In front of the work "Leyouyuan" by Internet celebrity artist Zhu Jingyi, a representative inheritor of Shanghai paper-cutting was full of curiosity about the way the work was presented. The artist uses paper-cut and hollowing techniques to integrate the buildings of various historical periods in Xuhui into a cross-over theatrical stage, as if it were a playground for the elves of the times. Using paper as the medium, intangible cultural heritage and contemporary art collided and merged in the special exhibition "Paper Endless" opened on June 18, through carving, tearing, folding, carving, printing, tracing and other different means, so that the audience can feel the creation, re-creation and infinite possibilities of "paper". The exhibition also marks the opening of Lin Ximing's Modern Paper-cutting Art Museum.
National treasure grade paper debut
The exhibition "Paper, Endless" invites nearly 30 traditional and contemporary paper artists to participate. In the exhibition, you can see a number of national intangible cultural heritage project works such as Shanghai paper-cutting, Jintan carved paper, Duoyunxuan woodblock watermark, Peach Blossom Woodblock New Year Painting, as well as municipal intangible cultural heritage such as Haipai torn paper and Jinshan peasant painting. The four-screen banner work "Summer of the Li River" of "Shanghai Paper-cutting" comes from Lin Ximing, a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage. Lin Ximing is proficient in Chinese painting, he integrates painting elements into paper-cutting, in "Summer of the Li River", he uses paper-cutting as a landscape, using four levels of color paper to spell out the level from the mountain to the distant mountain, just like the deep, shallow, thick and light in Chinese painting.
There are also many intangible cultural heritage works combined with calligraphy, such as Wang Xizhi's "Funeral Post" engraved by the "Shanghai Inscription Transmission and Rubbing" technique, created by Zhang Pinfang, director of the Document Protection and Restoration Department of the Historical Documentation Center of the Institute of Scientific and Technological Information of Shanghai Library. Jiang Jinhua, the representative inheritor of Anhui's provincial intangible cultural heritage, has a "calligraphy" paper tearing work, which skillfully grasps the unique attributes of paper and highlights the charm of brush calligraphy. Duoyunxuan woodblock watermarking technology completely retains the technical characteristics of traditional Chinese engraving and printing, and the poetry sketches and calligraphy and painting works produced by woodblock watermark allow the public to appreciate the pen and ink charm of calligraphers and painters, and also appreciate the craft skills of woodblock watermarking.
In the exhibition, there is also no shortage of intangible cultural heritage paper art that is combined with life. At the top of the exhibition hall hangs an oil-paper umbrella, reminiscent of Dai Wangshu's "Rain Lane", which is the work of Liu Youquan, a representative inheritor of the paper umbrella making skills of Zhejiang Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage. These paper umbrellas, which have been made through more than 70 processes of peach blossom paper and persimmon lacquer, have become popular again with the popularity of the second dimension and ancient style, and have become an important identity label symbol of the two-dimensional cultural community represented by Bilibili. A group of kite works from Yang Hongwei, a representative inheritor of kite making skills in Weifang, Shandong, these kites combined with traditional skills such as wood printing New Year paintings have now flown into the lives of thousands of families.
Art is integrated into the community and the times
Lin Ximing Modern Paper-cutting Art Museum was built by Lin Ximing, a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage "Shanghai Paper-cutting", in Fenglin Road Street, Xuhui District. In the exhibition hall, there is also the studio of Li Shoubai, the inheritor of Haipai paper-cutting who specializes in painting and paper-cutting, and the paper-cutting installation made of his paper-cutting works on the city skyline is also unveiled in the exhibition. "We must use the Shanghai paper-cutting language to tell the story of Shanghai, and in the future, we hope to base ourselves on this exhibition hall and let Haipai paper-cutting go to the world step by step." Li Shoubai said.
In the exhibition, there are also many works by contemporary artists. Chen Tao's paper-cut installation "The Light and Shadow of Love" selects poems about love, deconstructed and typeset in Gothic font, laser hollowed out on 350 grams of red cardboard, full of contemporary feeling. Shanghai artist Chen Hangfeng's paper-cut works "Hi" and "Dragon" seem to be traditional paper-cut on the surface, but in fact, the details of the hollowed-out part of the work are composed of various commercial brand symbols to trigger everyone's reflection on the pursuit of commercial brands and fast food culture in today's society. Akako Yoshimoto, a paper artist from Japan, brought the largest work on the scene of this exhibition, "Guibai", and since the epidemic, Yoshimoto Akiko has been staying in Shanghai, and this installation was also specially created by her during the epidemic.
"Due to the epidemic, this exhibition has been laid out for a long time, and every day the people in the neighborhood come to us through the glass window to ask us when the exhibition will open." Co-curator Su Bing introduced that the epidemic has brought new challenges and thinking to the global art exhibition hall, and we must think about how culture and art can survive in an uncertain era, and how to benefit from an uncertain era. This exhibition is another intimate cooperation with the community culture of Xuhui District since art intervened in Xuhui Business Circle, "Xuhui is characterized by small and beautiful, we use art to radiate to the community and connect with the community." ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Li Junna Text Editor: Li Junna Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying