Hu Xinmin, the creator of colored sheep.

Grab a piece of mud from the yellow mud and rub it in your hand for three to five minutes, which is the image of a small animal, vivid and lifelike! This is the craft of Hu Xinmin, a famous folk artist in Shaanxi! No wonder the viewer was amazed and repeatedly exclaimed: "Wonderful hand, wonderful hand!" Hu Xinmin's hands are amazing! After Ma Yue, a clay sculpture created by him and Liu Yingren, appeared on the Zodiac stamp of Renwu Year, his clay sculpture Sheep has now leapt to the Zodiac stamp of Ghost Wei Year. How many times has this happened in the history of stamps in China? Among the many artists in China, how many are like Hu Xinmin?

Hu Xinmin is an ordinary farmer in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province. He is 37 years old, a little taller. Although you can't see how smart he is for a while, there is a rare aura in his eyes. When he was four or five years old, he liked small animals very much. He often sits in a place and watches birds fly or cats play. It looks like most of the day. His mother thought Xiao Xinmin was in a daze! There are clay sculptures at home, and he often learns to look like an adult, holding red and green strokes and mixing a piece of mud to pinch this and that. Slowly, Xinmin had his own creation. At the age of 14, his peasant painting "Gengsheng" was actually published in Shaanxi Daily. Since then, his interest in learning and writing has suddenly disappeared in the process of generation. The "clay figurine playing with goods" he made for adults is so vivid that everyone can't put it down. Gradually, Shili Baxiang became famous and spread further and further. In September this year, a group of foreign guests came to Xinmin's home to see his clay sculpture. The whole village is boiling, and it is said that Xiao Xinmin is powerful, and "playing with goods in the mud" has attracted the attention of outsiders. From then on, Hu Xinmin was determined to carve a path on clay sculpture. The government is also very concerned about him, sending professionals to guide his study and creation, creating conditions to send him to Nanjing Art Institute to study sculpture art, and also holding a clay sculpture exhibition in Liuying there. At this time, his knowledge was enriched, his vision was broadened, and his dexterous hands were inserted with the wings of imagination.

Hu Xinmin grew up like a child. He said, somehow, I just love nature. As soon as I got on the stage, I felt in high spirits. Everything in nature is beautiful in my eyes. I think the pigs, chickens and puppies in the village lane, and the lambs, ponies and calves on the hillside are all very amiable. He felt that he was like a different person at this time, full of love at once. This is probably what people often say about nature! Hu Xinmin thinks it is very meaningful to give these lovely animals to people through his own hands. In order to increase his sensitivity to nature, he not only often goes to the wild, but also buys more than ten sets of cartoons to watch repeatedly, even to the point where he never tires of watching them. When I arrived at the zoo, I felt like a naive child, and I never got tired of watching it. This kind of perception makes his aesthetic consciousness sublimate and improve constantly. Although his hand was injured and disabled since childhood, his right index finger was deformed and his middle finger was missing, his painstaking research and hard study enriched his imagination, made his fingers more dexterous and magical, and his clay sculpture works became more and more wonderful and famous. In the past few years, he has been to America, Hong Kong and other countries and regions. His live performances often fascinate audiences at home and abroad. The description at the beginning of this article is his live performance in 1994 Shaanxi TV Spring Festival Evening. It only took him three minutes to make a "New Year Dog"!

As the main ticket of the 2003 Zodiac stamps, Mud Sheep was also created in despair after he just returned from his visit to 1986 USA. Eight Japanese people came to his house at that time. They want clay sculptures of sheep. However, Hu Xinmin never created such a thing. Seeing that the guest was leaving, he was anxious and said, if you can wait for half an hour, I will make it! Really, right under the eyes of the guests, he spent more than 20 minutes making the shapes of five sheep in a row. Japanese guest forsythia thumb, full of praise, ordered more than 300 pieces at one time. 1995 When the collecting tour organized by the Ministry of Culture came to Fengxiang, it took one from the East Lake Exhibition Hall in the county. According to reports, in order to determine the "sheep" of the 2003 zodiac stamps, experts selected from thousands of works of art of "sheep" and finally determined this one. Hu Xinmin never dreamed that it was his own! Even experts are surprised. Rare! I have seen this exquisite work of art over and over again, trying to figure out its artistic charm: this "sheep" has its left front leg slightly forward, its right front leg backward, and its right rear leg greatly forward, almost touching its front leg. Keep your left hind leg upright and keep your body balanced. Head tilted to the right, mouth slightly pursed, very playful. The most interesting thing is the shape of the sheep's head and tail. Look, this is the head and tail of the sheep! How did Hu Xinmin think of this? Coupled with the red and green, rough line painting style, it is really a naive and vivid lamb! No wonder the experts opened their eyes and chose "her" in the end.

Now, Hu Xinmin has many artistic titles. UNESCO awarded him the title of Master of Folk Art in China. He is also a member of China Folk Art Society, a member of China Artists Association, a painter of Xi 'an China Painting Academy, and a researcher of Xi 'an Ancient Architecture Research Association ... Hu Xinmin's clay sculpture has also won awards again and again: his "Tiger Face Hanging Piece" was awarded the title of "One of China" by the Ministry of Culture in the 1980s; More than 40 clay sculpture series works such as Five Poisons, Guan Gong, Zhong Kui and Cow's Head won the gold medal in the first auspicious culture and art festival in China in 2000. "Mud Horse" won the gold medal in the first China Tourism Product Design Competition in 2002 ... Hu Xinmin is well known. In 2003, "Hengyuanxiang" enterprise group took out10 million yuan to collect corporate mascots all over the country, and finally selected "Mud Sheep" from Hu Xinmin as the image trademark of its sub-brand, Fazeya. At the same time, Mud Sheep became the first three-dimensional trademark in the textile industry. The State Post Bureau also put up a plaque for Hu Xinmin, the designated manufacturer of "Zodiac Sheep".

An expert said that clay sculpture shaped Hu Xinmin, and Hu Xinmin developed and perfected it with his beautiful heart and wonderful hands. I think it is very accurate. I sincerely wish Hu Xinmin to dedicate more and more exquisite clay sculptures to people in the Year of the Sheep with his own hands!

In the palace of clay sculpture art, Hu Xinming's artistic pursuit is endless. At the beginning of 2007, he invested 3 million yuan to build the "Xifu Folk Art Expo Park", which integrates folk art production, excellent folk culture collection and display, folk art performance, excavation, rescue, protection and development. He will take clay sculpture as the leader to promote the folk art of Fengxiang and Xifu.