"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Daming Palace Words", "Orange Red", "Dream of the Red Chamber"... These film and television dramas, which are remembered by almost a generation, visually lay out a unique aesthetic style. They have a common name behind them: Ye Jintian.
For Mr. Ip, film and television are just a part of his art world. The Beijing Winter Olympics are in full swing in the snow and ice, and when Chinese athletes take the podium, the medalwear they wear is also designed by Ye Jintian.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with reporters, Ye Jintian said that the national tide is a trend, if you really love traditional culture, you may wish to touch the "original classic", "may not have the actual function for the time being, but there is a real Chinese temperament in it."
The Olympic Games are a space of aesthetic expression
In the 1980s, as soon as Ye Jintian graduated from college, he became the executive artist of the movie "The True Colors of Heroes". The starting point is not high, but as soon as the film was made, the teenager went to Europe to travel. However, the more he learned about Europe, the more he felt that "you must photograph your own language and not follow the language of the West all the time." Thus, Ye Jintian began to study the traditional aesthetics of China, and later, there was the aesthetics of "New Orientalism" as we know it today.
In fact, Ye Jintian also has deep roots with the Chinese Olympic Games: in 2004, he designed the overall vision including costumes and choreography for the "Eight Minutes of China" at the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games; in 2021, at the Tokyo Olympic Games, he designed the award dress for the Chinese delegation that "conforms to the Chinese charm and body structure".
After receiving an invitation to design the Chinese delegation's award dress, Ye Jintian kept thinking about what the award dress should look like. To that end, he did a lot of research, including looking at what the medalwear of previous Olympic Games looked like — he found a common law: the Olympic spirit. "To compete in an equal and just environment, reflected in clothing, will be more neutral, but also have national characteristics."
Ye Jintian designed a round standing collar and a one-word buckle for the collar dress; there are three red lines on the body, a symbolic axis in the middle, plus two next to it, forming a "middle" character, and the three lines form a "airflow", representing a metaphysical beauty of China. Ye Jintian revealed that the seemingly simple medalwear actually uses advanced fabrics, which are also in line with the shape of most Chinese in terms of cutting, "after all, I don't know who wore this dress in the end."
Ye Jintian, who is famous for his "New Orientalism" aesthetic concept, believes that the Olympic Games are also a space for aesthetic expression. "There are some amphitheaters in the stadium like the Greeks, where many people can get together, and the performers in the center of the theater and the audience around them can communicate."
"Artist" is just a label, and everything is more interesting than a label
With all kinds of halos such as the Oscar "Best Art Direction" overhead, Ye Jintian felt that it was just a "label", "I don't want to be defined by a title like 'artist'." I like to get to know a lot of people, that there's a long way to go to understanding the 'person himself' thing, that everything is far more interesting than being defined by labels."
In 2021, Ye Jintian brought a stage play based on Zhang Ailing's novel of the same name, "Love in the City", which was his first time as the general director of a stage play, which was very different from his past experience. "In the past, as art direction and costume design, a lot of things had to be done according to the director's requirements. This time, when it is your turn to make a decision, you need to have a strong 'ambition' and a desire to express yourself. ”
After the premiere of "Love in the City" in Beijing, Ye Jintian stepped on the electric balance car and walked around the scene to greet the audience. From film to stage, sculpture to director, Ip has been experimenting with new areas, "my artistic creation stems largely from my strong curiosity about the world."
When ye Jintian went to school, he felt that he was different from other students, and "ideas often flew to the sky." In Hong Kong, where the West Wind is popular, he has been looking for traditional Chinese elements, including "reading a lot of materials on Mei Lanfang and Peking Opera". Gradually, he found that the world did not seem to understand Chinese things, and even the Chinese at that time did not understand very well, "we are described internationally, but we are missing the part of our self-expression."
Proposing "New Orientalism" is different from "Orientalism." Orientalism is the West's depiction of the East, while New Orientalism is the Active Speech of the East.
Using a systematic visual language to express the beauty of China , Ye Jintian has been following this philosophy when he was the art designer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The art design of the film uses elements such as city walls, bamboo forests, and gray tiles to create a simple and classical atmosphere, which is light and elegant, and conveys a picturesque Chinese temperament.
The tangled desires of "Rouge Buckle", the classical literary popularity of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and the flowing beauty and fragility and sadness of "Daming Palace Words" ... Most of the ye jintian familiar to the public comes from the interpretation on the screen. In order to present a more complete self, Ye Jintian has written many books, and the new book "The World Without Time - Ye Jintian's Aesthetic Notes" looks back at his decades of creative road.
Regarding poetry, Yip said: "Poetry may be the most precious thing that really exists in human culture, because it cannot be measured by the reality of time and space. It is beyond some worldly value, it is a metaphysical beauty that has truly existed, it always exists beyond the meaning of facts, and it more truly reflects the value of man. ”
If you want to feel the power of traditional culture, you must touch the "original classic"
At this point, it seems that Ye Jintian always wants to bring people back to ancient times, but he has turned sharply and said that he has done a lot of things that point to the future and are avant-garde. "My New Orientalism is actually developing infinitely." What he wants to do is not to copy tradition, nor to deconstruct postmodern, but to "reconstruct the worldview and self in China's vision."
"Under the cold illumination of the moonlight, the reflection at the water's edge was drawn down deeply, and it seemed to be telling me something, but there was no sound, no content, it just floated there, if you don't pay attention to it, it doesn't exist, quietly watching its flow, from a slight reflection, I feel that it exactly exists..." This description of Ye Jintian is very "Ye Jintian", but there is no exact time.
"Spiritual DNA" is a concept that Ip has been constantly explaining in recent years. He wanted to rediscover time, memory, relationships, and the spirit that really mattered in a modern society where consumption and technology were alienated.
Nowadays, young people are chasing the "national style" and stepping on the "national tide", and Ye Jintian feels that this is a good thing of "cultural self-awareness". But he also soberly pointed out that this is just a trend at present, and many people have not really deepened to the love of traditional culture itself. "True love is not to put the cheongsam on the body, but to understand it and then create it." And it is difficult to create, both to be familiar with the classics and to master the present. ”
In Ye Jintian's view, classical is very profound, and only when you really touch it will you feel its powerful power. And the best way to "really touch" is to touch the "original text" - listening to ancient music, watching ancient paintings, reading ancient poetry and songs...
"My interest is to re-feel where this thing comes from, how to find this source, and establish it as a new starting point." Ye Jintian said, "Maybe some people are more functionalistic and think that these things have anything to do with me." Indeed, in everyday life, there may be little use. But we are Chinese, and we can experience the real Chinese temperament from these things. ”
(China Youth Network)
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