Wen Shu Wei Bin (Former Vice Dean of school of media and art, Shangqiu University)
A few years ago, due to the needs of research topics, I paid great attention to folk art for a period of time, and went to Huaiyang County to understand the current production status and commercial ecology of mud dogs, and later Mr. Li Wen's face sculptures triggered some new ideas about folk art.
1, mud dog - the living fossil of culture
Every year, from February 2 to March 3 of the lunar calendar, the month is when Huaiyang County holds a temple fair. The streets are full of tourists, the noise is boiling, there are a large number of stalls selling mud dogs and selling a variety of mud dogs. Abstract and beautifully shaped, these mud dogs make it hard to imagine that they were all made by folk artists.
In the "Chronicle of Huaiyang County", the well-known Huaiyang mud dog is a highly summarized and deformed sacrifice of Fuxi, Nuwa and ancient holy spirit group portraits. Now, the Huaiyang mud dog has stepped onto the international stage. Through mud dogs, foreign friends also have some new understanding of Chinese folk art.
In recent years, the state's protection of intangible cultural heritage has been continuously increased, and the intangible cultural heritage of the Central Plains, represented by mud dogs, has received unprecedented attention, and the intensity and scope of protection have become more and more extensive. It can be said that this folk art form represented by the Huaiyang mud dog has been newly developed.
Huaiyang mud dog
This kind of temple fair that has been handed down from ancient times to the present day is quite interesting, although the mud dogs at the temple fair are uneven because of commercial drive, the level gap of folk craftsmen and other reasons, but on the whole, as the public's discovery and understanding of mud dogs is getting more and more in place, the effect of promoting mud dogs is getting better and better.
From the people to the government, universities to cultural groups, international academic seminars to school classrooms are studying mud dogs, objectively also promote the rapid development of mud dogs cultural and creative industry, so the market for mud dogs production requirements are getting higher and higher. Involved in the production of mud dogs are independent individuals, families, groups and even factories of a certain scale. However, we must admit that the quality of mud dogs is uneven.
There are different theories about the origin of mud dogs, but there are two main popular ones.
One is the Mud Dog made by Fuxi. According to local legend, the ancestors Fuxi and nuwa brothers and sisters married after the flood and then multiplied their children. In the spring, Fuxi made a flute with willow branches for his descendants, but there were no willow branches in winter, so Fuxi used mud to pinch out the gourd, and then pricked an eye on the gourd, and there would be a sound when it was blown. This form of toys, passed down from generation to generation, more and more patterns. This is also the prototype of the mud dog that can be blown on the market.
The other is to say that Nuwa made people out of earth. Nuwa fabricating people is originally a mythical story, but in Huaiyang, this obviously belongs to a kind of deduction of the localization of mythological stories. In any case, the mud dog is the product of the handiwork of the working people in ancient times, and its body records a huge historical information.
We think of it as a living fossil of culture. Because it carries not only a natural belief or reverence of the ancestors in the ancient period, but also a record of the folk customs of the times. Time: A day, a year, a century is gone, but the mud dog as a material carrier gives people now a chance to understand people's ancient times, the ancient flood period and the perspective of the ancestors' understanding of the unknown world. This is undoubtedly a good entry point to crack the history.
Mud dogs – living fossils of culture
Now many people are willing to believe that the mud dog inherits a memory of a prehistoric civilization, which reflects the prehistoric ancestors' understanding of the world. For humanity itself, this is a reflection on "where did we come from?" and even a record of some aspect of the living conditions of our ancestors.
2, mud dog - production process
If you have the opportunity or time to go to the temple fair, you may wish to go to the home of the person who sells mud dogs at the temple fair. We have visited several craftsmen and seen the whole process of making mud dogs in their handicraft workshops. That pristine state is very moving.
The making of mud dogs
Roughly speaking, mud dogs have five production processes. The first step is to beat the mud: take materials on the spot; the second step is to rub the embryos: according to the size and specifications of the mud dog finished product, find a piece of raw material mud with a similar shape and size to the finished product, and make an embryo; the third step is to form, and now the practice is more to put the mud embryo into the mold; the fourth step is dyeing: put the mud dog in a container, and then pour black dye on it, and then take it out to dry after dyeing the mud dog black; the fifth step is to point flowers: paint the color and pattern on the mud dog. The bottom layer of the color is black, and then it will be used in red, yellow, white, green, pink, five colors, and some patterns will be drawn with the creative technique of dots and lines. The overall painting style and shape are very primitive, full of romantic fantasy aesthetic characteristics. Current research shows that these patterns are more derived from fertility worship. Mud dogs are not all dogs, although their names are dogs, but in fact there are many inexplicable and strange images, such as human-faced monkeys, two-headed beasts, unicorns, four-legged snakes, hydra and so on.
3, mud dog - value discovery
Now, the artists who make mud dogs will combine the current commercial needs to carry out technological innovation, and make new painting methods and shapes, and will also sell better molds for mass production, such as the zodiac series on the market now, which did not appear in ancient times, but a new form derived from the development of the times. This is the development of the aesthetic form and aesthetic taste of the mud dog itself in terms of ensuring that the craft can be passed on, and we believe that this development is reasonable and meaningful.
