Yin Ping's Bronze forging art

One day in late November of 1998, in early winter in Beijing, it snowed the biggest snow field in nearly a decade. In the exhibition hall of the Applied Arts, there is an exhibition of bronzes made of Azolla. When I walked into the exhibition hall, I was immediately attracted by the pieces of wrought copper art that were presented to me. And it's not because of the material -- , the copper that was once so red with the flames, that it conveys a sense of heat to the people in the cold; it's because of the thin, cold, unfeeling copper, after one hundred thousand times of hammering by hand, it becomes a wrought bronze work of art with rich and pure emotion, which brings the audience a strong impact.

"Ask you to offer an opinion" , at this moment, a gentle female voice rings in my ear, see a demure beautiful, slightly delicate, but the young woman of extraordinary temperament comes to my side. "You are Yin Ping? " I seem to be a little incredulous ask a way, she nodded slightly.

This sense of disbelief, of disbelief, seems to have its roots in history.

In the history of Chinese art and design, the origin of plastic arts made of copper is very early. Brass ornaments have been found in banpo-type sites of Yangshao culture in Jiangzhai, Lintong County, Shanxi Province, more than 6,000 years ago. By the late primitive society, there has been red copper, brass, bronze and other copper material for the casting of art. The slavery age is a splendid Bronze Age, and the bronze wares of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties have reached the acme of bronze art in the history of human civilization. Whether it is the magnificent bronze Simuwu Square Ding in Yin Ruins or the stately and rigid bronze figure sculpture in Prachuap Khiri Khan, bronze materials are used to show the power of the gods. Historical documents clearly record that the 100-job occupation at that time, is handed down from generation to generation, grandfathers and grandsons handed down the skills from generation to generation. The manufacture of copper ornament appliance, is the field that the male sets foot more.

Although the times have been completely different, in the new century, women and men in various fields to fight together, achieve amazing examples of success. However, I was surprised to see that these pieces of bronze work, which required perseverance and hard work, were created by a young, petite woman like Yin Ping.

"Why did you choose the art form of wrought copper?"As soon as Yin Ping and I began to talk, we cut to the subject which puzzled me a little.

"I first worked in the ENAMELWARE factory. In the late 1980s, when I had a slight perceptual understanding of the art of copper forging, I entered the applied arts, entered the Department of decorative arts, and began my study of Metal Technology under the guidance of teachers such as he baosen and Wang Peibo. Several years of edification, I slowly fell in love with the art of forging copper, opened me to engage in the creation and study of the art of forging copper sculpture. Although after graduating from college, under the impact of the commodity wave, I also once engaged in graphic design, but I deeply felt that the graphic work is difficult to express my full creative passion, it is difficult to arouse my deep heart tremor and emotional resonance, so I more dedicated to the forging of copper art. The copper material gives me the vast creation space, gives me the artistic inspiration, that kind of heart, the hand, the thing exchange, in the imperceptible light opens the emotional world the gate, touches the thing living feeling, in that moment the mood indulges the change, has bred the new life, also has annotated the life and the life value.

As Mr. Ho said in the "Introduction" to the exhibition, many metal technology graduates today have given up the art after leaving school and gone elsewhere, for many social reasons. But, what makes a person pleasantly surprised is printing PING ACTUALLY SILENTLY PERSEVERES DOWN! It's a real treat. It was a miracle that she had tamed the hard metal with the delicate hands of a woman. But uses the cold unfeeling copperplate material, displays the human especially the woman that gentle exquisite emotion world, this is a miracle. Yin Ping is such a miracle of creation, a dedicated pursuit of young women forging artists.

Yin Ping's wrought copper art works, basically divided into two types and styles: from the early works, the emphasis on traditional themes and re-creation, simple and rigorous style, but also revealed some traces of traditional art imitation. The other is created in recent years, from the unique perspective of modern women to observe life, performance of life; with women's unique sensitivity to boldly explore the human ancient and modern world of love and love, style novel and beautiful. This type and style of work, occupy the printing of all wrought copper art works of the majority.

Yin Ping received rigorous training in metal technology during her college years and studied traditional art in depth. From primitive rock art, painted pottery art, bronze art, lacquerware art to Han Dynasty brick, stone relief art, all gave her rich artistic nutrients. She re-created the traditional theme of Totem Art, Folk Art, folk art and auspicious patterns with the language of modern copper forging art, trying to re-explain the traditional culture from the perspective of modern culture. For example, "the fishing song" created during the second year of university (this piece was selected and collected in the Hong Kong Modern Art Exhibition of China) and later works such as "the fish God" (figure 7) , "the God of Heaven" and "the Chignon doll" , etc. , it's a masterpiece of this kind of work and style. From these works, we can see the basic skills of Printing Ping solid metal technology. The heritage of the ancient style revealed in her works shows her accomplishment in traditional art and cultural details.

In recent years, the art of wrought copper by duckweed has gradually matured. She has found her own unique artistic language, unique artistic perspective, unique works of implication, which is in the nature and with the wild thin copper plate, through the primitive manual hammer, the performance of human eternal love and the theme. It is the great contrast between the materials and the themes of the works, which has become the most shining point of the bronze forging art of printing duckweed.

A photograph is almost a true reflection of the artist's self. The composition of this work is a kind of plane composition. But in the performance of techniques, but also borrowed some of the techniques of modern cubism, layer upon layer protruding, prominent center. The main body of the picture is a picture frame of the young girl's face. The back of the photo, only intermittent braids and collar vaguely appear in the empty frame, leaving the audience to imagine and aftertaste. From the works, we can fully feel the author's yearning for a better life, and nostalgia for the youth.

The emotional world expressed in Yin Ping's works is rich and colorful. She includes all the true feelings in her life, such as love, friendship and kinship. Yin Ping said: "every piece of work contains a kind of longing and pursuit of my true feelings, it contains the true, the good and the beautiful in the world, it contains my dream. " If we say that in the course of the creation of wrought copper, Hammer and chisel lifting up and down a hundred times, the notes are printed Ping's rich and pure emotional implications; then, the crisscross and crisscross of copper plate lines, the heaving and undulating of the body, the mottling and scattering of the texture, have left the impression and charm of Yin Ping's colorful emotional world.

People, fruits and trees are two representative works of Yin Ping in recent years. The web represents the love of a man and a woman caught in a web of intertwined love. In the man's solid back Ridge, into the woman's soft curves. The works use positive and negative images, masculine and feminine images, rough and delicate contrast to the interpretation of ancient love and praise. "Man, fruit, tree" is full of rich composition, interspersed with the curve, layer upon layer of shape, narrated the human mother and the natural fruit tree that the holy blood origin story, passed to the birth of life praise and praise, "Life" (Fig. 2) is a new work by Yin Ping. In content, it is a further interpretation of "man, fruit, tree" . The Tree of love has produced a rich fruit of life. In form, it has made exploration and innovation, with a kind of plane and three-dimensional, relief and embedded lines, the combination of color and copper is represented by a new form of artistic expression, which is very consistent with the theme of "Life" and reflects the continuous pursuit of the art of wrought copper by Azolla.

Yin Ping is still very young, and this solo exhibition at the applied arts is not only a periodic answer to her alma mater and teachers, but also a new starting point on her creative path in the art of forging copper, in the long years to come, no matter how rough the road and how difficult it may be, I believe that I will go on steadfastly and persistently.


Gao Feng (phd candidate in design art, applied arts)1998,11,25

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