Lead
Inspired by "Jiuhua Yunshan", he created the expression of jade carving "Xinyun Mountain". "Nothing comes from, there is nowhere to go", he is not just carving jade, but using jade to convey the wisdom of Rulai in the Diamond Sutra. He is the jade carving artist Cheng Lifang.
Tsevit
People's Art: Your works are full of oriental aesthetic charm and spiritual character, and traditional Chinese culture has been perfectly interpreted and presented in your works, tell us how you view the relationship between your works and traditional culture.
Cheng Lifang: I have been deeply influenced by emblem carving since I was a child, and I began to contact jade carving in 2008, during which I began to think about how today's jade craftsmen can make different jade carvings and try to innovate. Later, in the retrospective exploration of traditional classics, I realized that innovation is not the goal, innovation is the result of inner and classical exchanges in the process of looking back, which happens naturally. Creation needs soil, and my soil is excellent traditional culture. The roots of my work are also here. Works and traditional culture are like the relationship between mother and child, and they are also the root development of Chinese culture in contemporary times.
There are many white clouds on the ridge
People's Art: We see the main three series of your works, hidden, white clouds on the mountains, and kuei rong, can you tell us about these three series separately? And talk about the relationship between these three series, such as the time of creation and some connections in spirit or content.
Cheng Lifang: In recent years, inspired by the "Jiuhua Yunshan" that he has been accustomed to since childhood, he has begun to pay attention to the intrinsic relationship between Chinese aesthetics and contemporary art, especially under the influence of the painters Dong Yuan, Mi's father and son, and Huang Gongwang, and has respected the inner feelings and characteristics of jade in the creation of jade carving, and deeply excavated the contemporaneity and painterliness of jade carving. His engravings focus on the creativity of "emptiness" of "turning from real to virtual". The "Search for Concealment" series is the opening of the tradition of reflection on my jade carving works; the series of works "Many White Clouds on the Ridge" breaks the traditional French style and creates a "new jade carving Yunshan Performance", using jade carving to present the breathable Yunshan; "Forgetting wheel" series of intuitive heaven and earth, speculation and introspection after the landscape.
The "Search for Concealment" series is a return to the traditional hidden thought and the spirit of landscape in the form of carving jade; "Many White Clouds on the Ridge" is an experimental series, focusing on the growth of "emptiness" in carving, and the work breaks the traditional jade carving sketching line-style expression method in the performance of Yunshan Mountain, looking for ink freehand rendering techniques, from rigorous portrayal to loose, flexible, and follows the trend, almost without deliberate sketching; the work "Forgotten Wheel" series is to reflect the speculation and introspection after the landscape, as well as the feeling of the cycle of life. In my conception, jade carving works are not just for people to play with or spatial ornaments, but essentially provide new perspectives and possibilities for people to find spiritual ways of thinking.
Hundred cities of smoke and water
People's Art: Landscape creation has always been an important subject that Chinese literati like very much, and you have also done a lot of research and practice in this regard, and also put forward the concept of "New Yunshan", what aspects of this "new" are mainly embodied?
Cheng Lifang: I think there are two main aspects, the first is the newness of expression: the artifact is not locked in a state, but so that the performance object can be infinitely large, hereby "New Yunshan" in the performance of the technique, breaking the past line outline performance, but to absorb the ink big freehand rendering technique, pay attention to the expression of emptiness, so that Yunshan can present a state that can flow freely and breathe. The clouds not only hid the heavens and the earth, but also let us go in.
The second is the novelty of expression: in 2020, I returned to my studio in Beijing from Jiuhuashan again to visualize the state of the clouds and mist in Jiuhuashan. Thinking of the diamond sutra "nowhere, nowhere to go" sentence, suddenly my heart moved, Xinyunshan appeared in my work with such power, after which I felt that I was not only carving jade, but using jade to convey the wisdom of Rulai in the Diamond Sutra.
