China has a long history of micro-carving. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, miniature sculptures appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. During the Warring States Period, the national seal was as small as a tired millet, but it was divided into Bai Zhu and Baibai. Wang Shuyuan's famous "The Story of a Nuclear Power Ship" is also a classic in the history of micro-sculpture art in China.
Seal cutting is the foundation of the emergence and development of micro-engraving. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, many literati have painted with iron pens in square seals, pinning their interests and entertaining themselves. After Shoushan stone became the seal material, the micro-carving art of Shoushan stone began to appear. In the early Qing Dynasty, both Yang Xuan and Zhou Bin carved fine print on Shoushan stone carving patterns. Lin is a master sculptor of "Ximenbo School". He often carves his name and production date in the grass and cracks of his sculptures with extremely fine brushstrokes. Later, some people even carved ancient poems as marginal paragraphs around the square column of the seal, using extremely fine words.
In the 1960s, with the application of advanced scientific instruments such as magnifying glasses in the field of micro-carving, micro-carving became a unique and brand-new art ... The words engraved on the works became smaller and smaller, and the contents became more and more.
In 1980s, the appearance of micro-painting sculpture was an aspect of the development of micro-painting art, such as Chushan micro-painting sculpture school. Micro-carved figures also pay more and more attention to the effect of calligraphy, such as "Eight Great Carvings of Huaichan".
For a time, the flower of implicit art blossomed everywhere in China like a bright star.
Take Mr. Guo Yueming as an example. He is from pingshan county, Sichuan. UNESCO awarded "First Class Folk Arts and Crafts Artist", member of China International Calligraphy and Painting Artists Association, "Lifelong Honorary Professor" of China Calligraphy Artists' Art Creation Center, "Deputy Director" of Sanxi Hall Hou Mingming Art Museum, "Honorary Dean" of International Xi Zhi Painting and Calligraphy Institute, President of Panzhihua Hard Pen Calligraphy Association, Executive Vice President of Panzhihua Hard Pen Calligraphy Art School, Executive Deputy Editor of Hard Pen Calligraphy Newspaper and Vice President of China Poetry and Calligraphy Association.
Guo Yueming likes learning books, drawing and playing the piano since childhood, and has a strong interest in national traditional culture. 1966, 20-year-old Guo Yueming avoided the noise of the world and began to indulge in biographical culture and art, systematically learning calligraphy, painting, sculpture, seal cutting and other techniques. He learned from others' strengths and accumulated their strengths, and formed his own style of "calm and energetic, well dressed, strict and aggressive"
1976, he turned to micro-writing, micro-engraving and micro-engraving with the efforts of brush and pen in 10. After 16 years of exploration, China's qigong, China's painting, calligraphy and lettering skills were integrated into one furnace, and micro-writing, micro-engraving and micro-engraving were integrated into one, thus obtaining.
1987, his first hard-pen calligraphy work, Micro Calligraphy Fan, was selected as the "First Japanese Hard-pen Calligraphy Exhibition in China" and was later collected by Japanese bookstores.
1989, he wrote 6 183 Chinese characters with a pen on a piece of paper 2.5cm× 3cm, breaking the record of writing more than 2,000 letters on the back of a commemorative stamp (2.8cm× 3cm) with a pencil, so he was called "the world's master of miniature calligraphy". This work, under a magnifying glass of more than ten times, has clear spacing and line spacing, vigorous and clear fonts.
Our teacher thinks that implicit art is both precious and difficult, because it is not only implicit, but also must reproduce the artistic spirit and charm in subtlety. Every exquisite work of art is a success in basic skills, and it is also full of hard work and sweat.
He expects our new generation of micro-sculptors to learn something, but he doesn't expect art speculation. He expects our works to be recognized by the society one day, and he is ashamed that kitsch works deceive the world. Today, he is still working hard in the closet. I don't know sooner or later, he is also called winter and summer; It is also called personal fame and fortune to work hard in the vibrant field of subtle art, regardless of the harvest. Indifferent and quiet, able to withstand loneliness; Transcendence and self-seeking, this is a true portrayal of the study and life of China micro-carving artists.
Generally speaking, people engaged in wood carving have their own set of skills in cutting besides the basic skills of holding knives. Beginners can quickly master the cutting skills as long as they are familiar with the two different uses of flat knives and round knives. First of all, emphasize the importance of holding a knife. Whether it is correct or not will not only affect the smooth progress of carving, but also cause safety problems. Then in the stage of cutting a lot of rough wood, the hammer is mainly used to work with tools, and the knife holding posture is like a fist. When carving outward or digging deeply, it can be made into a fist shape; When the carving is pushed inward, it can be made into the shape with the fist center upward, and when the carving outline wants to cut off the wood grain line, it can be made into the shape with the fist center inward or outward. The three methods can be mastered flexibly. If the tool is carved too deep, do not shake the handle to pull it out, otherwise the front opening will crack or peel off. Using another tool, cut off the wood around the tool slightly until it can be shaken. In the process of carving, we mainly use tools to carve. One is to hold the tool with both hands, such as holding the upper end of the handle with the right hand, holding the upper part of the arbor with the left hand, and slowly pushing it in the right hand direction. The other is that the right hand holds the knife in a pen shape, but the ring finger and the little finger should press on the sculpture to transport the knife forward to control the sharp knife. Pay attention to the position of the left hand. When making a small round sculpture, the left hand holding the work should be placed under the right hand, and one end of the work can rest on the workbench. When making relief, in order to hold down the board, keep your left hand away from the knife of your right hand, or put it behind your right hand. In the boxwood carving in Wenzhou, because the wood is hard, people often hold the handle with their shoulder blades and lift the knife forward. For soft wood, tapping the tool with the palm of your right hand is enough to cut a small amount of wood.
Flat knife block method: it is mainly used to cut out the outline and structural part of the work when chiseling the blank, so as to produce a rough and powerful axe splitting feeling. Therefore, the knife handling must be steady, accurate and steady, and it must be strong, consistent with the knife and refreshing, so that each knife can explain the problem and achieve the final effect of the work. The application process of flat cutter block surface method is actually to summarize the modeling process of various complex shapes with simple and abstract geometric shapes. This process can shrink every shape, every bone canal and every muscle into a square, rectangle, trapezoid and diamond. Therefore, the author is required to have solid basic modeling skills and the ability to outline natural forms. The flat knife block method can combine some round knives to run through the whole process of carving to form the final artistic effect, or it can be used only in the early stage of carving to make a big shape, and then other knife methods can be used to make a richer and more delicate description from square to round.
Circular knife carving and arrangement: Because the circular knife method is uncertain, the carved figures have vague outlines and clear concave-convex feeling, which is very suitable for exploring and expressing the texture and texture effects of various objects. As the bottom surface treatment of relief, commonly known as "hemp bottom", it is also an excellent expression technique that plays a role in setting off. Circular knife carving is to form a volume with irregular concavities and convexities, creating a natural, rich and simple aesthetic feeling on the surface. If matched with a flat knife, it is smooth and delicate, such as human skin; On the one hand, it is rough, such as human hair and sideburns, clothing and so on. , then the two will form a strong texture contrast, making the work rich and interesting. The arrangement of circular knives has the same meaning as carving, but the author should consciously arrange the knives to make them have certain decorative and texture effects.