A common outstanding feature of these works is the pursuit of perfection.
The perfection of jade comes from a long tradition. For thousands of years, our hardworking and intelligent ancestors have left countless jade articles that can be called classics or fine products for the world with incredible creativity under the condition of very limited productivity level. The benchmark set by predecessors has reached an admirable height in front of contemporary jade carving artists. It is a problem that every real jade carving artist has to face and a mission that he must undertake to continue to write the glorious chapter of Chinese jade and show the new face of Chinese jade in the new era and new historical conditions.
The level of jade art is the expression of the comprehensive quality of jade carving artists, and it is also a contest of comprehensive ability. In my opinion, this kind of performance and contest is carried out on three levels.
The first level is the contest of basic skills. Carving scenery and freehand brushwork, can you make knives come easily, carve birds, insects, fish and animals without being bothered by your inability? Those who miss the mountains and want to come here can join the ranks of jade carving artists. But this is only the primary level, and it is the basic skill as a jade carving artist. At this level, the competition is the level of skills. On the second level, I can not only express what I want to express at will, but also have spirituality, obvious style characteristics, sober artistic opinions, indulge myself and bring forth new ideas. I am me, I am not a person, and I am competing here for talent. The third level, on the platform of skills and talents, can highlight the comprehensive quality of jade carving artists, including personality cultivation, cultural interest, values, aesthetic ideals, artistic concepts, spiritual realm, artistic attitude and professional accomplishment. All these factors are implicit in personality. In the highest realm of jade carving, the competition is actually the personality strength of jade carving artists. What kind of personality, what kind of works.
In other words, as far as Gui, which won the grand prize this year, is concerned, there is no doubt that the creator's skill has reached the state of perfection, and its exquisiteness is amazing. However, it is not enough to interpret it only from the technical level and then consider its value. This thin-walled work was born out of a bronze reed and was originally a ritual vessel symbolizing the status of princes and nobles. Jade made of bronze has always been used exclusively by the royal family in ancient times, and folk jade cannot be used. The royal family has its own royal demeanor, and the court makes jade. In order to produce fine products, it can spare no time and cost. Can today's jade carving artists challenge Yu Yu and show the creative talents of contemporary jade carving artists? More importantly, can we integrate new aesthetic concepts into traditional techniques and create classics of the times? We can see that Master Liu and his disciples, the creator of Guiyu, not only inherited the essence of traditional jade carving skills, but also infiltrated the essence of national spirit, changing the modeling style and pattern decoration of Kundustan, which is familiar to Fan Zuo. With graceful modeling and auspicious decoration that fit the aesthetic psychology of the Chinese nation, it combines the exquisiteness of various techniques such as through carving, seal cutting and relief, and injects them into the works. However, this does not constitute all its charm. It dares to challenge the limit-the limit of skill, the limit of using materials and the limit of the creator's psychology. These limits all point to the challenges and tests of the creator's personality. Thin-tire white jade "Gui" is only 1mm thin. On such a thin sidewall, it is necessary to perfectly display various skills and carve various patterns. Imagine that in a social background with impetuous mentality and extravagant business habits, there is no "vanity, keeping a low profile and keeping a low profile" to resist the temptation of quick success, lack of ideals and lack of self-confidence. We say that the contest of the highest realm of jade is the contest of the personality of jade carving artists, which is the reason. The height achieved by classics is actually the height that jade carving artists can achieve through personality sublimation.
