel orchards to observe their living habits, and also consulted and watched a lot of information and CDs about squirrels. In terms of brushwork, Zhang Yongquan strives for refinement in traditional Meticulous Brushwork

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Yong Quan