Xu's clay sculpture (data picture)
The warm sun of winter shines through the window into an ordinary dwelling in the South East Road of Chengjiang County, the middle of the house. In the middle of the house, the old man is full of old, muddy hands with a pen, concentrating on the Maitreya. colour. On the table next to the old man, some faded reading glasses on the border pressed a stack of thick drawings... The old man named Xu Xingguo, 58 years old, is a national-level intangible cultural heritage, Xu's clay sculpture inheritor.
With colored plastic mud Vientiane, it is one of thousands of years of Chinese heritage unique skills. Recently, the reporter came to Daying County to listen to the old man telling the story of this unique life. Our reporter Wu Hao
Starting from raising a family
The golden sleeping Buddha, the sturdy Guan Zhong, the beautifully shaped snake girl... The colorful and sleek clay sculptures placed in Xu Xingguo's work room can not help but remind people of the happy time of childhood.
Xu Xingguo remembers that when he was a child, he followed his father Xu De to learn sculpture, painting, calligraphy and other arts. Xu Deqin was the close disciple of Yang Ziyuan and Luo Ticheng, the famous statues of Chuanzhong in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. At that time, the folks had the reputation of “Yang Plastic Luo Painting, Over the Worldâ€. Xu Deqi got two masters of true biography, and after his own research, he formed a self-contained style of Xu's clay sculpture.
Xu's clay plastic, raw materials come from the deep underground soil resources that have been deposited for several years. The materials are exquisite, and they are firmer, more stable and less deformable than ordinary clay. It is paved with white rubber powder before the coloring to form a smooth protective layer, which is beneficial to waterproof. In order to increase the beauty of the decorative shape, individual clay products are inserted into the mold after drying and drying, to ensure that the dotted pieces do not fall off, which is solid and practical, and has aesthetic value.
In Xu Xingguo’s memory, the most prosperous period of clay sculpture was in the 1940s and 1950s. “The “Southern Gate, every household is pinching clay†is the most authentic portrayal of the time.†Farmers chat, gather, In the play, women wear embroidery or straw in their hands, while men do stone, wood and clay. "At that time, an ordinary peasant, a farmer can make a mud toy of thirty or fifty yuan in a year, and can be directly exchanged for thirty-five yuan of fighting food from the hands of the traders. One yuan fight is 60 kilograms, in that widespread poverty. In the age of the year, this is a considerable amount of money."
Under the eyes of his father, Xu Xingguo has a special liking for clay sculpture, coupled with his strong imitation talent, the little clay figurines and small animals that are made are vivid, not only let their partners love it, but occasionally they will be bought. Go, "I am very happy to be able to earn some money for my family."
Clay sculpture is a slow and bitter way of life. A seemingly compact statue takes a week to a half year to complete. Because it is purely hand-made, each piece is refined through dozens of processes such as creation, drafting, blanking, bonding, fine polishing, painting, threading, coloring, and glazing. Gradually, some of the villagers who were tired of suffering gave up the practice of making clay sculptures, and this “supporting the family†crafts gradually faded out of the market. "But my father is not abandoning this skill."
In 1979, the Xindu Baoguang Temple was opened to the public. His father Xu De was hired to repair five hundred arhats. The 26-year-old Xu Xingguo also accompanied him. This is Xu Xingguo's first formal contact with large clay sculptures. "Although it is only tinkering, it is still very interesting." In just one year, both father and son will restore all the Luohan and win wide acclaim.
Father and son team up to create "ghost city"
In 1981, Fengdu County rebuilt the “Ghost Town†tourist attraction, and Xu Xingguo followed his father to Fengdu. This time, he decided to study the skills of clay sculpture.
The reconstruction of "Ghost City" requires the design and construction of more than 2,000 images of different goddesses and ghosts, but most of them are created according to folklore. There is no prototype that can be imitated, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of creation. .
Xu Xingguo knows that his father's clay sculpture skills are impeccable, and his planning and conceiving is not a strong point. Xu Xingguo, who is good at painting, discussed with his father: "The god of shaping is to be ridiculous and not evil, but the little devil is to blame and not be terrible." According to this standard, the father and son consulted the historical materials, consulted the experts, and the first draft was changed. Again and again. Finally entered the production process, each piece from the feet pinch, from bottom to top, from inside to outside, segmented combination, in one go. In the painting, the delicate brushstrokes, from head to toe, from the expression of the characters to the pleats of the clothes make a delicate depiction.
