Feng Weimin, a master of ceramic art in China, was born in Shiwan, a representative of the new generation of ceramists. He has a great talent for painting since he was a child. He first engaged in the creation of ceramic murals, and later devoted himself to the creation of ceramics. The most difficult thing in painting is to master the description of the hand, but Feng Weimin can naturally outline the appearance of the hand. From his paintings, we can see his distinctive personal style, and most of his works are mainly characters. Painting and pottery works can be said to come down in one continuous line. The expressions of the characters are nuanced, and the modeling has added western elements, which is quite different from traditional ceramic works. In his works, he boldly used thick. Many of his works also refer to the techniques of traditional Chinese painting, comics and even paper-cutting, which makes ceramic works more modern. Teacher Feng Weimin said: "For example, the colors of Chinese painting, calligraphy and oil painting, and the simple taste of paper-cutting are all integrated into my ceramics. I hope that through this method, we can find a new way in the field dominated by Shiwan tradition. " Feng Weimin especially likes to create ancient figures. In his work "Ma Chao", he portrayed the clothing lines with special texture and was good at using the composition of points, lines and surfaces. The characters have vivid expressions and moderately exaggerated muscles. Whenever he has a new idea, he will read a lot of materials, then write down the characteristics of the characters through sketches, and then create according to sketches. Different from the traditional way of drafting, he hopes to combine the traditional skills of Shiwan pottery with modern aesthetics, and reflect the feeling of great sculpture in this small pottery work. Feng Weimin once studied in the Academy of Fine Arts, so his works can be said to be a combination of art ideas and traditional ceramic art. Feng Weimin said that this is his personal style. "In fact, it's not avant-garde, but it's just one step ahead of the traditional ones, such as modeling and modelling technique. The processing of costume patterns of figures has opened the distance from the traditional ones and integrated into their own ceramic ideas. This is one of the forming processes of personal style. "Feng Weimin and a group of like-minded friends set up the Sifang Art Forest. They will get together and communicate with each other at the first time. Feng Weimin's friends are artists who are interested in painting and calligraphy. Although they come from different fields, they are all keen on creation. Feng Weimin said that in addition to exchanging ideas, everyone hopes to learn from each other and improve their artistic accomplishment through observation. " Actually, we appreciate each other. In this environment of Foshan, it is very suitable for artistic creation because of its strong cultural accumulation. Many talented artists are in Foshan, and I happen to be from Foshan, so we can exchange appreciation and inspire each other. For example, calligraphy, China fonts pay attention to form, oil painting pays attention to color, landscape painting pays attention to composition, and everything can be presented with ceramics. "Shiwan pottery sculpture art can best reflect the author's craft through micro-carving. Because the work is exquisite pottery, it is composed of every small part, so every process should be done very carefully.
Feng Weimin's wife Huo is also a ceramist, who mainly creates micro-plastic works. Feng Weimin said that his wife plays an important role in his own creation. "Because she focuses on the exploration of micro-carving techniques, and I have some themes, such as a very inspiring big sculpture. In a small micro sculpture, I want to make a big splash. In fact, when it comes to actual molding, it is mainly done by her. "
Zhiwei Feng
Among the ceramic artworks, the white porcelain Guanyin in Dehua, Fujian is the most famous. Feng Zhiwei, a young ceramist, spent more than ten years creating dozens of Foshan pottery sculptures with Guanyin as the theme in Shiwan, Foshan, Tao Dou, south of China, and was nicknamed "Guanyin King" by people in the industry.
Feng Zhiwei didn't come from a regular school. At the age of 20, I began to learn to make Shiwan dolls. After more than ten years of painstaking research, he created a unique Guanyin pottery. In recent years, most of his works have been sold overseas, and they have appeared frequently in art auctions, winning the favor of many collectors ... Yesterday, the reporter walked into Feng Zhiwei's studio to learn the story behind his creation.
