【Scholar Talk】
Author: Zhao Xigang (Professor, School of Architecture, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Dean of Institute of Modern Paper-cutting Art, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture)
Editor's Note
The beautiful ice and snow world, the Winter Olympic venues full of Chinese romance, the athletes who work the field... In the paper-cut artworks, a variety of artistic expressions convey the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster, stronger and more united". Paper-cutting artists of different ages from all over the country have picked up tools in their hands to depict ice and snow sports and help the Beijing Winter Olympics. More than 300 paper-cutting works created by a pair of skillful hands gathered together at the 2022 National Paper-cutting Art Comprehensive Exhibition of "Passionate Winter Olympics, Auspicious Yinhu", presenting the cultural inheritance and diversified innovation of contemporary paper-cutting art, and composing a joyful and exciting ice and snow symphony together.
Ice and Snow Winter Olympics (paper cut) Qiu Chenlong
Paper-cutting is a folk art form that uses scissors or carving knives to cut patterns on paper, which is used to decorate life and cooperate with other folk activities, and its development is inseparable from the rich nourishment of China's excellent traditional culture.
Chinese contemporary paper-cutting art has the aesthetic characteristics of elegant and popular appreciation and the innovative characteristics of advancing with the times, its uniqueness in terms of materials and craftsmanship, as well as the aesthetic taste of pursuing flatness and imagery in creation, forming a unique way of expression of paper-cutting art in the new era. At the same time, the cultural attributes and visual characteristics of paper-cutting art make it easy to integrate into contemporary real life. Whether it is a festival celebration, home decoration, or a work of art that carries the author's artistic ideas and concepts, contemporary paper-cutting art has taken on the function of cultivating sentiments, enlightening the mind and leading the fashion with a new look, shouldering the important responsibility of conveying the power of the times, transmitting the voice of the people, and praising a better life.
Little Tiger Alpine Skiing (Paper Cut) Zhao Xigang
China's excellent traditional culture has given paper-cutting a unique artistic context, and it is also an important cornerstone of its creation and development. How to dig deep into tradition, refine, transform and apply its essence to contemporary paper-cutting creation is a topic that paper-cutting artists need to think about. The carving process is a treasure of traditional Chinese art, from the ethereal and transparent architectural space decoration and garden landscape design, to the exquisite jade carving, nuclear carving, egg carving, etc., all of which show the unique beauty of "hollowing", and the "beauty of hollowing" has also become the basic visual attribute of paper-cutting art. On this basis, paper-cutting artists either extract the essence from the vast sea of traditional folk art, expand the new road of paper-cutting, or draw nutrition from traditional calligraphy and painting art, recreate the new look of paper-cutting, so that the paper-cutting art in the new era shows a development trend of a hundred flowers.
Traditional Chinese folk art has a variety of forms, pursues a simple and natural sense of beauty, and permeates a strong humanistic spirit and emotional temperature. As an important part of it, the art of paper-cutting can be inextricably linked to other traditional folk art forms in the selection of themes, artistic techniques, decorative patterns and many other aspects. For example, Ding Yuan's "Gong and Drum Noisy Heaven celebrating the Winter Olympics" and Yang Zhizhou's "Flying Songs Convey Affection to Help the Winter Olympics" and other works have quite the "local flavor" of traditional peasant paintings in the construction of colors and compositions; Wei Qin's "Five Blessings To Welcome the Winter Olympics" and Yin Dongmei's "Ski Jumping" and other works fully draw on the modeling language of traditional New Year paintings; in Fan Jinping's "Fuhu Winter Olympics" and Liang Peng's "Winter Olympics" and other works, the cute animal images absorb the artistic essence of traditional handicrafts such as Buhu and Tiger's head shoes.