The charm of jadeite comes from the comprehensive performance of technology and material. Today, the source of jade materials is much easier than that of the ancients, which provides a broad space for the perfect unity of jade work and materials. Different times have different standards for judging jade materials, but one thing is the same, that is, make full use of the natural characteristics of jade materials and integrate the innate beauty of jade materials with the acquired beauty of cutting. Many award-winning works are particularly eye-catching in this respect. For example, Zhang Peng's dushan jade is picturesque, * *' s dushan jade has a bright future, Xu Jun's white jade brand four famous buildings, Gaoxiang's turquoise vase, Song Jianguo's blue and white jade red cliff night tour, Dong Li's black jade animal head ear living ring bottle, Chang Wanting's jade life, jade life in early spring. Jiang Wenbin Blue and White Jade Hero, who won the "Most Cultural Creative Award", used the natural division of black and white parts of raw materials to carve the images of eagle and bear. In fact, this kind of creativity is not uncommon. The reason is that the author skillfully applies art to excellent materials without trace, giving people a natural feeling. The author of this work did not introduce the text, nor did my comments introduce the composition and technology, because these audiences can understand it at a glance. I only used a small poem to sum up my feelings: "The higher the sky, the more my soul shakes." Gan Kun's prosperity is suitable for both yin and yang. "
Now there is a trend that jade depends more and more on jade materials. It seems that the value of jade mainly depends on the value of jade material. This tendency is particularly prominent in the commercial market of jade. A successful jade carving artist pays attention to the perfect unity of works and materials. The other tendency is the problem to be solved by the jade carving industry itself. Because we cherish the natural beauty of jade materials, a large number of Hetian jade are fashionable when carving. The preservation of jade skin, which began in the Song Dynasty, is a technical feature derived from the prevailing antique fashion at that time. Song people just want to imitate the piano color of ancient jade by color, but today's leather preservation and clever carving are one purpose, which can not only give play to the creative talent of jade carving artists, enrich and expand the expressive force of works, but also fully reflect the natural beauty of jade. On the other hand, exquisite jade skins, like exquisite carvers, can also be pleasing to the eye. From this award-winning work, we can see that most leather works are for such an artistic motive, and the correct use of leather color often plays a magical role in making the finishing point or getting something for nothing. However, some people keep their skin just to keep it. Their starting point is that skin color is Cai Yu's "identity card" and the embodiment of commercial value. They are thinking about the market, which is created by consumers who follow suit. In fact, in the eyes of high-end consumers and experts, Cai Yu is very different from other jade materials such as mountain materials even if she doesn't have a star skin color. Blindly leaving skin, even dirty skin, rough skin, rotten skin, and the skin artificially dyed by dishonest jade merchants are left on jade articles. Sometimes, in order to keep the skin, they will not hesitate to destroy the appearance of the equipment and expose flaws and flaws, thus falling into a misunderstanding of understanding and aesthetics.
The contemporary jade carving talent team was also judged in this award. We can see that the jade carving artists who participated in the competition gathered talents from all walks of life. There are not only works by masters in their nineties, but also works by young rookies. One of the symbols of the great development and prosperity of jade in China is the formation of a jade industrial chain with considerable scale and remarkable benefits in China. The central link connecting the upstream raw materials and downstream sales channels of this industrial chain is the jade carving talent team. To produce excellent works is, in the final analysis, to produce excellent talents. This award provides a good opportunity for jade carving artists to show their talents, and also provides a good opportunity for the growth of jade carving talents, especially young outstanding talents.
Styles and genres are constantly evolving.
The style and genre of Xinyu is a big topic and an old topic. In China's jade industry, there is a saying that "the South sent the North". If this division can help people appreciate the different characteristics of jade in different regions and different cultural backgrounds, it is of certain significance. However, if they struggle with each other and find out their superiors and subordinates, it is of little significance.
Hundred Flowers Award is called "Hundred Flowers Award", so it should be inclusive and open to all families. It's spring to let a hundred flowers blossom and compete for beauty. We are glad to see that this year's Hundred Flowers Award is working hard in various directions in terms of geographical distribution, styles and schools, varieties and colors, materials, etc., and it is very inclusive and representative.
Style and genre are the expressions of group aesthetic concepts formed by artists on the basis of creative practice, which are related to regional culture, artists' personality and specific customs and traditions, as well as fashion of the times, information dissemination, experience exchange and interpersonal communication. In ancient times, people had inconvenient transportation and blocked information. Jade is mainly circulated among princes and nobles, and its scope is very limited. In this case, it is easy to form a group convergence or similar style with strong regional color, which will evolve into a certain tradition over time. Different styles and traditions make Chinese jade colorful.
With the development of history, things have changed. There are two facts that we have to admit: first, the genre of style is a kind of hereditary thing, and this hereditary feature will not disappear in a short time. In other words, there are still differences in styles and genres in jade articles in China today; Second, this difference is narrowing, the difference is weakening, and the trend of mutual learning and mutual penetration, in which you have me and I have you, is gradually emerging. Why is this trend happening? The fundamental reason is that the basis of style and genre is changing. The first is information. In the era of rapid development of information technology and extremely developed information channels, people's vision and thinking space have been greatly expanded, and the narrow psychological stereotype of sticking to a corner has been broken; Secondly, the reform and opening up has brought about great changes in the talent management system. Nowadays, jade carving talents are no longer locked in a fixed position like gongs and nails in the planned economy era, but show the characteristics of great mobility and integration. Beijing has experts from Henan and Anhui, Henan has experts from Shanghai and Suzhou, and Guangdong has experts from Yangzhou, Fujian. The circulation of talents has greatly promoted the spread and exchange of jade carving aesthetic concepts and skills. Secondly, the active jade market has accelerated this communication and exchange with its high efficiency. In ancient times, jade was mainly circulated in the place of origin, even if it was circulated in different places, it would take some time. Now, within one day, jade articles from Shanghai can be spread to Beijing, jade articles from Beijing can be spread to Hong Kong, and jade articles from Henan can be spread to Guangzhou, and it is a huge marketing team that promotes this spread. Another point is that the intervention of new cultural fashions has shown obvious leading characteristics in social and cultural consumption. Although it is not as obvious as other cultural consumer goods, it also has implicit and gradual guiding exposure. The above four factors are quietly changing our past experience and understanding of jade carving tradition.
To make such a judgment does not mean that the style of jade creation is unimportant, but that this kind of thing, style, is evolving under the new historical conditions. Diversity is better than singleness, and style is better than no style. Up to now, it is neither scientific nor reliable to divide styles and genres only by regional concept. Take the work of the young master of this award as an example. Who can tell whether Su Ran's white jade "Guixing Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism" in Beijing is a migrant worker or a migrant worker? In connection with the author's daily creation, on the basis of the atmosphere and charm used in traditional Beijing opera, it obviously blends the agility, delicacy and grace of Shanghai School and Soviet School. White's "Qi Mei" in the Royal Scenery of Shanghai is subtle, gentle and fluent, coming from the South School, with meticulous details, approaching the aesthetic concept of the North School in the shape of big characters, and drawing on the characteristics of sketch in the realistic style. Another young Shanghai master, Wu Desheng's white jade "Spring Rhyme", boldly absorbs the aesthetic nutrition of western human sculpture, integrates modernist artistic elements into China's traditional jade carving techniques, and captures the flowing rhythm and flying poetry in exaggerated deformation. Such works can no longer be defined by the usual southern style and northern style.
In the new era, new styles must be created, all kinds of advantages and disadvantages are eclectic, all kinds of techniques are tried and practiced, and all kinds of factions exchange and learn from each other. This is a broad road to develop contemporary jade art. We must change the rigid thinking mode and abandon the complacent and self-centered mentality. Different artistic pursuits and different aesthetic ideas can only generate new development momentum and sprout new artistic vitality by learning from each other and encouraging each other. In this way, under the situation of great development and prosperity of jade in China, perhaps we can proudly add the attribute of great unity and promotion.
Cultural Innovation Cultural innovation is a long-term problem faced by jade articles in China. No one will deny the importance of jade carving art inheritance. It took us 8,000 years to get here, following a long trail of predecessors. However, the jade carving artists of each era, after the tall figure of their predecessors, are also trying to establish their own image and leave their own contributions and creations. This ideal and temperament of courage to surpass is the precious spiritual heritage of China jade industry.
Technological innovation is not a difficult thing. With the progress of science and technology and the continuous improvement of productivity, the technical problems that are very difficult in front of the ancients can be easily solved today, but it is difficult to innovate in culture. Culture is the soul of jade, how to give contemporary jade a new soul? In this award, we have seen many jade carving artists take solid steps in this direction.
We might as well take the creation of jade brand as an example. Jade brand has been widely made and varied in style since it appeared as an ornament with its unique shape in Ming Dynasty. Among them, Zigang brand is the most sought after brand, which leads people to imitate it one after another, and there are also fakes in the same generation. The charm of Zigang brand lies not only in its excellent materials and exquisite and elegant shape, but also in the fact that a generation of jade master Lu Zigang introduced the painting style and calligraphy interest of literati at that time into jade carving, integrating poetry, calligraphy, painting and engraving. Its value lies in artistic innovation. The jade cards marked with Zigang style in later generations are mostly imitated from the style ornamentation, but their cultural implications are not understood and explored. They put their efforts into modeling, but they are out of place in verve. The white jade brand "jade bone Hanxiang" by Shanghai award-winning master Yi Shaoyong was marked as Zigang brand by the author, but it was not Zigang brand. Is it because the author doesn't understand that Zigang brand has universally recognized standards? Obviously not. I didn't have an introduction to this work when I participated in the evaluation. In my evaluation, I made the following statement: "This jade brand inherits the spirit and charm of Zigang brand, does not stick to the paradigm of Zigang brand, sweeps away the popular grandiose atmosphere, and integrates the interest of literati painting and calligraphy initiated by Zigang brand into the creative style of jade carving, pushing it to a new level. With lofty and pure cultural vision, the author creates artistic conception in simplicity, conveys charm in simplicity, rejects extravagance, simplicity and simplicity, and deliberately highlights ethereal and lofty aesthetic fashion. The application of the yinxian craft is exquisite, and the brushwork is purified in the turning depiction, which is quite skillful, shaping a distinctive personality and expanding the expression form of the jade brand. " Perhaps my interpretation is not without bias, but the author's pursuit of jade brand cultural taste and efforts in cultural innovation are undoubtedly conscious and sober. In addition, such as Ni Weibin's White Jade Family, Ma Tiejun's Jade Bright All Day, Zhai Yiwei's White Jade Tea Time, Dong Li's White Jade Cottage, Shi Quansheng's World Diary of water bile agate, Tian Jianqiao's White Jade Childhood, Ma Jingui's Long-lived Pot with Black Jade and Silver Gems, etc., are all being cultivated. Take Ma Jingui's Fu Shou Hu as an example. This is a container filled with silk, inlaid with treasures and carved in stone. However, on the basis of the unique craft of carving jade, the author injected national cultural elements, boldly "China" the shape of the pot handle and the patchwork pattern of silver ornaments, and the combination of Chinese and western pot handles and the carved pot body of the black sunflower pot played a finishing touch. The innovative practice of jade carving artists has brought an open prospect for the theme of jade carving, and also injected new elements of the times and new vitality into the ancient jade carving art in China.
