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The Beidahuang (north big barren) school of Chinese woodblock printmaking is one of the most influencing and characteristic schools in China. Hao Boyi who is the youngest exploiter of the first generation, he works in the north for some tens of years, bivouacking on the wasteland, but he enjoys the pleasure of the creation, because he loves deeply this earth and the people lives there. Whether the artwork of his early period or current period, they took root of this earth, full of the folklore colour. The sincere love for this earth, gives him the spirit of creation, as Hao Boyi says:¡± I feel strongly the life, it makes me present¡ the life go on with its own rhythm, the life calls me create ceaselessly, and my creation can't leave this headspring of life.¡±
During these years, the national and international critics commend his artworks as a style of¡± elegant, geniality¡±, ¡°amiable, fresh¡±, even if his early artworks, which present a vigour of combat. This conception comes from his firm and mild character, his plain and simple personality, and also some traditional spirit of our national fine art. The critic of Qing Dynasty Shen Chongsai said in his art book:¡± all the lines in the picture are the lines can't be lack, all the Chinese ink in the picture are the ink can't avoid.¡± That means that the intention can arrive without drawing, it's necessary to ¡°transfer the spirit¡±; it's a kind of connotation. If we can't find this connotation in his early artworks, we can find a high degree of professional proficiency of this connotation, the presentation becomes more and more concision, elegant and fresh. In our traditional paintings, ¡°hide the scene¡± is very important, and it's one of connotation presentation, ¡°Hide more scene, and you'll image more scene¡if all have been presented, that's superficial¡± (Ming dynasty, Tang Zhiqie). Drawing some tadpoles and a spring, that's the implied way to say ¡°hearing frog's song all the 10 miles way, all the frog are from that spring¡±, that's a very familiar subject. Hao is the artist who knows well how to ¡°hide scene¡±, in his artwork<Light snow>, besides the mountains, he draws only two little deer; in <Light snow in deep valley>, he draws only some lines of snow mountains, in<Fading winter>, only a doorframe with a blue sky, snowfield and several icicles. All is very simple, but not monotony, not blankness, it's full of amorous feelings and interests on that north fertile soil. What he want to present in <Small Flowers> is superior than the glorification of mountains, the small flowers burst from the frozen earth, perky and curiously, they look at the early spring of the northland, although be alone, but full of fearless confidence, without any discouragement, it seems to tell some living philosophy.
Technically, from mimeograph to watermark, as for the content, from exploitation the wasteland, battle with the nature, to the paean of new life<Woodblock prints of BEIDAHUANG feelings>, which is honoured as a symbol of third generation artworks in Chinese original prints history. And Hao Boyi is also honoured as a deputy of the third generation artists, and he do be noticed and welcomed by the collector all over the world. With the development of the life, and the changes of the background of the society, Hao Boyi's styles changes also with the collectors' aesthetic taste, but he is not an artist who stopped in the form and skill. We have said, he loves his motherland deeply, and he can't help presenting his feeling, he want to get rid of his early creation method, and absorb some new style from folk tradition, like woodblock new year prints and paper-cut. People said that his new artworks become more and more simple and modern. That's true. But these are only the form changes, in order to present what he feels, what he want to seek is to present in his control the beauty of the life. So this simplicity is not at hazard, but after a precise design and elaboration. We can see clearly his style change track by his two artworks<Frightened> and <Winter sun>, which he draws the same subject ¡°deer¡±. <Frightened> is also a pretty picture, but the composition is a little complex, and we can almost hear the noise when the artist cut the woodblock. But the image of <The quiet field> is very simple, Hao use the wood natural veins to present the flourishing grass, as he takes it without any attention, but it's so vivid, so extractive, and this artworks contains how many ingenuities! We can see that Hao can use with facility the form language. The character of Hao's nearly artworks, leans to implicative, elegant, peaceable, but the technique changes also with the intention of the picture and life, sometimes with heavy colour, sometimes with light colour, in despite of which one, always with elegant, abstract or objectivism can always blend together fantastically and delicately in his artworks.
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