Soul Painter

The theme of the third painting in the Demon Art Exhibition is "Veteran".

Of course, all the names of this exhibition have been criticized by art lovers.

For example, the first "Cat" is so unidentifiable that people used to call it "The Painter's Cat".

The second piece "Ring Arena", what is it called? Is the protagonist a ring? So some people call it "King of Boxing", and some people call it "Battle of the Century".

As for the third "Veteran", this is also controversial, and the public later called it "Doomsday Judgment".

Unlike the previous two, this is not a personal portrait.

There are only about ten figures in the painting, and they are in a fighting posture, hiding in a bunker.

The overall picture layout complies with a harmonious division principle. Taking the center of the frame, our protagonist, Hopkins, as the base point, distributes evenly to the top, bottom, left, and right of the screen. Hopkins is equal, which reflects the overall consistency of the picture, effectively and truly describing a battlefield environment.

In terms of layout, it seems that the two painters first tried to use the infinite symmetry method to describe the characters, which led to the fact that although the size of the ten characters in the picture is the same, the viewer's eyes seem to be attracted by the "protagonist concave point" in the center, converging in the center. on the protagonist.

In the depiction of the protagonist, connoisseurs found that the brushstrokes of Gao Fan and Anna became closer to life, in touch with reality, and returned to classicism. They almost used a realistic way to describe the veteran. The movements of the protagonist , expressions, clothes lines, and weapons on the body are all very real and full of traceable details.

This is a very interesting "reverse evolution" of painters' techniques, because since the 18th century, oil painters have always progressed towards "imagery" rather than "image" when they have reached the peak of their skills and pursued transcendence.

When you look at the works of oil painting masters when they were young, such as Picasso, Edward Hopper, Michelangelo, Dürer, Dali, etc., you will find that they are not only enlightened very early, but also God-given wisdom. At the age of 20, his works had already reached a peak in depicting 'reality'.

So their ways of progress are superficially 'subtraction', in fact 'addition', Picasso stripped the world to only a few shapes and colors, Dali began to depict time and space, Dürer turned To describe the illusory gods, they reconstructed a world with their own brushes and opened the door to the world.

The path chosen by the painters may be because they have nowhere to go in terms of classicism and must find a new path, but what about Gao Fan? Why did Gao Fan choose to come back?

This became the critics' first doubt when they saw the painting.

Immediately afterwards, the theme of this painting also made not only the critics, but also ordinary viewers feel... uncomfortable.

There are not too bloody scenes in the painting.

But there are traces of blood everywhere.

For example, our protagonist, he is sitting on an ammunition box, covered in the smoke and exhaustion of war. The gun, the blood on the dagger in his hand, and an ear on the ground.

Seeing the protagonist, the audience can almost imagine what the protagonist did at that moment before, at the moment that was not described in the picture... He should have killed an opponent! Or a prisoner of war! At least cut off his ear.

From just one detail, it extended to a killing.

The expressiveness of the details is astonishing.

Except for the protagonist, the other nine soldiers each have their "details".

The artist used skillful lines and colors to describe the appearance and shape of these soldiers. When the audience looked at these soldiers carefully, they would experience their own stories and crimes in each soldier.

For example, the young soldier with the photo in his pocket and his back leaning on the wall of the trench, holding the cross in his right hand and praying, while his left hand firmly pressed his chest. Looking at his mouth shape, it seems that he can read "" Selena', or a name like 'Serena', that might be his wife, his war is finally over, the good news is he's alive, the bad news is he's going to be captured, will he see his family?

And under the soldier's feet, there is a piece of silk. On the silk, there is a hand. Who does the hand belong to? Not drawn, but hidden in the depths of the trench, the hand is small and delicate, but with the solidification of death and the terrified struggle, it should belong to a female dead who has not been painted in the picture. When the audience observes this soldier , it is easy to imagine what he did before, it might be a rape.

There was also the soldier who was closing the ammunition box. He seemed a little panicked, and beside the half-closed ammunition box, there was a small red shoe beside it. A small lotus flower was embroidered on the small shoe. The shoe had Or, it should be a little girl. The little girl's mother embroidered her blessings on the child's feet, but now they can only be scattered on the battlefield.

Enough for the viewer to imagine what happened to the child.

The whole picture is full of details, almost every color and every line has meaning.

Holbein's "Ambassadors" is famous for its realistic style of group portraits full of details and metaphors, but as long as you compare these two paintings, you will find that this time Gao Fan showed far more details to the audience than Holbein did. Bein's masterpiece.

And these soldiers either gave up resistance like the protagonist, or buried the evidence like the soldier next to the ammunition box. The reason is why this painting was named "Doomsday Judgment".

In addition to the ten soldiers depicted in the picture with a wider sense of space, there are a large number of troops rushing towards the edge of the picture. Those troops only reveal a piece of green clothes and a corner of the red flag, but it makes people feel that it is Thousands of troops, immersed in it, can even hear the piercing and loud charge.

Ten soldiers were surrounded.

Veterans with bloody hands will be besieged.

Here, the infinite symmetry drawing method truly demonstrates its magical meaning.

The blood on the battlefield is depicted in the picture.

The bloody and cruel "punishment" is described outside the screen.

There is no doubt that these soldiers who have committed numerous crimes on the battlefield have been surrounded by their opponents, and what awaits them is the "Doomsday Judgment".

The audience can see the endless smoke and exhaustion in this painting, especially from the protagonist, they can clearly feel that there is only one bullet in the gun on his lap.

This bullet will be reserved for the protagonist himself. The coldness of the gun and the scorching heat of the bullet pour into the hearts of the viewers in an instant. The downcast gaze of the protagonist in the painting permeates outwards and permeates into everyone's heart.

He knows he is guilty, and he will accept his punishment in peace.

Plus.

The red flag at the end of the angle of view.

The loud charge horn heard in the ear.

It makes this painting should be named "Doomsday" instead of "Veteran".

Some critics think: "From "Cat", to "Ring Arena", and then to "Veteran", although Gao Fan's art exhibition is named 'The strongest', it is a wonderful irony. The painter changed from a stray animal to a serious illness. From the perspective of boxers who have been in prison, and veterans who have committed felonies with bloody hands, they spurn this society full of restraints, the destruction of animals and vulnerable groups, the strong are restrained by ethics, and the beasts are pulled out. This world makes the painter despair, and he is declaring war on this world order with his brush."

Chapter 1~