Author: Wu Bo
Miss Xiguan meets the Manchurian Window, what kind of Cantonese temperament will burst out? How does traditional culture "come alive" in real life?
Previously, after the successful holding of the Chinese arts and crafts master Wu Jinhua and the doctor of arts Wu Lingzhi's intangible cultural and creative art exhibition "Colorful Bright Windows Reflecting Lingnan", it triggered a shock in the craft creative community! After learning that the exhibition has been invited by many places and the news that the national tour exhibition will be launched, the guangzhou daily all-media reporter rushed to Wu Jinhua's studio in Xiguan for the first time to talk about how to make traditional arts and crafts products truly enter the lives of the people through creativity and innovation.
(Pictured is an exhibit)
Wu Jinhua
"Colorful Bright Windows Reflect Lingnan" Guangfu charm creative works are beautiful
"The bright moon decorates your window, you decorate other people's dreams." The sun shines on the Manchurian window of the old arcade building, reflecting the multicolored light, walking into the sliding door, trance between the former Miss Xiguan, sitting in front of the dresser, through the years, stepping in... This is the artistic enjoyment brought about by the cultural and creative art exhibition of "Colorful Bright Windows Reflecting Lingnan".
Manchurian window is a unique form of window ledge in Lingnan, full of light and exquisite craftsmanship.
The cultural and creative art exhibition "Colorful Bright Windows Reflect Lingnan" makes Guangzhou neighborhoods, especially young people, linger. Guangzhou's most distinctive and cantonese creative works not only present the artistic masterpieces created by Master Wu Jinhua with Lingnan cultural elements over the years, but also unite some inheritors of intangible cultural heritage projects across the country to recreate culture with the theme of Manchurian window art, forming a new change in the art form. The exhibition fully demonstrates the innovation of traditional arts and crafts, which is also a practice of the topic of "how traditional arts and crafts can serve modern society" proposed by Wu Jinhua.
From Jingdezhen to Guangzhou, complete cross-industry and cross-regional design
Wu Jinhua was born in Jingdezhen in 1954, and his father was a generation of masters of ceramic portrait painting on the mainland. Wu Jinhua said that it is a tradition for the son to inherit his father's business and the master to lead the apprentice in Jingdezhen, and his father has already created such a genre, as long as he learns and inherits his father's heirloom skills, he will undoubtedly embark on a smooth road. However, after graduating from college, he had an easy-going personality and took a different path and developed in another direction of ceramic arts and crafts.
Wu Jinhua told reporters that except for the ceramic portrait technique, which was taught by his father, Professor Wu Kang, the others were self-taught.
"In fact, I am a restless arts and crafts worker, many arts and crafts masters often engage in their own professions for life, and I often cross borders: cross-industry creation, cross-regional design. Some people were shocked by the works I collaborated with the master carver Zhang Minhui, for example, many of the works participating in this exhibition have new attempts. For example, Yunjin, Thangka, etc., can be combined with ceramics to collide with a new look. Wu Jinhua defined his artistic life in this way.
He elaborated: "My major is ceramic painting, according to the logic, traditional craftsmen can only guard one skill, for example, if you paint landscapes, you can't paint people, flowers and birds." And I not only paint everything, but also engage in sculpture and design across industries. One of my biggest characteristics is that I don't have a teacher. Of course, except for portraits, which my father taught, the other eighteen martial arts were taught by myself. ”
Traditional themes are integrated into modern styles and inspired by innovation
In 1992, Wu Jinhua created the "Peerless Face Bowl" that later shocked the entire arts and crafts industry. It was on a large bowl with thin porcelain tires with a diameter of 87 centimeters, which creatively painted 448 faces of different shapes. At the international auction in Beijing that year, it sold for a sky-high price of $1 million, and the ceramic industry was shaken.
Wu Jinhua said that the 38-year-old felt unable to break through in Jingdezhen. At that time, I suddenly decided to "do something that no one else had done", and I had to integrate modern style into traditional themes. He said, "Resolutely, go south to Guangdong!" ”
Wu Jinhua said that after he came to Guangdong, he benefited from the open cultural environment here, and the collision of various cultures gave him the inspiration for traditional intangible cultural heritage innovation, and he felt that he was climbing another artistic peak.
Talking about the past from Jingdezhen to Guangzhou, he said that he had benefited a lot in art, for example, he played the role of a bridge, recommended many arts and crafts talents in Jiangxi to Guangdong, brought the raw materials and crafts of Jiangxi to Guangdong, and also introduced collectors from Guangdong to Jiangxi, which led to the exchange of arts and crafts between the two places.
【Big Coffee On the Tao】
Open up cultural and creative thinking and break through the shackles of "convention"
Wu Jinhua paints figures, walks out of the old circle of Jingdezhen porcelain painting talents and beauties, and sends the vigorous modern urban and rural women into your eyes. He said: "With my own growth and experience, I began to think about how to make traditional arts and crafts products into people's lives. More than a decade ago, I asked: How can traditional arts and crafts serve modern society? For thousands of years, this industry has formed a convention, how products are designed, what appearance, seems to have a unified standard, it is difficult to change. For example, the familiar Guangcai, under the consumption upgrade, the original golden color, fixed and unchanged shape, may be acceptable after 60 and 70, but after 80 has not accepted. This is the case throughout the arts and crafts industry, where designers and products are disconnected from the market. So I came up with this topic at the time, and I tried a lot. ”
Wu Jinhua, who is over seventy years old, told reporters that he now likes Xiguan in Guangzhou, and he likes to see the Manchurian window on the streets of Xiguan. He told reporters that the Manchurian window is the most cantonese characteristics of the arts and crafts works, too beautiful, manchurian window can better reflect the soul of Guangzhou's urban culture, that is, the city spirit of broad-minded and inclusive development. But Manchuria Window is not yet an intangible cultural heritage project, he said, and he said he was working to facilitate it.
He concluded: "I personally believe that a city must show its best places, the brightest places, such as the Manchurian Window. I like the small alleys in Shanghai, where there are many traditional buildings, just like the old houses preserved in Xiguan, Guangzhou, and the Dongshan Pass in Guangzhou, and you can feel the atmosphere when you walk in. These historic buildings in Shanghai and Guangzhou are representative of cultural exchanges between China and the West. However, Shanghai is still different from Guangzhou in terms of the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, and the mood of Shanghai is a bit high and low, and I think Guangzhou is more grounded. For so many years, I have been doing Guangzhou regional culture and invited some friends to join. This time, I also hope that through the exhibition of "Colorful Bright Windows Reflecting Lingnan", more people will be called on to participate in it and do a better job in Guangzhou's regional culture. ”
Source: Guangzhou Daily