Integration of Chinese and Western Cultures into Nature —— Appreciation of Li Zhen's New Work "Clover Celadon with Fragrance"

As a researcher of folk craft theory, I was invited to visit Shizuok

Integration of Chinese and Western Cultures into Nature —— Appreciation of Li Zhen's New Work "Clover Celadon with Fragrance"

As a researcher of folk craft theory, I was invited to visit Shizuoka, Japan with a delegation of Zhejiang folk craftsmen from June 20 18 to June 20 18 to show folk crafts and conduct academic exchanges. In this exhibition, I enjoyed the works of eleven top young and middle-aged folk craftsmen from Longquan Kiln, Yue Kiln, Taiwan Embroidery, Hair Embroidery, Qingtian Stone Carving, boxwood carving, Bamboo Carving, Purple Sand, Paper-cutting and Paper-rolling, which represented the highest level of folk craft production in Zhejiang. Among them, a new celadon fragrance inserted by Mr. Li Zhen, the fifth generation descendant of Longquan celadon Li family, attracted the author's attention and interest.

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? This is the four-leaf clover celadon incense fired by Zhi Ding firing process in Longquan Celadon Brothers Kiln. This incense is made up of two pieces, and the next piece is made up of three large cloves overlapping to form a small incense tray. On the top, there are three small lilacs piled up, leaving a hole in the middle to put small incense sticks. This work is unique in shape, simple and elegant, and its glaze is blue, like jade carving. In terms of production technology, the shape of four-leaf clover is constructed by using the rib-out process of Longquan celadon in the Southern Song Dynasty, which makes the whole device reflect the charm of celadon in the Southern Song Dynasty. Looking at this celadon from the front, the white and tender ribs are exposed at the intersection of exposed tires and leaves, which sets off the beauty of Longquan Li Cuicui glaze with the heart-shaped four-leaf clover as the center and if it is frozen, it is as beautiful as jasper. Amazing beauty, charming silence. On the basis of firing technology, Li Zhen used Zhi Ding firing technology, which he was good at and extremely difficult, to pursue the perfection of imperial standards in ancient court art. Therefore, on the whole, Li Zhen's latest Longquan celadon clover small incense insert is indeed an extremely rare practical appliance for the study.

? In recent years, the author has been cooperating with Mr. Li Zhen to study the history and culture of Zhejiang ancient Longquan celadon. At the same time, I also studied the development and growth track of Mr. Li Zhen's celadon art in the process of contacting Li Zhen and watching his celadon works. Based on my position on the aesthetic value of Longquan celadon art, I pay special attention to their attitudes and values in the following aspects during my communication with Longquan celadon artists. First, observe and understand their attitude towards Longquan celadon tradition, whether they have the awe of paying tribute to the classics and the practice of pious study; Secondly, observe and experience whether they have the consciousness of inheriting the traditional culture and skills of celadon art in the process of making celadon; Third, observe and experience whether their celadon works have the charm of Longquan celadon classic works in terms of shape, glaze color and workmanship. As far as these three aspects are concerned, there is no doubt that Li Zhen is one of the best outstanding representatives among the young masters in Longquan celadon industry.

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? When I was on the exhibition platform of Zhejiang folk arts and crafts works in Shizuoka Convention and Exhibition Center, Japan, I couldn't move for a long time, tasted it carefully and enjoyed it quietly. In the face of this exquisite set of Longquan celadon four-leaf clover incense, my long-lost heart was touched. Like other works of art, the traditional handicraft of beauty not only has visual impact, but also has the power of soul shock, which is the magical power of artistic beauty.

? Any artwork, including its external artistic image and internal artistic conception, is the result of the artist's aesthetic grasp of real life and artistic creation. This is consistent with both artists who pay attention to individual expression and masters of traditional folk crafts. In the process of artists' artistic creation, it is a subjective reflection of the objective world and real life. This kind of reflection is the artist's choice, practice, condensation, generalization and even deformation of small details in life and vivid, vivid, tangible and real images in real life, thus expressing the author's complex thoughts and emotions such as his cognition and evaluation of life, personal thoughts, aesthetic standpoint, emotional love and hate.

In my opinion, this newly designed and elaborately made Zhi Ding-burned clover incense insert of Longquan celadon by Mr. Li Zhen is a symbolic work that reflects his continuous exploration and innovation on the art road of Longquan celadon. Li Zhen is the fifth generation descendant of Longquan celadon family Li Sheng and Cizhuang, and his uncle Li Huaide is the master of contemporary Longquan celadon master Xu Chaoxing. It can be said that Li was really born for celadon and lived to inherit the celadon context. The traditional genes of Longquan celadon culture have long been integrated into his blood. Due to the family's celadon culture accumulation and his understanding of celadon culture, I fully felt the strong sense of mission of Longquan celadon revival and the sense of responsibility of revitalizing the century-old celadon family in his usual words and deeds, which was admirable and moving.

The process of art appreciation is a process in which the appreciator feels, experiences, comprehends and understands the artistic image and artistic conception created by the artist, so as to obtain an aesthetic grasp from the simple to the deep, combining reason with reason. In this process, we can not only get pleasing and refreshing aesthetic feeling, but also get emotional sublimation of thought, sentiment and moral cognition.

