What kind of colorful appearance will the crystal, after the contemplation of Haipai carving? This afternoon, at the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts at No. 79 Fenyang Road, Shen Desheng, the third-generation inheritor of Haipai's crystal carving skills, answered with more than 40 of his exquisite works. Jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts and the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Industry Association, the "Crystal Light Art Rhyme - Shen Desheng Crystal Sculpture Art Exhibition" kicked off.
Photo: Exhibition scene Yang Jianzheng photo (the same below)
Walking into the exhibition hall, I was greeted by Shen Desheng's new work "Queqiao Club", which was just completed last year. This piece is carved from a single piece of green ghost wrapped crystal. Shen Desheng said: "This piece of crystal raw material was originally collected by my apprentice for 7 or 8 years, because there was some rainbow-colored luster in it, he was reluctant to cut it and did not know how to create, so he kept it." Finally, I had a flash of inspiration and remembered the allusion of the Meeting of the Weaver Girl Queqiao of the Tanabata Cowherd, and these 'rainbows' could just be used as the 'Queqiao Bridge' in the sky. ”
Picture: "Queqiao Society"
Looking at Shen Desheng's carving works, he covers various themes such as fish, insects, flowers, birds, animals, and human statues. Many of them are based on ancient Chinese paintings, cultural relics and folk art, and contain quite rich traditional cultural elements. At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, he donated his work "Silk Road Flower Language" to the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts. The original material of this work is from Brazil, and the shape is based on Dunhuang murals. The traditional carving techniques are organically integrated with the exotic material medium, which also reflects Shen Desheng's creative concept of hoping to make the traditional Shanghai carving technique go abroad.
Picture: "Silk Road Flower Language"
In fact, shen Desheng in his youth was originally engaged in Haipai jade carving. It wasn't until 1989 that he switched to specializing in crystal carving. Shen Desheng recalled that a friend at that time accidentally told him that crystal was sought after by collectors in Southeast Asia and even the world, which aroused his strong interest. "But after several attempts, I found that crystal carving is very different from jade carving. Crystals cover almost all the colors on the spectrum, are more expressive, and are harder and brittle in material, making it more difficult to carve. Therefore, most of the crystal carving works on the market at that time were processed by machine, in his words, "good material technology is not good, and the material with good process is poor." Therefore, on the basis of the original machine processing, Shen Desheng added the traditional creative method of jade carving to enhance the artistry of the work and better display the unique beauty of the crystal material. Today, Shen Desheng has become a representative figure of Haipai crystal carving skills. Speaking of the "change" experience from jade to crystal, Shen Desheng said: "Jade is a unique representative of Traditional Chinese culture, and crystal is a more 'cosmopolitan' material, widely accepted by overseas collectors, the combination of Chinese and Western, Hai Na Bai Chuan, is the characteristics of Haipai culture, I also hope that through such works, the Haipai carving skills will be brought abroad, so that the world can see the beauty of Chinese culture." ”
The exhibition will run until February 28. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Wu Xuying)
Pictured: The audience is visiting the exhibition