The new book launch conference for Fan Beilu’s picture album “Faces in Ink” was held on December 17 at Beijing Yihuayuan Bookstore. The author of the book, Fan Beilu, is the pen name of Sun Lijun, the vice president of Beijing Film Academy, which means “Van Gogh’s passionate subjectivity, Xu Beihong’s unrestrained catharsis, and Lu Xun’s lyrical irony”.
Guests attending the press conference included well-known CG artist and professor at the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo, Yoichiro Kawaguchi, professor at the School of Fine Arts of the Beijing Film Academy, Li Shuan, former founder of Nippon Shogakukan China Company, Lin Junpeng, visiting professor at the School of Animation at the Beijing Film Academy and researcher at the Institute of Animation Art, Zhang Lili, Zu Ruoxi, a teacher at the Animation School of Beijing Film Academy, and others.
“Faces in Ink” new book launch event
The ink color is fragrant, like rubbing life. The album “Faces in Ink” is the second volume of the trilogy of Fan Beilu’s “Ink” series. It contains more than 200 ink paintings created by the author since 2020. Compared with the previous work “Ink Blots”, “Faces in Ink” focuses more on the description of the characters’ faces. As a visual symbol, the face is an important component of individual recognition. In real life, it interacts with the external environment and information, showing an individual’s immediate response. Therefore, it is lively and flexible and full of interpretation space.
Fan Beilu’s interpretation of the word “Faces in Ink” in the title of the album is full of interest and close to life: “ink” represents the infinite possibilities of the freedom of the pen tip, and represents the improvisation of writing and thinking in the gaps in life; “Faces” refers to the portraits of the characters shown in the album. The author hopes to use “Faces in Ink” to convey to readers a desire to maintain a keen sense of life in the present, just like his interesting and close-to-life interpretation, “I hope that contemporary creators, whether through pen and ink, words, images or other, to truly walk, observe, feel, and record, create creations that are rooted in life and highlight the mechanism of life, and convey the unpretentious but shining truth, goodness, and beauty in the world.”
Bits and pieces of pen and ink, unintentional hands smear the ravines of life; pieces of thought, idle pens write down the thickness of life. Most of the faces of farmers in “Faces in Ink” are related to the author’s childhood experience in rural life. It is understood that Fan Beilu squeezes out a certain amount of time every year from his busy schedule to return to the countryside, where he experiences a power that does not exist in urbanites from the bronze color of farmers exposed to the sun. In the vertical and horizontal ravines carved by time on the skin and face, one can read the traces of life and the thickness of life. Fan Beilu said, “I yearn for the state of working hard for living, so I hope to use a brush full of my strength and emotion to depict the ravines on the old farmer’s face, the structure of his bones, and the growth of his hair, sometimes with close-ups. Magnify their iconic features. But I deliberately avoid their eyes when painting, I hope to simply describe the feelings they make me feel. However, every time I complete a portrait, I can always learn from the absence of eyes. It’s a wonderful experience to feel the different eyes and moods of the characters. ”
At the press conference, Fan Beilu also demonstrated a 24-second improvisation on the spot by using only a cut piece of discarded express paper shell, in less than half a minute, an ink portrait was presented in front of everyone. This is a reflection of the creative process explained in the book “Faces in Ink” demonstrates the charm of improvisation.
Fan Beilu demonstrates 24 seconds of improvisation live
Improvisation has a fascinating “self-forgetfulness”. Time goes back 1,600 years, when the drunken Wang Xizhi wrote the “Preface to Orchid Pavilion” in the mountains and forests. The beauty of nature, the joy of talking with close friends, and the emotions of the moment were all quickly recorded by the “Sage of Calligraphy”. Afterwards, when he wanted to copy this work, he found that even with all his “skills”, he couldn’t compare to the improvisation of his drunken self. In the end, this “draft” became “the best running script in the world”. Improvisation is about the expression of emotions and is an improvised and relaxed state of creation.
In the paintings in “Faces in Ink”, the media of pen and ink are often unspecific. The paper includes frame lining paper, envelopes and even napkins. The water used to mix the dry ink is sometimes a cup of tea at hand. This kind of impromptu creation is the author’s latest innovation in recent years. A philosophy that we have always strived to implement. It is understood that Fan Beilu mostly uses fragmented time when creating. Often, during a short break, inspiration comes to him and he completes it in one go. The book “Faces in Ink” aims to return to pen and ink and the state of improvisation in the information age. This is not only the author Fan Beilu’s dedication and inheritance of China’s excellent traditional cultural genes, but also his realistic thinking about the subject of creation and the reality of art.
Fan Beilu, who is enthusiastic about charity, has always been committed to charity undertakings for many years. A book signing was also held at the exchange meeting, and the funds obtained from the signing will be used for charity.