When I was enjoying this work, I had an in-depth exchange with the author Li Zhen around the design, creation and ideas I wanted to express. After understanding the author's initial intention of creating this work, I will share with you the feelings, experiences, understandings and sentiments arising from appreciating and tasting this work as follows.

The first is my understanding of the position of this work in Li Zhen's series of works and the process of artistic growth. I think this is a good work with important cognitive significance, which can properly and accurately express Li Zhen's inner thinking and practical exploration of inheriting and carrying forward the traditional art of Longquan Qingyi.

I summarize Li Zhen's celadon research and creation into three stages. In the first stage, from 18 to 40, it took him 22 years to complete the antique learning process of Longquan celadon and practice today's perfect skills; Secondly, after forty years old, in the process of making Longquan celadon works, I began to consciously or unconsciously seek to break through the tradition and express my own aesthetic thoughts. In this process of creative mood and artistic pursuit, a large number of works have been produced. The most outstanding representative of this kind of works is the G20 series "Misty Rain in the South of the Yangtze River". In the works of this period, we can see that Li Zhen actively explored the efforts and practical intentions of combining modern ceramic art elements in the process of fully absorbing the traditional elements of Longquan ancient celadon culture. Third, it is this small celadon clover incense that is stuffed in front of us. Personally, I think this is Mr. Li Zhen's work, which completely takes images from nature, consciously reveals the integration of Chinese and Western cultural elements and symbols, achieves the integration of Chinese and Western elements, and expresses his thinking and understanding with China Longquan celadon art.

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It is no accident that this work with western cultural elements and typical traditional style of China Longquan celadon culture came into being. Li Zhen was selected in the Louvre China Contemporary Celadon Art Exhibition "Longteng Porcelain Leap" and "Celadon Dragon Wash", and later selected in the VIP room of Xiaoshan International Airport at G20 Summit "misty rain south of the Yangtze River", and had an exchange with the author. In the communication, he expressed his difficulty and fascination with the development of celadon art creation. He said, Mr. Lei, I want to take a break, think about it, sort out my heart, return to zero and do subtraction. He also shared with me his simple and beautiful understanding of celadon art, as well as his experience of learning the beauty of silence in Japan and reading the books of Liu Zongyue, the father of Japanese folk art. I encouraged him to put down his work, go out and see the wonderful world outside, and let different cultures and works of art nourish and enrich his soul. After that, he visited Paris, the capital of art, Florence, Italy, the place of Renaissance, and the German ceramic town of Mei Sen, which represents the highest level of contemporary international ceramic art development. The cultural traditions in his heart began to collide, merge and understand different cultural concepts, which opened up the pattern and broadened his horizons, so he had a new impulse to explore, think and innovate in art.

Secondly, in this work, I read out the author's understanding and practice of the principle of China's traditional craft creation and making utensils, "the image of crops is used for preparing things". "The creation is like an image, so prepare things for use" is the highest principle of China traditional craft about the law of taking images of the creation, which advocates practical value. This character comes from the Book of Changes. Gua Ci is the highest classic of China and even the eastern culture. A clover celadon incense insert designed by Li Zhen can be said to be a perfect interpretation of the highest principles of China's traditional craftsmanship, and with its superb celadon artistic expression, this work with typical Chinese and Western artistic styles has been produced.

Third, this work is a model that leaves no trace on the basis of the integration of Chinese and western cultural contents. Incense inserting is one of the necessary practical tools for literary elegance in the study of elegant soil in China since the popularization of linear incense in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Generally, there are gold, silver, copper, porcelain, iron, wood and so on. There are also many literati who design or make their own. Therefore, incense is a classic article with strong traditional cultural implications, which maintains the aesthetic taste of traditional China literati. Interestingly, the shapes of ancient incense sticks are mostly auspicious plants or auspicious beasts in China traditional culture. When designing and making this incense stick, Mr. Li Zhen broadened his horizons and found another way. Under the traditional concept of "making the best use of everything, making the best use of everything", he used clover, which has a lofty position and wide influence in the western cultural context, as the main shape, and completed this work with celadon art with the most traditional cultural characteristics of China.

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Clover is the general name of many kinds of herbs with three leaves and compound leaves, which mainly includes three categories: clover in Leguminosae (considered to be the most authentic clover), alfalfa and some species of Oxalis. Because its roots have nitrogen fixation, it is the best fertile crop in ancient China, called Chinese milk vetch, commonly known as grass seeds. In many western countries (such as Britain and the United States), clover represents luck because it is considered to be a plant that can only be found in the Garden of Eden. In some countries, clubs in playing cards represent lucky clover. The number of clover represents true love, health and reputation.

? Appreciation of beauty requires a pair of eyes that can appreciate beauty. Marx said, "If you want to enjoy art, you must be an artistic person." Because I like celadon, studying celadon culture with Mr. Li Zhen may know more about his celadon works and artistic creation than others, so I will share my experience of appreciating Li Zhen's new work Longquan celadon with four-leaf clover fragrance.

? Laozi said in Tao Te Ching: Tao gives birth to one, two, three and everything. Mr. Li Zhen's celadon art has entered a new realm of artistic development, expecting him to have more excellent works and new products and write a new chapter in his celadon life.

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