In my opinion, folk art and academic art have different characteristics, and it is not realistic for the two to replace each other, it should be developed separately, because they have their own values.
The protection of intangible cultural heritage done by China is actually more inclined to folk art. Nowadays, social information channels are developed, learning platforms and opportunities are increasing, and even some folk artists have the opportunity to be invited to enter art academies to receive the so-called further study and re-education of academic schools, but in my opinion, this is a more dangerous phenomenon that needs to be vigilant.
It is necessary to protect the folk art form that has original information and grows in the field stove
I once heard a story: an artist in Shaanxi who made paper cuts quickly lost all confidence because he entered the aesthetic format of the academic school. He considers the image of his paper-cut works to be not "real", and the new idea breaks his insistence on the aesthetic stance of craftsmanship and makes him confused.
I was very touched by this story. We must protect the cultural heritage of the nation, protect the folk art forms that have original information and grow in the field stove, in fact, we should establish a set of scientific protection mechanisms, otherwise it may cause harm to the original art. Especially when folk artists fail to form effective resistance and immunity to foreign ideas, it is easy to mistake the so-called college ideas for providing nutrition for them. In essence, this is a great damage to the original ecological art ideas of folk artists.
Therefore, when facing a great folk art, we must first find its core values, the information it contains from ancient history, and the people's simplest cognition and thinking about the world, etc., and we must first capture these most important and valuable information. "Going out" for the sake of form for the sake of form, "going out" for the sake of international standards, and "innovating" for the sake of so-called development, in the end there will be tragedy.
The mud dog is the folk culture of the Chinese nation, which basically records the trajectory of the development of the initial cognition and world view of human culture. At the level of the entire national culture, this typical folk art form has great social value.
Mud dogs embody the characteristics of primitive art
The greatness of the mud dog is that it embodies the characteristics of primitive art, and at the same time, it is still happening at the moment, and there are artists passing it on, which is a real and living art form, a real totem and a living fossil. Therefore, the artistic value of mud dogs deserves to be continued to be studied. The mud dog was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list in the country.
4. Mud dog - inheritance and innovation
If you visit some villages on the east side of the Huaiyang Ancient Temple Fair, the inspector will see many villagers who have been making mud dogs for generations, thanks to the Huaiyang Taihaoling Temple Festival mentioned above. During the temple fair, villagers carry baskets and mud dogs to the temple fair to sell. The purchase of local people and the favor of tourists make it have the soil for survival, so this extends to the problem of commercial value. The business transactions generated by the temple fair are actually to help the mud dog enter the commercial state, and the existence of this commercial state promotes the artist to create, so that the mud dog can really continue. This kind of ancient temple fair, because of the mud dog and appears to be particularly simple, real, cultured, and because of the temple fair, this objective business joins, so that the production, production, and sale of mud dogs have a fixed channel, so that it is endless.
Commerce has promoted the development and continuation of mud dogs. Because of the existence of commerce, some old artists and even young people are willing to do this, which has become what distinguishes it from other intangible cultural heritage, and also contrasts with the current situation of many folk art going into decline. Some folk art has fallen to no one to pass on, but it must be made into a documentary, let the old artists perform, and then stored in the archives to record the situation of this endangered folk art.
Commerce has promoted the development and continuation of mud dogs
The reason why the mud dog has not yet appeared in such a situation is because the mud dog itself has the support of the temple fair and the promotion of commerce, especially now that the addition of new forces has made the mud dog better promoted through packaging, at the same time, the new publicity means have also provided technical support for the mud dog to go abroad with a new cultural medium.
If the artistic inheritance of mud dogs can continue and the commercial promotion can be better, it will allow more knowledgeable young people, even college graduates of art departments, to make new inheritances under the premise that the core values of folk art remain unchanged. It is conceivable that if there are artists like Picasso to understand, learn, study mud dogs, and combine with the current art form, it is likely to achieve a new "Picasso", will produce a new era of pioneer artists, and then, the new "Picasso" will once again let the essence of mud dogs be promoted in the new form, and further prove the great artistic value of mud dogs from the side.
This is something to look forward to.
【About the Author】
Wei Bin: Member of the Communist Party of China, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Former Vice Dean of the School of Media and Arts of Shangqiu University. Jointly evaluated by the Steering Committee of Art and Design Education of the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Department of Education, he is a backbone teacher of art design innovation and practice teaching in colleges and universities in Henan Province, a second prize winner of the university education group of the national multimedia education software grand prix, a member of the training class for young and middle-aged cadres in provincial colleges and universities, a provincial civilized teacher, and a winner of the first prize of provincial teaching achievements, and has published a number of academic papers and treatises. He has focused on the implementation path of art training, the teaching and management of media and art education in colleges and universities, the excavation and cultivation of elite talents, and in recent years, he has devoted himself to the popularization and promotion of elegant art, and practiced the landing and management of related cultural industry projects.