Reporter Yu Xi
The left hand holds a piece of chicken blood stone, and the right hand holds a micro-carved fine knife, and the blade is stable, accurate and fierce, showing Zou Xi's ability to carve and create in a millimeter.
"The art of micro-carving is 'art in the micro, the intention is in the fine', pay attention to breath-holding concentration, and the unity of human and knife." Zou Xi, 50, said.
On April 20, Zou Xi was working on micro-carving at the "Zou's Carving Studio". Reporter Yu Xi photographed
Zou Xi's father, Zou Jingren, is a miniature carving artist, and since he was a child, he has been influenced by his family, and Zou Xi has followed his father to contact micro-sculpture since he was 10 years old. The exquisite beauty of this art has made him immersed in this place to this day.
As a subtle art known for its tiny and delicate techniques in traditional Chinese art, micro-carving has extremely high requirements for the calligraphy and painting skills of the carver, as well as the mentality and understanding.
After copying and studying calligraphy over and over again, reciting Tang poems and Song Ci one by one, Zou Xi graduated from the special craft class of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, and his profound achievements in traditional Chinese studies made him greatly nourished on the road of micro-carving art.
"Micro-carving requires coolness, endurance, and skill!" Zou Xi said that this art has to go through more than 10 processes such as material selection, creation, fine carving, repair and coloring. During this process, he learned to enjoy loneliness and feel the profundity of Chinese civilization in the microscopic world.
On April 20, Zou Xi inspected his own miniature carving works on the display case at the "Zou's Carving Studio". Reporter Yu Xi photographed
When he first started the micro-carving, once Zou Xi did not notice the hidden cracks in the stone, and as a result, the cracked stone chips in the micro-carvings injured his eyes. Unable to wipe the blood from the corners of his eyes, Zou Xi was annoyed that he had given up his hard work for many days. Seeing his frustration, his father Zou Jingren mentioned on the side: "Micro-carving is a heart carving, it is a mind carving, and every link must be refined." Under the guidance of his father, Zou Xi polished all the flaws on the stone and re-carved it with a knife pen.
Since then, Zou Xi has been more attentive to the art of micro-carving. The carving knife is the "gun" of the micro-carving person, the steel is too soft to carve the trace; the steel is too hard, the carving knife will be brittle in the engraving. In order to create a carving knife that conforms to his own knife habits, Zou Xi studied various materials day and night, and finally sharpened it into a carving knife of different materials. In order to stabilize his hands and not tremble, Zou Xi often sat quietly and meditated to practice breathing evenly. When carrying a knife to carve, he often does not get up for more than ten hours, immersed in a knife moment without feeling tired.
On April 20, in the "Zou's Carving Studio", Zou Xi was using a carving knife to create a miniature carving. Reporter Yu Xi photographed
Zou Xi is never satisfied with the shape of the work only staying on the utensils, he often said: "To inject the 'soul' of China's excellent traditional culture into the miniature sculpture works, it is the 'king' of the micro-carving." ”
"Nine Yi Kunlun" is a micro-carving work of Zou Xi that has been conceived countless times and has been carefully polished for 5 years, and won the silver medal of the 2013 "New Art Cup" Xinjiang Arts and Crafts Grand Prix. The obverse of this work is carved with nine exquisite tigers and Zhuangzi's "Getaway", and the back is engraved with Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.
"Nine tigers, each tiger's hair is carved out one by one, the second time the carved hair covers the first time, a total of four times to form a thick texture." Zou Xi introduced, of course, the most difficult is the micro-carving text, "the smallest part of the "Nine Yi Kunlun" a square centimeter is engraved with dozens of words, a word can not be wrong, with a magnifying glass to look at it, each word to reflect the brushwork from the beginning and end of the setback, very test the micro-carving skill. ”
"Zidian Kungang", "Afang Palace", "Leaving the Riot", "Guan Shanyue"... These are all miniature sculptures created by Zou Xi. The works have different forms, vivid shapes, delicate engravings, and calligraphy and painting words. Under the guidance of his father, Zou Xi's works are characterized by "fine, strange, ingenious and absolute", and have formed a number of series such as poetry and song, ancient texts, and classics of traditional Chinese studies, with distinct characteristics of Chinese civilization and strong frontier customs.
Over the years, The Zou father and son have devoted themselves to the creation of micro-carving art, and the Fukang stone carvings of Zou's micro-carvings have been selected into the fourth batch of autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage list. Zou Xi has also been rated as "Xinjiang Arts and Crafts Master" and "Autonomous Region Senior Folk Artist".
"Art collection is my life's goal." Zou Xi said that in the future, he will continue to focus on the creation of micro-carving art, so that more people can feel the unique charm of micro-carving.