In chongli's winter Olympic ice and snow town, a 16-meter-high giant sculpture of a ski teenager stands tall, attracting the attention of tourists. In Wangfujing, Beijing, five different shapes of ice and snow sports sculptures were included in the Winter Olympics licensed goods for tourists from all over the world to choose.
The creator of these works is the sculptor Zhang Hua. In his studio, the 800-square-meter space is filled with sculptures on the theme of the Winter Olympics. Zhangjiakou is his hometown, and Beijing is his second hometown. "After Beijing and Zhangjiakou successfully bid for the Winter Olympics in 2015, I gave up other themes and concentrated on creating a number of works reflecting winter sports." He told reporters.
Show power and beauty
If ordinary people watch the Winter Olympics, they are watching the competition for gold and silver and racing to rush the line; Zhang Hua, as a sculptor, pays more attention to the moments of athletes sharpening a sword for ten years, and the momentary enjoyment full of strength and beauty.
"Sports such as the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics are the favorite of artists." Zhang Hua said. In his eyes, the athletes who have boarded the Olympic arena are the top masters who have been sharpening their swords for ten years and exploring the limits of human beings. They train thousands of times just for that moment on the field. Their life's work bloomed in an instant.
The Olympics are the eternal source of creation for sculptors. "Watching the Winter Olympics like figure skating and free skiing is a treat for me." He said that these projects fully demonstrate the style and fighting spirit of athletes, and also show the strength and beauty of sports to the extreme. For painting, sculpture and other art categories, they are inexhaustible creative materials.
In chongli's winter Olympic ice and snow town, a 16-meter-high giant sculpture of a ski teenager stands tall.
"In the continuous dynamic beauty, it is the artist's skill to grasp the most impactful and infectious moment of the athlete." He said. It is the sculptor's mission to freeze and retain the wonderful moments of athletes. "I unconsciously elongate my limbs in a lot of works. Human limbs are so long, but they can be appropriately exaggerated in artistic processing to show the spiritual pursuit of human beings chasing higher, faster and stronger. ”
Sculpt sports dreams
Zhang Hua is well aware of Chinese enthusiasm for the Olympic Games. Fourteen years ago, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his sculpture "Sea Breeze" was selected and permanently placed between the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium and the "Water Cube" National Aquatics Center.
He is also well aware of the expectations of the people of Beijing and Zhangjiakou for the Winter Olympics. Zhang Hua was born in Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou City, the winter on the dam is very cold, and building snowmen with his friends, playing snowball fights, tying ice carts, and making snowboards are his childhood memories. These childhood memories and winter sports games constitute his early work.
Beijing and Zhangjiakou successfully bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. After receiving an invitation to create a sculpture in Half Moon Square in the snow town of Chongli Winter Olympics, he agreed almost without consideration.
The local government later selected his work "Soaring". In this work, skateboarding and mountain peaks merge into one, a ski teenager with open arms and an eagle flying down from the sky like an eagle spreading its wings. Zhang Hua said that the protagonist of this work is not only the Winter Olympic athletes, but also the performance of China's ski enthusiasts, 300 million people participate in ice and snow sports, showing the sports dreams of Chinese people, the winter Olympic dreams.
The piece is 16 meters tall and the figure alone is 8 meters high. He recalls that the process of enlarging the clay manuscript took up to 8 months. For those 8 months, he climbed up and down every day on a scaffolding that was tied up and sweated like a rain. But carved with the sports dreams of Chinese people, the days are very fulfilling.
The character part alone is 8 meters tall.
North Drift Artist
Not caring about the material world, chasing the far side of the spiritual world in the knife carving and axe, is Zhang Hua's life.
In 1998, after Zhang Hua was admitted to the refresher course of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, he made up his mind to quit his stable job in his hometown and stay in Beijing to devote himself to artistic creation.
Zhang Hua's studio is filled with various sculptures.
"North Drift artists have similar unforgettable experiences." He laughed and recalled. Living in Beijing, he has gone through several turns, renting, demolishing, and moving are the norms of life. In just a few years, he moved from Jiuxian Bridge to Heiqiao, then to Feijia Village, Suojia Village, and finally to Songzhuang's current residence. "This is my sixth year in this studio and it's been stable. However, the rent here is 300,000 yuan a year, and if I don't make enough money this year, next year will not be mine. ”
But he didn't think so: "Artists, the sensitivity to living conditions is very low. In his opinion, he has been engaged in creation all these years, with a two-point line between home and studio, and occasionally participated in some art exhibitions and exchange activities. Wholeheartedly creating, singing the praises of beauty, and chasing the far side of the spiritual world is his life.