何建国(梨花书屋主人), 1951 年生,当代画家。
祖籍四川, 生于大同, 成长生活于北京。初中二年级赶上‘文化大革命’, 后自学成才。1984年, 成为职业画家。何建国是一位继承了中国文人水墨传统的二十世纪的艺术家, 也是一位从中国传统绘画的束缚中脱离出来的艺术家。他的用笔笔触和书法是与众不同、打破成规的, 与此同时他的绘画作品中又结合了西方现代主义形式的基本构成。何建国是为数不多的,在缺乏方向、衰退的传统中国画领域中进行富有创造性绘画的画家之一。他的绘画如同塞尚为西方现代绘画所做出的贡献一样, 将中国画发展到了一个全新的水平, 达到了写意绘画的高 峰。他画了大量传统题材主题, 也经常以自己为绘画中的角色, 他还非常喜欢画典型的北京场景以及他的家庭生活。在他的作品中可以看到自由的表达方式, 这其中最直接的原因是由于他没有接受约束性的艺术学校的教育。
The idiosyncratic and self-taught Beijing artist He Jianguo has brought both new life and new opportunity to the great tradition of Chinese brush and ink painting. He regards himself as a twentieth century artist who is continuing the literati tradition. His brushstrokes and calligraphy are unorthodox and he has no fear of turning his back on traditional methods. He draws heavily on traditional subjects, but offers his own interpretation and takes joy in depicting typical Beijing scenes and the life of his family and friends. The freedom expressed in his works can be seen as the direct result of not having endured a restrictive art school education.
He seeks to unite the scholaramateur aesthetic, Chinese brush work and certain compositional principle interest in Formalism. Being a great fan of artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne and Kandinsky, He Jianguo uses principles of rhythm to compose his paintings and grid like structure to order the picture surface.
Ink painters are generally labelled conservative, irrespective of their work, because they do not sever ties with Chinese tradition. He Jianguo is not part of the ‘avant-garde’ but he is one of the few ink painters who are working creatively with what in lesser hands is a stultifying tradition. He seeks to achieve a union of Chinese and Western artistic languages that is relevant to themselves.
