Reporter Zhong Qiulan
As the popularity of the Winter Olympic Games becomes higher and higher, the official gift "Wenjun Bottle" designated by the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games has also attracted more and more attention, and its warm and simple artistic expression is unforgettable. Their authors are the famous ceramic artist Bai Ming, an authentic Jiangxi man who went out from Shangrao Yugan. "The beautiful appeals in my artistic creation all come from the memories related to Jiangxi", on February 8, the reporter interviewed Bai Ming and listened to him tell how to use Jiangxi elements to tell the story of China to the world.
Winter Olympics Wenjun bottle
Winter Paralympic Wenjun bottle
(Photo courtesy of Bai Ming)
"Wenjun Bottle" embodies the subtle beauty of Chinese culture
The "Wenjun Bottle" contains the "Winter Olympic Wenjun Bottle" and the "Winter Paralympic Wenjun Bottle", which are 56 cm and 24 cm high respectively, and the limited number is 5,000 and 10,000. The two works use white porcelain as the carrier to integrate the essence of Chinese porcelain culture and the modern Olympic spirit, display the Olympic elements on the crystal clear porcelain, carry the unique cultural charm and humanistic feelings, and also show China's humble, calm and low-key gentleman's style.
Porcelain and the Winter Olympics embraced, what kind of artistic flowers will grow? Bai Ming introduced that the slender bottle body and flowing lines of the work echo with the elegant, dexterous and rhythmic shapes of ice and snow sports, just like a beautiful dance of life. Among them, the "Winter Olympics Wenjun Bottle" bottle body relief Winter Olympic Emblem, darkly engraved 24 vertical lines, refers to the 24th Winter Olympic Games; "Winter Paralympic Wenjun Bottle" bottle body relief Winter Paralympic Emblem, carved 13 vertical lines, refers to the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, 13 lines for the Yang carving design, the two works complement each other, both the style is consistent and the form changes. The lines of the carved line and the yang carving form a lotus petal shape at the bottom, implying harmony and auspiciousness. The emblems and bottles of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games live in harmony with each other, reflecting the inclusive and subtle beauty of Chinese culture.
Porcelain is a Chinese image that does not need to be explained in words
Why choose porcelain for expression? "What kind of work should be presented to the world, I think that in the expression of cultural goodwill transmission, porcelain can return to the depths of excellent traditions in the embodiment of national image and identity and cultural background in world exchanges." Bai Ming introduced that porcelain began to spread to all parts of the world from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it took 1700 years for the West to create the same quality porcelain, and the image of porcelain as a Chinese identity does not need to be explained in words.
"Chinese porcelain has contributed great technology, craftsmanship and materials to the world, and I think what is even more remarkable is that it has contributed to China's greatest aesthetics of craftsmanship." Bai Ming is a ceramic artist who understands better Chinese understanding of porcelain is natural. In China, there is hardly a home that does not display a few porcelain-related utensils. "My design idea is to break down the expression of The aesthetic origins of China, the world sports event and the uniqueness of Beijing as a 'double Olympic city' for hosting the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics into several words that need to be conveyed in the work."
The Winter Olympics convey "fusion", "purity", "speed", "friendliness", "speed" depends on the fluency of the lines, "pure" depends on the texture of white porcelain like jade, and "beautiful" is the fusion and modernity of the classic modeling language containing the entire history of ceramics like a gentleman. Designed and created with this concept in mind, the "Wenjun Bottle" appropriately expresses the history, emotions, etiquette, memory, beauty, elegance, legend and story of the combination of Chinese tradition and modernity.
Use good Jiangxi elements to tell the story of China
Bai Ming's hometown of Yugan County, adjacent to the porcelain capital Jingdezhen, is only 80 kilometers away. As an artist who went out from Jiangxi, Bai Ming is good at speaking with porcelain and transmitting Jiangxi sounds at home and abroad.
As early as the bid for the Winter Olympics in 2015, he was invited to create a national gift to the International Olympic Committee "Red Rhyme - Flying Around" plate, the process is the use of Jingdezhen traditional glaze red firing method, because the glaze red glaze in the range of about 5 degrees Celsius will have different changes, so it is extremely difficult to control and firing, but its color is incomparably fresh and changeable, so each work is unique. "Different reds are different lives and individuals, when we created in 2015, we added the Olympic bid logo to the glazed red plate, that is, we hoped that Beijing would succeed in bidding for the Winter Olympics, so I designed the pattern as a red with a flying angle around, named 'Red Rhyme - Flying Around', which means 'good luck' and the wishes of the people."
"Many of the creative concepts and art concepts mentioned above are related to Jiangxi, Jingdezhen, and even more related to my hometown Yugan. It's just that these related elements are not external concrete, but are implicit in the depths of my heart and emotions. Jiangxi's humanities, landscapes, scenery and even food have become the basis for me, and the beautiful appeal in my artistic creation also stems from the memory related to Jiangxi. Bai Ming told reporters that the shape of Wenjun bottle is deeply related to the classic shape of Jingdezhen in the past; the national ceremonial work of "Red Rhyme - Flying Around" was also created in Jingdezhen. Over the years, he often returned to Jiangxi for artistic creation and artistic exchanges, conveying the beauty of form and great poetry from Jiangxi porcelain to the world.