"These are a group of works that embody the soul of painters, vast, majestic, and extremely impactful. They should be stored in major art museums around the world." Famous painter Fernando Ferli, the dean of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy, once commented on the works of a Chinese artist, who isCurrent professor at Zhongyuan Institute of Technology, member of China Artists Association, director of Henan Artists Association, deputy director of Henan Oil Painting Art Committee, and vice president of Henan Oil Painting Society——Wang Gang.

He was once the deputy leader of the creation team for the oil painting "Jiao Yulu" in the National Major Historical Theme Art Creation Project. The work has been selected for the 2nd National Youth Art Exhibition, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th National Art Exhibition, 1st and 3rd National Oil Painting Annual Exhibition, China Contemporary Painting Fine Arts Exhibition, Chengdu Biennale, etc., and the performance art "Wang Gang"-The Laowan Earth Relief won the Excellent Achievement Award in Literature and Art at the 5th Henan Province, and the Earth Art "Earth Gazing" won the Expert Award and Public Award at the 20th China Sculpture Forum in 2017.The 2022 Earth Art "Staring at the Starry Sky" was selected as the most highly anticipated work at the Jinan International Biennale.

Wang Gang's works have social, contemporary, and historical significance, telling the magnificent epic of human civilization to the public through rich artistic language. It is the art of seeking the fundamental and spiritual essence of all existence, and it is Chinese art in the context of the world's great changes. Wang Gang's works have a high style and taste, and the reason why he can create such a large number of artistic treasures is inseparable from his life experience.

He is a third generation of rural educated youth who has endured great hardships, sweated profusely, and made friends with farmers. His original name was Yan Daochun, and he had a special fondness for the excellent culture and classical philosophy of the Chinese nation. He is very diligent, often goes out to sketch, and loves the grandeur of the Yellow River and Taihang Mountains. He was obsessed with the simplicity of art from ancient times to the Han Dynasty,onceFor over a decade, he has been conducting research on painted pottery and Han jars, and has produced a number of influential still life creations in the art world. He is not ostentatious and indifferent to fame and fortune. He often ponders on the goodness and beauty of human nature, the origin and destination of humanity, and the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. He strives to use his artistic talent to inherit the ancient and simple cultural heritage of the Central Plains, leaving behind immortal works with rich spiritual connotations for future generations.

He absorbed the essence of classical and contemporary art from the East and the West with broad feelings, and concentrated on nothing else. He is low-key in his character, but his works are grand and often use"Amazing artistic creativity" inspires the world and shakes people's hearts with a powerful and profound momentum; Purify the soul with simple and robust character.

Because of this, Wang Gang's works can move people's hearts, inspiring them to work hard and tear them down.The representative works that best demonstrate its academic status areThe "Lao Wan Series" works have been widely circulated both domestically and internationally through core journals and monographs such as "Art Research", "Chinese Oil Painting", "Oil Painter", "Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting", and "History of Contemporary Chinese Art". Many original works have been collected by art institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, as well as by the National Art Museum of China, the Chinese Oil Painting Academy, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Henan Provincial Art Museum, the Shandong Art Museum, and others.

According to incomplete statistics, many universities in the United States, such as Bowden College, Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, etc., have published the "Wang Gang"-As a classic example of teaching contemporary Chinese art, the large-scale performance art of Laowan Dadi relief is presented.

The Zhengzhou Art Museum has carefully organized and planned a case study exhibition of contemporary local artists over a period of two yearsThe "Wang Gang: Why the Yellow River - Contemporary Yellow River Theme Art Research Exhibition" has received praise from industry insiders and numerous audiences since its exhibition.A magnificent and profound work is not only a spiritual portrait of the people nurtured by the agricultural civilization on both sides of the Yellow River, but also a magnificent epic passed down by the bloodline of the Chinese nation for thousands of years.

Secretary of the Xiangyang District Committee of Hegang City, Heilongjiang ProvinceFan Jitao fromI have seen the "Cloud Exhibition Hall"Wang Gang's WorksAfter the exhibition, I was deeply touched by itOn April 12, 2023, personally went to Zhengzhou to findheIntroduce the coal city of Hegang, which has been established in recent years for transformationThe strategy of "ecological city building" and the extensive work done around this strategy invite Wang Gang to use the century old mine in Hegang to create earth art. Wang Gang and his team went to Hegang for on-site investigation, analysis, and research. After more than four months of deep thinking, tracing the roots and facing the future, with the strong support of the Hegang Municipal Government, they created a groundbreaking masterpiece - the Cosmic Ecological Art "The Eye of the Earth in Hegang".

This work uses various artistic methods to comprehensively express the theme of cosmic ecology, transforming the two unique open-pit mines in Hegang intoThe "human" vision of "everything in one" allows the giant who integrates the natural way to stand up from the once glorious industrial town of Hegang in China, embarking on a journey full of Eastern wisdom and Nirvana towards the future world.

In this issue of "Ningdian Interview", Wang Gang was invitedprofessorShare his artistic philosophy with readers.

Many art reports use"Romantic" is the term used to describe you. The theme of your work introduced in the report is always to pay attention to workers and fight against the decadence of society. Do you think your creative inspiration comes from past life experiences, or is it because you experience life and find inspiration through creation?

The works and creations of artists are all related to their experiences. I have gone through more than half a century of ups and downs, serving as a two year educated youth, planting crops, drilling wells, building my own houses, and working as a factory worker for a year. I have experienced many social changes, and have a vivid physical experience of the living conditions and spiritual demands of grassroots workers.

