Folk art is innate and connected with the people, and from the moment of its birth, it has been branded with the mark of group consensus. It has been said that the development of Chinese civilization in successive dynasties has relied on a large number of life skills, or folk art, which are the bridge connecting the ancestors and the present, and are also the harmony inherited from history to the present.
Traditional Chinese folk art has a long history, it contains rich and profound social and historical information, and also reflects the unique life interests of different regions. Starting from this issue, Eye Edge Art Will share with you the "Go to the Folk - Pan Lusheng Folk Art Exhibition" sponsored by the National Museum of China, the China Artists Association and the China Folk Writers Association. If you haven't been in the gallery yet, follow our cameras and take a peek.
Prologue - A Thousand Miles
Folk culture, represented by folk customs, folk art and folk literature, is the survival wisdom created by generations of working people in production and life. In the long river of time, it guides people's behavior and comforts people's hearts. Because of this, these folk handicrafts that appear in the National Expo are both simple and fierce, even if there is a distance between time and region with us, but the warm rhyme of the same vein still exudes a close and familiar taste.
The "Pan Lusheng Folk Art Exhibition" exhibited by the National Expo is not only an exhibition of folk art and folk culture treasures, but also an art creation exhibition full of folk meaning and aesthetic feelings, and an exhibition of fruitful personal research results. The exhibition showcases more than 500 pieces (sets) of selected collections donated by Pan Lusheng to the National Museum, including color printed canvases, hand-woven carpets, New Year paintings, ceramics and other categories.
"No accumulation of steps, no way to a thousand miles", fieldwork is an important way to trace the traces of traditional folk art, in the fast-paced life, only by "going to the folk" can we touch the most primitive and authentic folk art. From visiting folk artists, to sorting out oral archives, recording technological processes, to retaining video materials, rescuing folk handicrafts, and collecting folk cultural and artistic objects and works, it is the most simple but effective way to explore the development of folk art language and traditional culture.
Ji Jian wei xiong (partial), Su embroidery craft, 2015
Ji Jian is male (partial)
Pan Lusheng
Folk art is tangible, it is in the locality, in the folk, in the lives of the people; it is also invisible, it is in the people's hearts, in the people's feelings, in the people's wisdom, it is the soul of folk culture, is our Chinese cultural stance.
--Pan Lusheng
Walking in the fields, Pan Lusheng has been paying attention to and collecting these cultural relics that are about to disappear. In his folk art world, these folk treasures are his sincere promise to the earth culture.
Pan Lusheng, a native of Heze, Shandong, graduated from Nanjing Academy of arts with a doctorate degree in fine arts, and is currently the dean, professor and doctoral supervisor of Shandong Academy of Arts and Crafts. Over the years, he has insisted on field research, carried out theoretical research on art, design and folk art, and authored books such as "Outline of Folk Art", "Design Theory", and "Folk Craft".
As a folk worker, Pan Lusheng regards folk culture as the essence of the earth, and believes that they are the most authentic desire for life, and they are also indispensable witnesses to history and culture. From the early 1980s when he followed Wang Chaowen to compile the Complete Collection of Chinese Folk Art, to the folk artist Mr. Zhang Daoyi, he took folk art as the main research direction, and then launched the Chinese folk culture rescue project with Mr. Feng Jicai. In the past 40 years of exploration and research, his concepts of "protection of folk culture ecology" and "development of rural cultural production" have become practical and important methods for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
Pearling and silk picking
Folk craftsmanship is both the art of craftsmanship and the art of living. In Chinese, "pearling and picking silk" means to take its essence, and this exhibition gives it a jewel-like aesthetic taste and a strong friendship like silk on top of its meaning.
Momofuku, Fiber Hand Embroidery, 2006
Spring Rhyme, Fiber Hand Embroidery, 2007
Spring Rhyme (Partial)
The "Pearling and Silk Picking" unit is based on the exhibit "Baifu Zhen" and is composed of two parts: "From Points and Surfaces" that shows traditional folk craft works and "square inch longitude and latitude" showing textile technology and Pan Lusheng's linear works, focusing on the diversity and complexity of Traditional Chinese Folk Embroidery Crafts and Pan Lusheng's Hand Embroidery Works.
Folk art collection - "phoenix wearing peony" embroidered curtain
Folk art collection - "Matsuzuru Yannian ・ Icing on the Cake" embroidered quilt
The embroidery process of "using cloth as paper, thread as ink, and needle as a pen" originated from people's needs for decoration itself, and there were records of painted patterns during the Yellow Emperor. For the Chinese nation, a needle and a thread are not only cloth, but also labor and fashion rooted in folk life. However, the fast-paced modern life has long squeezed the quiet and slow ancient craftsmanship like the years out of people's vision, and only the lovers of folk culture will pearl and silk and cherish it.
Folk Art Collection - "Magu Xianshou" embroidered shou curtain
From point to surface
Embroidery and textile are the art of thread and the art of time, which requires a lot of repetition and is inseparable from organization and change. The interaction between man and line runs through the folk labor production, like a special symbol that integrates infinite aftertaste and longing, and places the unique emotions of Chinese in the ordinary and simple needle thread.
Folk Art Collection - Lu Jin
As a native of Shandong, Pan Lusheng naturally integrated the most representative Lu embroidery from his hometown into his folk art research and this exhibition. "Qi Junshi embroidery, Hengnu can not be, Xiangyi custom brocade, Heng women are all skillful, the sun sees and the hand fox is also." This passage from the Eastern Han Dynasty thinker Wang Chong's "On Balance" is the earliest record of local embroidery in the history books. Unfortunately, after experiencing the prosperity of the Qin and Han Dynasties, Lu embroidery declined due to factors such as the war in the north during the Tang and Song dynasties and the southward migration of embroiderers, and it was not until 1974 that the historical footprints of Lu embroidery were found in the ancient tombs of Zou County, Shandong Province.
Folk Art Collection - Embroidered Pin top
Thousands of years of light and shadow flow, lu embroidery in this world, the skills have long been mature. It uses thicker twisted double-stranded silk thread, adopts flat needle embroidery, knitting, knotting, nailing, subsidy, plate gold and other expression methods, and interprets the process from point and line, from line to surface, and was included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in May 2021.
Square inch latitude and longitude
The sound of the machine is loud again, between the latitude and longitude of the square inch. The interlacing of silk threads, whether it is gorgeous patterns, delicate stitches, or intoxicating luster, are the tranquility of lead washed away. Wisps of silk, silent just like a sound. The straightened threads on the wedge represent the strength and wisdom of the working people. This world constructed through "thread" is not only the exchange between people and things, but also the intersection of hearts and feelings.
Folk Art Collection-Shandong Weifang Yangjiabu New Year Painting "Mountain Forest Tiger"
BOC Youji No. 12, Rice Paper Color Ink, 2014
Every arduous artistic creation is a tribute to the old and the new. In the vast world opened by Pan Lusheng with the line, metaphorical mathematical rules and the boundaries of time and space, such as his painting of "The Twelve Of the Middle Line", with the help of the traditional Chinese woodworking technique "Ink Bucket Line", it is creatively applied to the painting creation, which is like the creative concept that Pan Lusheng upholds - using ancient techniques to tell the world in his eyes.
Go to the folk - Pan Lusheng Folk Art Exhibition, we will continue the wonderful next issue.
Eye Art Chronicles 890 dedicated to the art gift of life. If you need to reprint, please obtain authorization first, and please indicate the source after reprinting
Text Writing: Eye Edge Art Zhi