Passion for the Olympics (paper cut) Xie Changying
Winter Olympic Fu (paper cut) Liang Peng
The pen and ink rhythm of Chinese painting and its pursuit of the spirit of freehand painting fully demonstrate the aesthetic taste and humanistic feelings of Chinese literati. The traditional Chinese aesthetic idea of "magic between similarity and dissimilarity" can also have a positive impact on contemporary paper-cutting creation. When Chen Hu created his work "Winter Olympics, Future, With Me", he tried to integrate the freehand spirit of Chinese painting into the creation of flat space. In the picture, figure skating, ice hockey, skiing and other Winter Olympic sports are arranged from top to bottom. The artist uses the paper-tearing technique to sketch out the outline of the tiger's shape, and places the silhouette of the athlete who is more realistic and rhythmic on the tiger's torso, like a jumping note, which fully conveys the feeling of sometimes beautiful and sometimes agitated between the virtual and the real; and then such as Meng Qingxiang's "Together to the Future", the appearance of the work is different from the traditional paper-cutting, the artist combines the endless mountains and the Winter Olympic venues in a common compositional way of Chinese painting, and then embellishes the snowflakes, cedars and other patterns. The scenery of the freehand landscape and the corrective posture of the ice and snow athletes are interesting and complement each other.
Flying Song To Help the Winter Olympics (Paper Cut) Yang Zhizhou
If China's excellent traditional culture is the foundation and soul of paper-cutting art creation, then the spirit of contemporary art and modern design concepts have become the driving force for the development of paper-cutting art. Humorous cartoon images, fashionable visual elements, novel and unique composition... In the era of new media where multiculturalism blends with each other, the face of paper-cutting art is also becoming younger and more international. The paper-cut works of the Winter Olympic series created by the author combine the dual imagery of ice and snow sports and Yinhu. In terms of the image design of the tiger, how to combine the exaggerated dynamics of ice and snow sports with the natural combination of animal limb structure and form is a difficult point in creation. On the basis of finely portraying the natural characteristics of the tiger such as the shape and pattern, I realized the dynamic transformation of the tiger and the person with the rounded limb shape, and let various snowflake silhouettes decorate the tiger's torso, creating a childlike and dynamic "little tiger athlete" image, and the background used the composition of the Chinese opera stage to generally present a transparent and ancient spatial atmosphere. This set of paper-cut works invited to be exhibited in the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games not only set off a warm and festive atmosphere, but also conveyed a strong blessing for the athletes of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games to "realize their dreams in this dynasty". In addition, Lu Shurong's "Winter Olympic Feelings" uses the language of animation modeling to shape characters, supplemented by traditional flowers, auspicious clouds and other patterns, and the collision of tradition and modernity makes the work full of visual tension; Guan Hongyan's "Harmonious Winter Olympics" uses modern artistic language to create a style tone of the work with high saturation colors, and moderately exaggerated the dynamics of athletes, full of fashion sense. On the basis of adhering to tradition, the artists boldly exert their imagination and creativity, so that while recording life and praising the times, the works show a unique artistic personality, and the multi-dimensional creative exploration has injected vigorous vitality into the development of paper-cutting art.
Modern design emphasizes the integration of art and multidisciplinary disciplines, which is closely related to the needs of people's good life. The design and creation concept with both aesthetic and functional characteristics also provides new ideas and new directions for contemporary paper-cutting creation. In life, we can see a variety of flat paper-cut designs, as well as a variety of functional and creative paper-cut cultural and creative products. For another example, the public exhibition space of Beijing Garden Expo Park uses modern design language and combines emerging material technology to integrate paper-cutting art and public art design, insert fashion wings for traditional art forms, and convey to the world the multi-level aesthetic dimension of contemporary paper-cutting art.
A piece of paper and a simple tool can transform such a rich and exquisite art. Paper-cutting is undoubtedly the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation, exuding a strong earthy atmosphere and showing a long and profound cultural atmosphere. When the Winter Olympics meet paper-cutting, the flowers of ice and snow that carry the spirit of unity and hard work also bloom in one work after another.
Guangming Daily (2022-02-20 11th edition)