When it comes to Bai culture, it seems unfamiliar to many friends, and it seems that they only know that most of them live in Dali, Yunnan, and are a group that can sing and dance and is rich in artistic cells. Bai is indeed unique in art, and Bai painting is one of the representative forms of their national art. Yangzi Evening News | The Purple Cow News reporter interviewed Yang Xinghua, a folk artist who is engaged in Bai painting full-time, to talk about the colorful Bai painting.
The son inherits his father's business, from part-time to full-time
"After graduating from junior high school, I began to learn Bai painting with my father, and now I am forty years old, and I have been engaged in Bai painting full-time for more than 20 years." Yang Xinghua, a folk artist from Kanglang Village in Dali Di se Town, Yunnan Province, is now a well-known local painter. Yang Xinghua's father is also proficient in Bai painting, "My father did it part-time, I did it full-time. Yang Xinghua said that Bai painting can also be called Bai residential painting, the traditional way is to paint on the building, "Before everyone's living conditions were not so good, there was not so much money to invite people to do wall painting, so my father mainly did business, when someone invited to paint." ”
With the economic development of Kanglang Village, everyone has gradually become richer, and more and more people have the need for painting when decorating houses, "Bai painting is relatively popular in our local area." Yang Xinghua said that it is precisely because of the development of the economy and the market demand that he can engage in Bai painting work full-time, "I still have some apprentices, although there are not many, but now there are four or five young people in each village who will specialize in this craft." ”
Bai painting, an inclusive beauty
When it comes to where Bai painting is good, Yang Xinghua is quite proud of it, "Our Bai painting is unique and particularly diverse, just as rich and colorful as our national culture." "The history of Bai painting is very long, and the earliest Buddhist comic strip in China, the Nanzhao Tu biography, indicates that the Dali architecture at that time would be widely painted. In the long historical development, the content of Bai painting has become more and more abundant, from ancestral halls, temples to residential buildings, Bai painting is an extremely dazzling pearl in Bai art. "Our paintings are not only beautiful, but also have the meaning of driving away evil spirits and avoiding disasters and praying for good fortune."
In terms of creative elements, vanilla patterns, ruyi patterns, and echo patterns are all traditional auspicious patterns, and there are also auspicious patterns such as fire dragon spitting water and flowing clouds and flying cranes, "Now our Bai paintings are also absorbing the characteristics of other art creations, and the content is also constantly adapting to the times, and the things painted are also the things that people like more now." Yang Xinghua said.
Bai culture itself is an inclusive culture, bai has its own national language, but since ancient times, bai also use Chinese at the same time, in the process of its national development, and the surrounding ethnic groups interact with each other, its cultural composition and national character tend to be active and open, "our national characteristics are very open and diverse, we have ancestor worship in tradition, but for the Buddha's interpretation is not exclusive, there are characters in our national legends, there are Bai, there are also Han and other ethnic groups, This is reflected in the paintings, which means that we paint the patron deity of our own village, and we do not reject other gods. ”
Free lessons, I hope that bai culture will be carried forward
Now Yang Xinghua has his own studio, while doing painting full-time, he also teaches Bai painting to villagers and tourists for free, "Every year I will dedicate a month to teach lessons, and the villagers will come to see me when I am idle." Yang Xinghua said that the purpose of doing these things is to carry forward the bai culture, "I will explain to everyone the meaning and origin of the bai traditional pattern, teach everyone some painting methods, and also explain the history of bai culture and the historical development of painting to foreign tourists." ”
With the development of tourism economy, Dali has become a very popular tourist destination, the small and beautiful village Kanglang Village has gradually attracted the attention of tourists, "Now we can also see a lot of other ethnic characteristic cultures here, and our Bai culture transmission is still relatively limited to the local, whether I am teaching for free, or shooting short videos, I hope to have a platform to spread our culture, so that more outsiders understand that our Bai culture is very attractive, This is also my responsibility and conscience as a folk artist. ”
Yangzi Evening News | Purple Cow News reporter Shen Zhao