In the eight years, the "Ghost City" made by the father and son, "Shangdaoshan, the next oil pan, the fire of the sea" and the traitor Qin Qin were tied by the yin to let Yue Yuanshuai interrogate, Pan Jinlian was punished as a snake face and other clay sculpture scenes. , attracting many tourists.
The “Ghost Town†of Fengdu is famous all over the world. The reputation of both father and son is not lost, and more and more people are looking for them.
Soon after returning home, his father died, Xu Xingguo took over the burden of inheritance. "My father made a lifetime of clay sculpture, no name and no benefit. This stubbornness moved me." As a successor, in order to improve his artistic accomplishment, Xu Xingguo is busy studying the books of the World Art Code and the Chinese Cultural Relics Dictionary, and drawing on Western painting and sculpture techniques to constantly upgrade his skills.
In 1991, Xu Xingguo was invited to design Luohantang for Luohan Temple in Mianyang City, which shaped 1250 statues of different figures of 2 meters high and a 16-meter-high four-handed thousand-eye Guanyin giant statue, which is the highest in the country. In 2001, he began to build Wanfo City in Luoyang Temple of Mianyang, with 12,000 statues of small Buddhas. Another plastic sculpture of more than 40 meters above 9 meters, its scale exceeds the "American Wanfo" city, rare in the world.
Nowadays, Xu's clay sculpture, which has not been deformed for hundreds of years and does not change color in 50 years, has been well-known throughout the country.
Passing on is more important
In recent years, folk culture has been heating up, and Xu Xingguo has once again become the focus. The local folk art of Xu's clay sculpture was also paid more attention. In combination with the development of tourism culture, Xu's clay sculpture was continuously protected and excavated. In 2008, Xu's clay sculpture was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage expansion projects, providing favorable conditions for its protection and inheritance.
But the reality that cannot be ignored is that traditional clay figurines have become aging. Xu Xingguo said that the young people in the village are now working in the city, and there are fewer and fewer people doing clay sculpture. With the development of the times, the number of people receiving clay sculpture has also begun to decrease, and the market demand has also become smaller. Coupled with the complexity of the clay sculpture process, there are very few people with high skill, and the clay sculpture is to be rescued.
“If you can make a cultural industry, it’s good!†Recently, Xu Xingguo’s most arrogant is how to create new varieties that cater to the market. In order to find inspiration, Xu Xingguo, who is nearly 60 years old, spends a few hours in the studio every day, carefully polishing his work.
Today, there are more than one hundred people in Xu's clay sculpture, but only Xu Xingguo can be done. "My biggest hope is to further increase the propaganda of intangible cultural heritage and attract more young people to join the non-genetic inheritance. Sons and grandchildren can pass on the clay sculptures, and I want to cooperate with powerful cultural enterprises in my lifetime. To realize the market-oriented development of Xu's clay sculpture, let "Xu's clay sculpture" enter people's lives and go international. Let this cultural treasure renew its vitality and vitality." Xu Xingguo said that clay sculpture is more important.
Extended reading
North and South clay sculptures have their own taste
Due to the different regional cultures, Xu's clay sculptures have different production techniques and styles from clay sculptures in the north.
In the north, the "Clay Man Zhang" developed during the Qing Dynasty's Daoguang period is the most famous, and has been passed down for 180 years. Zhang Mingshan, the founder of "Clay Man Zhang", has vivid characters. The artistic style is mainly based on realism. For example, shaping characters, there is a clear proportion, based on the proportion of the head, according to "7, 5, 3, 4 The ratio of the characters to pinch out the characters in different modalities.
The most representative of the Southwestern Xu’s clay figurines reveals the delicateness and grace of the southerners. A piece of work is pinched from the bottom, from bottom to top, from inside to outside, segmented and combined, in one go. In the painting, the delicate brushstrokes, from head to toe, from the expressions of the characters to the pleats of the clothes, are exquisitely painted, and are highly decorative, with a large freehand technique and strong colors, such as the rain in the south. Folk and cultural taste.
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