On February 18, in the corridor of the root carving processing room of Huaxiang Commercial and Trade City in Jiaxiang Street, Jiaxiang County, the root carving artist Liu Jishui was bending down to carve, patiently using a file to remove the orange peel from the root of the jujube tree, and the dragon's head had begun to take shape, and he was ready to carve the twisted root in front of him into a "unicorn" or "unicorn dragon".
Liu Jishui, 65 years old, was born into a family of folk art, and his grandfather and father were well-known folk artists. Influenced by his family and well educated since childhood, he has loved painting since he was a child, and has successively engaged in painting, decoration, calligraphy and painting training and other occupations, but the season does not live, bringing him to the year of huajia. Three years ago, by chance, he came into contact with the art of root carving, turning abandoned tree roots into beloved works of art, and since then, he has been out of control and opened the road of root carving art.
"I was very interested in root carving, and with my original painting skills, I slowly made it." In Liu Jishui's eyes, "decaying wood" can also be carved, and he uses a "play" mentality to do root carving, and "play" the inconspicuous dead branches and rotten wood out of a new realm. He said: "Root carving is a unique work of art based on a certain natural form of dead trees and strange roots, which have been screened, observed, conceived and processed, paying attention to 'three points of artificiality, seven points of nature'. ”
"Some of these roots were found on the mountain by myself, and some were purchased and came in different shapes." Adapting art to the material and doing it with the shape is Liu Jishui's creative principle. After liu jishui's hands are carefully carved and patiently polished, all kinds of tree roots can be turned into works of art with different shapes and exquisite postures.
Walking into Liu Jishui's studio, the root carving works or retain the original form of intertwined roots, or carved into the elderly, thinkers, or made into lampshades, benches, masks and other exquisite crafts, a piece of exquisite artwork subverts the ordinary people's cognition of old wooden boards and broken tree roots, so that the value of "abandoned things" is instantly sublimated and has vitality.
"Every work has its own soul, it's all solidified art." Liu Jishui said that the root carving works from small to large, from simple to complex, are full of ideas and have fun. From Liu Jishui's carvings, we can feel his passion for art, his love for life, the beauty of nature, and the charm of art.
(Reporting by Lu Guangshe, correspondent Li Chao, Qu Ang, client reporter of Dazhong Newspaper and Dazhong Daily)