When I arrived in Jingdezhen, I didn't go to see the rows of porcelain shops, but first went to a few niche studios.
The porcelain in the shop is similar and has no new ideas, and it is still the workshop of a craftsman or artist, which makes people curious.
Source: Visual China
Walking into a studio called Hug Yitang, I saw a young artist at work.
He works on a porcelain plate that has already been fired, and he paints Zhong Kui.
The Zhong Kui he painted was different from others. Most of the paintings by others are angry-eyed King Kong-shaped, and when the ghosts and gods see it, they are afraid that they will have to retreat.
His painting of Zhong Kui is cute and cute, with a little Zen in his grace: Zhong Kui is dressed in a red robe, his eyes are mischievous and witty, and he is lying on the crack of the door, and outside the door, a bird stands on the wine jar and pecks his wine.
There is also a text on it: Today's old clock has no date, and the interesting birds are drunk together. I'll drink two taels of you and take a sip, and I don't want to sleep together. The payment is "Zicang".
This painting has some meanings of "when you meet wine and hehe, life can be geometric", and it also implies that the arrogant "old clock" does not want to go with the world, and he chooses to be a confidant with a bird.
The painting style is leisurely and tranquil, reminiscent of the interest of freehand landscape painting.
I just stood there and watched the painter named Zicang paint the whole picture. Then, he set the porcelain plate aside, dried it, and sent it to the kiln again for a second firing.
Source: Visual China
"What if the firing fails?" I asked.
Mr. Zicang said: "When making porcelain paintings, you can't take them too seriously. I am fortunate to have it, but I am not killed, but happy. Otherwise, a picture that has been painstakingly painted will become a waste product, which will only increase the troubles. ”
Mr. Zicang said, brought me a strip screen that had been fired at a 90-degree angle and said: "Originally, it was straight, but after firing, it curled up like this, people are tired, and the porcelain is also tired, but it does not prevent it from achieving a kind of lazy beauty." Everything in the world, once born, has its own destiny, and there is no one who is not beautiful, but the style of beauty is different. ”
I appreciate Mr. Zicang's dialectical aesthetics, each with its own beauty, there is no waste, only a work of art that you can't see through.
In the store, I also saw many tea cans painted by Zicang, and Zhong Kui was also painted on them.
The Zhong Kui he painted got rid of the public's inherent perception of Zhong Kui's image, and was a hermit who was relaxed by nature and saw through the world, which was very in line with the tranquility and tranquility of Taoism.
After all, the present world is stable, and Zhong Kui doesn't need to hunt ghosts.
"Returning to the field", he put down his body and lived out the state of an old naughty boy, drinking idle wine, making flowers and grass, cultivating his mind and temperament, and being extremely cute.
I think this is also Mr. Zicang's way of life: to be a person with a heart like porcelain, in low temperatures, revealing leisurely lines and lines.
Source: Visual China
Author: Li Danya. From Reader Magazine, Issue 7, 2024. Those shining days, there are "Readers" to witness with you.