Reflections on Chinese Contemporary Sculpture Creation

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee put forward the strategic goal of a culturally powerful country and gave it a tremendous impetus to the art community in the literary and art circles. In consciously practicing the strategy of a culturally strong country, art should have in-depth thinking and active actions. Especially in today's social and economic development, the rapid economic development has brought about the expansion of people's desires and the general impetuousness of the society. It also shows the importance of culture and art to the purification of human minds. Only in this way can we make our economy develop healthily and society more harmonious. As an important form of art, especially after the great development of urbanization, sculpture has a profound influence on the people with its eternal nature and public nature. However, in order to truly shoulder the role of purifying the human mind, the art of sculpture first sublimates itself. Only the depth of today's sculptures can be achieved through the entire sculpture creation. Only in this way can there be major breakthroughs, which will be conducive to the production of quality masterpieces and truly usher in the great prosperity of contemporary Chinese sculpture.

"Going further down" means deepening China's fine traditions, deepening into Western classics, deepening into life, and thinking deeply. Mr. Li Kexin said: "By using the greatest skill, we must use the greatest courage to fight it out." The process of human society development is the process of civilization evolution, and the process of civilization is the process of cultural education, only full understanding of the outstanding Culture can avoid being superficial due to misreading Eastern and Western cultures.

In the study and comprehension of the outstanding Chinese art traditions, I paid special attention to the study of bronze ware. In ancient Chinese bronze ware, I sensed a spiritual power that was conveyed through the distortion and exaggeration of styling. This domineering, sublime, and dignified beauty is extremely powerful for the soul. The Chinese bronze ornamentation is very orderly, not in a shouting, dynamic manner, but steady, reflecting the tension of life in symmetry. Among the works of art all over the world, only the Chinese bronze wares reach such an artistic height and show the power of tranquility. In order to achieve such a sense of power, western arts often need to mobilize all technological capabilities to express the power of blasphemy, cries and intense emotions. Chinese bronze wares can strengthen their performance in calm and silence, conveying tension and infinite power in the order. After in-depth research and analysis, I further realized that the shape of the bronze ware was refined and created in full artistic imagination. It was a personification of the materialization of a person’s expectation of inner strength, surpassing the power of nature, and realizing people. God as one. My own creation is based on in-depth study and appreciation of the outstanding traditions of the nation, especially the profound meaning of the special structure, space and form of the bronze ware, and the modern transformation of the traditional art language.

Our generation of artists is a generation that has been accompanied by reform and opening up. It has a clear understanding of Western art, and it is known from western realistic sculpture, various modern schools, and even installation art, because our mentality is open. If we say that we can't help but love the ancient Chinese tradition, then it is more rational to think about Western sculpture. Studying Western sculpture undoubtedly deepens our understanding of the shape, space, and material of the sculpture. I like Michelangelo, Rodin and Brancusi, Mayor, Boudl, Zakyn, Picasso, Chillida, Jaquemeti, etc. Among the many classical artists, I think the most favorite and most interesting. It's Henry Moore. Moore’s greatest contribution to sculpture is to liberate the physical space of the sculpture. Moore moved the sculpture from the lumps to the space, opened the traditional lumps, dismembered and penetrated, creating a new sense of space. The viewer was seen there from here, and from the above, the development of the space architecture of Moore's sculpture could not escape the new understanding of space that he pioneered. Moore's space is rich and varied, and its essence is to represent the transformation of a natural form. Moore's works are not contrived, and the strong formal language shows a sculptural overall artistic image, with a breath of exaltation, a breath of heaven, heavy and ethereal, and a bronze ware of China. In the creation of my group of representative works "Water Margin Character Series", I boldly borrowed Henry Moore's concept of artistic space, and expressed Liangshan hero's chivalrousness, martial arts, and surging vigor.

In the deepening of the Chinese and Western arts, the artist must establish the ideal of truth, goodness, and beauty. He is truly sincere and objectively facing life. Goodness is a love for others and human society. Beauty is an elegant cultivation. The highest realm of harmony is the purification of the human heart and the spiritual sublimation. Artists must also love life. Only when art and life are integrated into one, the work has a high-spirited and healthy atmosphere. It can enhance people's spiritual quality, increase people's happiness and inspiration, and inspire people to overcome difficult will and confidence.