"Jing Drift" Tao Zheng: Square inch thin paper jumped out of everything in the world

A pair of scissors roams freely between a piece of plain paper, magically changing a variety of patterns on the paper, which is convincing and amazing... Tao Zheng, chairman of the China Aesthetic Paper-cutting Club, uses a series of ingenious paper-cutting works to bring people physical and mental pleasure to the artistic enjoyment, cut out the "poem of life" that expresses joy and sorrow, and also cuts out his own artistic world.

Potter is cutting paper

A knife and a paper for a lifetime

Ingenious hands to unlock the colorful world of paper-cutting

Drizzling rain, up the 206 National Highway, bypassing the farmland and through the dense mountain forest, the reporter walked into a village surrounded by mountains - Chutian Xinju Village, Jingliang County, Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province. In this small village with a fresh and beautiful environment, tao Zheng lives in a large emblem-style mansion at the entrance of the village. Tao Zheng's net name is "Shepherd", is a "Jing Drift" from Zhejiang, is a paper-cutting master.

Paper-cut works placed on the table

Entering Tao Zheng's studio, he is concentrating on paper-cutting, next to him are several of his paper-cut works, casually open one, various styles, various themes of paper-cut works are dazzling, as if walking into the profound and exquisite art world, different forms, different styles of paper-cut paintings come into view. There are portraits of people with vivid forms, lifelike animal shapes, colorful flowers, birds, fish and insects, and interesting ancient and modern anecdotes.

Talking about the creation, innovation and life changes brought about by the work, Tao Zheng told the story, in order to find inspiration, he used his artistic imagination to design multiple paintings, and then created. Listening to his story, the reporter has a deeper understanding of the paper-cut works. In 1967, Tao Zheng was born in Shuxiangmendi, Zhuji, Zhejiang, the hometown of Xi Shi, and developed a strong interest in calligraphy and painting from an early age. At the age of twelve or thirteen, he began to learn carving, and when he became an adult, he went to Dongyang, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places to learn the art, learned a superb skill, and then studied traditional Chinese paper-cutting, and founded the "Chinese Aesthetic Paper-cutting Art". The integration of traditional paper-cutting elements and modern creative concepts, boldly absorb the composition of European and American art and color principles, with unique composition and exquisite knife techniques to step alone in today's cutting world, so that skills and art have reached a high degree of unity, highlighting the magical charm of modern paper-cutting art.

Regarding paper-cutting, Tao Zheng always believes that "beauty" should be put in the first place. For decades, he has been working tirelessly in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and other places, and has long served as the design and art director of many domestic handicraft group enterprises, specializing in wood carving, paper-cutting, pottery, calligraphy, Chinese painting, design... He can play everything, and he plays everything to achieve results. His works of art have been collected by many collectors and museums at home and abroad, and many collections of works have been published. A paper-cut work with the theme of lotus flowers, "Lotus Rhyme", is widely circulated in the Chinese paper-cutting art world. "Lotus Rhyme" is divided into three volumes, including more than 300 paper-cut works by Tao Zheng, none of which are duplicates, showing Tao Zheng's rich and broad artistic creativity and pure paper-cutting skills.

"Paper-cutting is something that requires patience to persist, and a piece of paper and a pair of scissors can bring the impetuous mind to another colorful art world." Sometimes Tao Zheng sat down all morning, obliviously immersed in a knife and a piece of paper. Tao Zheng said that the process of paper-cutting is happy, meticulous and nourishing, and he has gained happiness when inheriting the art of paper-cutting.

On Tao Zheng's workbench, there was a whole table of worship posts, disciples from all over the country who had come to visit the teacher. Speaking of his disciples, Tao Zheng had a proud face. He has more than 200 formal disciples, hundreds of thousands of students, most of whom are local non-hereditary heirs, and many of whom have won awards in national competitions.

Tao Zheng works

Ceramics are used as carriers, and paper-cutting techniques are used

Infused with red culture and art

Tao Zheng's works are full of composition, dense and elegant, the lines are delicate and beautiful, the knife and scissors are strong, and on the basis of inheriting the tradition, they constantly create new forms, develop a single folk paper-cutting to a diversified road, introduce new expression techniques, and perfectly combine folklore and modernity. Let the single folk paper-cutting turn gorgeously, give new life, combine it with ceramics, and better highlight the characteristics of using paper-cutting that are different from other arts. The two are integrated, and after years of hard work, they have embarked on a pioneering artistic road in China and a unique and exquisite pottery road.

Tao Zheng works

In 2016, Tao Zheng gave up his job in Hong Kong and came to Jingdezhen to start "Jing Drift", and also "crossed over" to become a ceramic artist, and in the next three years, he visited a large number of ceramic artists, moved the paper-cut pattern from paper to ceramics, and created a number of creative paper-cut ceramic art works, such as the Hanfeng series and the Tuanhua series, which had a far-reaching impact on the ceramic industry.

By chance, at the recommendation of a friend, he came to Chutian Xinju Village in Jinggongqiao Town, and at the first glance of the village, Tao Zheng liked it, he said that here are beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful scenery, is the place where the anti-Japanese advance team fought in blood in the north, and also produced five ancient soldiers and a Peking University academician today, the cultural heritage is deep, the folk customs are pure, and the footprints of revolutionary martyrs such as Huaizhou, Su Yu, Fang Zhimin, and Le Shaohua are left behind, which is a red hot land.

The two villages adjacent to Xinju, one called Xintian and the other called Xinyuan, are very close to him, so the house he lives in and modifies is named "Tianyuanju", which is also in line with the pastoral life pursued by Tao Yuanming, the ancestor of Tao. Under his influence and recommendation, the Jingdezhen Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature hosted this year's Guyu Poetry Festival in Xinju Village; the Jingdezhen Photographers Association and the Jingdezhen Sketching Club both designated Xinju Village as a creative base and became a punching place for literary artists.

Tao Zheng works

Tao Zheng said: "In the future, we will build this village into a 'red culture and art village', using ceramics as the carrier and paper-cutting techniques to create a series of red cultural art works, which also injects a new cultural element into our rural revitalization." "A pair of scissors, a carving knife, a piece of paper, you can change into a variety of different patterns." Whether it is flowers, birds, fish and insects, auspicious patterns, or historical stories, myths and legends... A variety of distinctive patterns will come to life in Tao Zheng's hands.

During the conversation, Tao Zheng did not stop the creation in his hand, and his whole body exuded a quiet and gentle temperament. He is a "craftsman", but also a "keeper", paper-cutting in his hands to inherit innovation, he also poured his inspiration and vitality into the art of paper-cutting, so that the art of paper-cutting shines with infinite excitement.