I have spent several months with miners in the mining area, with mountain people in the mountains, and often went to the countryside to sketch. I have experienced many hardships and physical injuries, so a person's past experiences have shaped the spiritual foundation of their works. Every artist probably has this experience: it's not that they first have ideas before experiencing life, but rather their own growth experience, pointing out which path they should take.

I have seen many comments saying that your Lao Wan series of works breaks through the limitations of painting techniques on human expression, and everyone has their own Lao Wan in their hearts. I would like to hear your interpretation of the Lao Wan series.

We are all Lao Wan, for hundreds of years, our ancestors were farmers,In 1999, three years after starting to draw Lao Wan, I wrote a short article titled "Me and Lao Wan".

My painting of Lao Wan stems from a fascination with ancient sculptures, murals, and painted pottery. The rough, astringent, clumsy, and natural shapes, as well as the dazzling color and texture, are intoxicating. I hope to make a breakthrough in figure painting one day.

After years of exploration, a group of fierce seafood like non industrial and non agricultural people have entered my field of vision. These are a group of people who have long been forgotten and have no faces. The colorful and outdated clothes, the strong smell of sweat and smoke mixed with men, have pulled me back to the hot era of heroes. The long lost simplicity has awakened the soul of the city that has long been numbed by modern civilization. The shock of the soul permeates every inch of my bones along the deep veins of my heart, with a strong desire to express them, because I used to be their companion, and only they could make me so impulsive.

I like that kind of silent shock, it comes slowly, but it is heart wrenching. Simplicity is a high realm of beauty, and the combination of emotional destination and painting language is achieved in an instant. Spirit is not something to look for, it slowly grows in one's own land. Valuable is based on lowliness, and high and low are the foundation. Modern civilization has grown on the backbone of these people.”

For over 20 years, Lao Wan has gone from easel painting to clay sculpture, to clay figurine performance art, then to "Lao Wan - Earth Relief Performance Art", finally to "Earth Growth" and "Earth Gaze" in Xinjiang, and all the way to "The Eye of the Earth in Hegang" in Northeast China. The creative concept of "The Eye of the Earth" transforms a 90 kilometer tall person from a 2.17 square kilometer open-pit coal mine. This person combines humble humanity with great nature, returns to the universe home in the name of the Earth, and seeks ecological balance in the name of art.

At this point, Lao Wan and the earth, as well as humans and nature, are completely integrated.Over the past 20 years, Lao Wan has been a symbol of human roots and souls. All things are born on earth, and humans come from and belong to the soil of the earth. Lao Wan traces back to the roots of humans, expressing rich and profound human nature and spiritual aspirations.

The Yellow River was once an important theme of your creation. How do you view the relationship between the Yellow River and the spirit of the Chinese nation? Did the Yellow River create a national spirit like ours?

From a macro perspective, there are ten major rivers on Earth, with the Yellow River ranking fifth, but with the highest sediment content in the world.

The Yellow River originates from the Bayankola Mountains and carries a large amount of sediment when flowing eastward through the Loess Plateau. Since ancient times, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have been diverted countless times due to sedimentation, causing the riverbed to roll back and forth, creating a vast and fertile plain, while also bringing great suffering to the ancestors of China who lived along the river. Our ancestors once united as one to build embankments and strengthen the river, and also broke the embankments multiple times, using a thousand mile torrent of river water to resist external invasion.

Therefore, the Yellow River not only nurtured the Chinese nation, but also forged it. Created the indomitable national spirit of the Chinese people.

The Yellow River has been known as the Mother River since modern times, symbolizing the national soul of the Chinese nation in resisting foreign invasion during the Anti Japanese War. So when I draw the Yellow River, I'm not painting the scenery, but painting the magnificent history of the Yellow River, the culture behind the Yellow River, and the spirit of the Chinese nation.

Your recent work should be "The Eye of the Earth in Hegang". There are reports evaluating this work, which indicates that you will use earth art as a means of artistic expression in the future. Do you agree with this statement?

The earth art works I have created are a result of years of accumulation, and are the result of opportunities and opportunities. They are the result of timing, location, and harmony between people. They have naturally taken this step, and were not intentionally created before, and will not be deliberately done in the future.

The large-scale earth art I do is a complex and diverse visual expression system that facilitates the expression of thoughts on macro issues of nature and humanity. The artist's thinking and feelings are infinite, so the means of artistic expression are also infinite.

With the development of technology, there will be more new ways of expression involved in art, and more new artistic possibilities will be discovered. Therefore, I need to constantly learn and communicate, experience countless human spiritual worlds, and see the world from a different perspective.

At the beginning, everything is always on the road. I won't use any method, but it never changes. I can't do without the earth. Everything in this world can change, no matter how technology develops, the earth remains unchanged.

What kind of art do you think best expresses the spirit of the Chinese people, or what kind of spiritual traits should art focus on?

Firstly, the spiritual traits of Chinese people are introverted, profound, inclusive, and resilient. Not everyone possesses such spiritual traits while also possessing artistic expression abilities. Only artists with broad perspectives and profound life experiences can express the spirit of the Chinese people in their artistic creations.

Our artistic creation does not need to deliberately pursue the expression of our national spirit, and the theme should be more macroscopic. Art works are the carrier of an artist's soul. They should reveal human nature, pay attention to the common destiny of humanity, and express the common aspirations of humanity. I believe that this should be a higher pursuit for artists.