We attach so much importance to the cultural innovation of jade carving art because of a real worry. At present, an unavoidable problem is that the excellent cultural connotation and spiritual connotation of the new era that jade carving art should have expressed are getting weaker and weaker in many works circulating in the market. Chinese jade and Chinese jade culture, originally a main vein of Chinese national culture and spiritual river, bear different historical spiritual symbols and social and cultural information in different historical periods, which is the core reason for the enduring Chinese jade culture for thousands of years. However, a large number of jade works flooding the market now have reduced their cultural bearing function, but their decorative and ornamental functions have expanded and increased, and most ordinary consumers' understanding of jade remains superficial. For example, the most popular and sought after function is the function of blessing and removing special things. This phenomenon not only obscures the soul of jade carving art, but also injects an absurd and vulgar oral orientation into social psychology. A cabbage is a "treasure", a monkey carrying a monkey is a "seal", and a bottle with three halberds is a "three-level promotion", and so on, dissolving the profound Chinese jade culture into vulgar and utilitarian spells. Lack of awareness of cultural innovation should attract enough attention from people of insight in the jade industry.
China's traditional culture has accumulated rich and colorful resources of Chinese studies, and colorful folk culture also constitutes a huge treasure house of China's cultural resources. If jade carving artists can establish a kind of self-awareness, draw nutrition from it, broaden their horizons and get inspiration, then the cultural value tension and cultural vitality of China jade carving art will be greatly strengthened.
Guiding the development and prosperity of contemporary jade consumption is inseparable from the promotion of the market.
Before the Song Dynasty, jade, as a ritual vessel and plaything of the upper class, was "out of the market". After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), jade production was only concentrated in a few factories. From raw materials to products, the state concentrates on purchasing and selling, mainly undertaking the task of earning foreign exchange through export, which is almost "dissatisfied with the market" in China. The opening of the jade market has brought great vitality to the jade industry. The planned economic system has been broken, the single monopoly production and circulation channels have been washed away, the productivity has been greatly liberated, private or individual jade enterprises have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and a brand-new jade industry pattern has been established soon. This is a prerequisite for the rapid development of jade in China in recent years.
Hundred Flowers Award's participating works are basically from private enterprises and individual studios, which are the products of marketization. Without a strong market background, such a large-scale award is unimaginable. The active market not only caused the increase of consumer demand, but also made jadeite, like other artworks, the investment direction in the new economic structure, which undoubtedly promoted the quality of jadeite products to a great extent, and some high-end artworks came into being. For example, it is difficult to complete such a work without the intervention of huge capital for the golden emerald insert that won the best craft award. However, the market is also a double-edged sword, which can not only inject power and vitality into jade carving creation, but also stir up the impetuous atmosphere of quick success and instant benefit in the jade industry and test the mentality of jade carving artists. It is undeniable that many jade carving practitioners lack firm attitude and persistence. They are either under the pressure of business operation or just employed to make money. They work too much and seldom work hard. But some artists persisted, and this time many award-winning works proved this. From the craft point of view, such as Qu's tiger-ear double-ring bottle, Yi Shaoyong's, Feng's one leaf and one world, Xia Huijie's birthday girl, Gu Yongjun's flying crane, Chen Juan's, Zhao Weihong's Hong Fushou's crystal Guanyin, and Jiangxi's White's looking up to heaven. In an era of commercialization, it is especially necessary to encourage and care for a clean heart, a firm belief and a lofty artistic ideal. Guiding creation, guiding consumption and prospering the market are also the important purposes of Hundred Flowers Award's selection activities.
Bai Juyi has a poem: flowers are more and more charming. This poem came to my mind when I was reading Hundred Flowers Award's award-winning works, and linked it with the present situation of jade carving creation. The disorderly flowers in Bai Juyi's works refer to wild flowers blooming in the fields. Hundred Flowers Award is not a wild flower, but the highest jade award sponsored by the industry society under the leadership of the competent department of * * *. Bai Juyi's Scattered Flowers announced the arrival of spring in nature, while "Hundred Flowers Award" predicted that the jade industry in China also ushered in a spring. Flowers are blooming and colorful. Although the grass and trees are mixed, they do not hide the bright flowers. Although the colors are different, they do not hinder the beauty of spring. I think this is probably a feature of Hundred Flowers Award and a vivid portrayal of China Emerald Garden.