Withering
People's Art: "New" means breaking and reconstructing, it means an innovation of the old system from content to form, and it is also a conceptual breakthrough of boundaries.
Cheng Lifang: My New Yunshan series is not just a visual representation of a physical existence, but an expression of such wisdom. At this time, when I was creating carvings, my heart was unconsciously full of joy, and using jade to present a kind of wisdom and thought was the core of my new cloud mountain. In the future, I will also focus on digging deeper in this aspect, and carry my inner feelings and reflections through powerful works.
Tibetan-English
People's Art: There is a language and content spirit translation between the reality of nature and the creation of art, and there will be many differences between sketching and creation, combined with your personal feelings, how do you understand this process and language translation from real nature to artistic creation?
Cheng Lifang: Sketching and creating are a mutually inheriting relationship. In the creation of jade carving, I have been looking for "natural forces" for many years. Natural creation, I think all wisdom comes from the source of nature, and creation itself is also the process of restoring the essence of things. "Sketching" can be thought of as collection and communication. Artistic creation, on the other hand, arises from the exchange between the individual subjective world and the objective world, and the result of this subtle exchange is the work.
Trance
People's Art: The reason why works of art can move people and be passed down and inherited, the culture and spirit behind the works are important factors, it may be influenced by philosophy, literature, poetry, sociology and other multidisciplinary influences, how do you think about this issue?
Cheng Lifang: Art has never existed alone, it is a very thick cultural presentation, it has a comprehensive interdisciplinary and inclusive natural attribute in it, art comes from life, life is thick and colorful. Artistic creation is to reconstruct your life experience and perception, I use the form of jade carving to express is only one of the forms of expression, philosophy, literature, poetry are the common spiritual wealth of mankind, are the crystallization of the soil of wisdom. You go to such soil to absorb nutrients, it can make us a better version of ourselves.
so
People's art: artistic creation is an exchange between people and materials, jade carving creation is the same, there is also a process from cognition to familiarity, each piece of jade has a different shape, color, texture, combined with your own creative practice, can you share with us some of the experience and experience in this regard?
Cheng Lifang: The brilliance of Hetian Yu also lies in the unpredictability of the material, the material itself will constantly remind itself, and the thinking will always keep the capture of the changes in the material, otherwise it will be wrong to "remind". "The breakthrough of thinking is often the outlet of the work" This is my understanding of jade carving creation over the years. Many of my unexpected works came out under the prompting of changes in jade materials. It's not what I've created, it's the beauty in the jade, and my job is to release. Think out the extra parts.
In addition, most people will find the so-called good material, they need cotton-free, pulp-free, non-cracked material, which is the market standard. But I think that jade, like people, has no distinction between high and low, each piece of material is equal, each piece of material has its own charm, which is the equality of all things when nature is created. Accepting the jade as it is is a concept that I have always insisted on. Aesthetic utilitarianism often obscures the creator's feelings about beauty and misses many natural beauties. In Chinese culture, the unity of heaven and man is a very important philosophical concept, and if you go with the trend unexpectedly, and in nature, you may be able to find the internal connection between oriental artistic conception and Chinese art.
Qi fog
People's art: Artistic creation requires artists to inject their own attitudes and ideals into the object of creation, a work is not just a physical existence, it can lead people's thoughts and concepts, how do you think about the relationship between art and life.
Cheng Lifang: The role of art on people I would like to borrow a Buddhist saying here: "Do not be happy with things, and do not be sad with yourself." Art has no color, and it does not only bring about changes in people's emotions visually. Art is to help us in life to understand the truth of life, and good art can lead us to climb in a better and higher direction. For example, Buddha statues from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, calligraphy and paintings from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, etc. Through the artwork, we can understand the artist's thinking trends, which can provide new perspectives and possibilities for us to see the world and think about life in reality.
"Cheng Lifang Jade Carving Art Exhibition" Jiade Art Center exhibition site
Cheng Lifang
Contemporary jade carving artist
Pioneered the jade carving "New Cloud Mountain" performance