A self-taught young ceramist
Feng Zhiwei's studio is simple and narrow, and most of the space is occupied by his works. At present, there are dozens of ceramic avalokitesvara, which are plump and handsome, with kind and quiet demeanor, deep and soft pleats, smooth lines, both dynamic and static, and both form and spirit. In addition, the ceramic sculptures of Guan Gong, Qi Tian Sheng Da and Eight Immortals are neatly placed on the display shelf, and the lifelike artistic effect is amazing.
After seeing the meticulous works of these sculptors, it is hard to believe that Feng Zhiwei made his first Shiwan doll only 20 years ago. Like many children from potters' families, when Feng Zhiwei was a child, he watched his parents make pottery sculptures in a kiln, and he became interested in art. "I don't like reading since I was a child, but I like to draw ladies and water margin figures in the margins of textbooks ..." Feng Zhiwei recalled that when he was 18 years old, he worked as a painter in Shiwanjiang Art Ceramics Factory, mainly painting murals such as "Birds flying towards the phoenix" and "Fu Lushou" on ceramic tiles. Later, he was responsible for the partial restoration of pottery and plastics in the factory. At that time, ceramists such as,, and Huo also created in the factory. He often came into contact with their works, knew the pottery craft like the back of his hand, and fell in love with ceramic design under the influence of the environment.
Feng Zhiwei still treasures his first clay sculpture, Mountain Flowing Water. This work reflects Boya playing the piano, and a monkey seems to be moved by the sound of the piano, sitting quietly beside Boya, fascinated by it. "I made this work just for fun." Feng Zhiwei said.
Feng Zhiwei introduced that the factory was transformed by 1994. After leaving the factory, he began to devote himself to ceramic art creation. He was praised and guided by Pan Bailin, a famous ceramic master, and understood the essence of Shiwan doll creation. He learned that Dehua white porcelain Guanyin is particularly famous, and its market sales are also very good, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad. The famous "China White" comes from Dehua White Porcelain. Therefore, he began to focus on the creation of ceramic Guanyin.
Ceramic firing "Yuanguang Guanyin"
Since 2003, Feng Zhiwei has created more than ten ceramic sculptures with female themes, such as Guanyin and Inspiration Flying, and won gold and silver prizes in various domestic craft quality competitions. For example, in 2008, his work "Ci Guang Pu Zhao" won the gold medal of "China Arts and Crafts Cultural Creativity Award" at the Shenzhen Cultural Fair, and his work "Far Light Guanyin" also won the silver prize of Guangdong Traditional Arts and Crafts Fine Exhibition.
This work is difficult to create. Feng Zhiwei's ceramic Guanyin is generally fired with three kinds of mud: China white mud, red tire mud and coarse mud. China white mud is used for the figure's face, red tire mud is used for the clothing line, and coarse mud is used for the "round lamp". As we all know, the shrinkage of clay is small, while the shrinkage of porcelain clay is large, and the firing temperature of porcelain is higher than that of pottery. Therefore, in the firing process, we should fully consider the effect of porcelain and pottery after firing. When the firing temperature is too high or too low, cracks will appear at the ceramic joint, especially at the top of the "round lamp". If the firing temperature is too high, it will collapse and burn flat ... Feng Zhiwei laughed: "I didn't have a high output when I created, and I gradually mastered the firing skills after destroying more than ten works. Now there are people in Shiwan who imitate my works, but they absolutely dare not imitate this' round light'. Maybe this is the process! "
Ye Zhao, the president of Foshan Arts and Crafts Creation Institute, believes that for many Foshan ceramists, the creation of pottery Guanyin is not a strange theme. Feng Zhiwei's works are "old themes and new practices, with the characteristics of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. They are not only atmospheric in shape, but also bold in color, making the characters more contemporary".
Build the largest Guanyin pottery wall in Shiwan
In recent years, Guanyin pottery in Feng Zhiwei has been favored by collectors in Hongkong, Malaysia and other countries and regions. Now he is considering further improving the technical difficulty and creating some difficult works to challenge himself.
In Feng Zhiwei's studio, the reporter saw several pieces of Guanyin pottery hanging on the wall as high as 1 m, especially the Aquarius work Guanyin, with a height of 1.38 m. This ceramic Guanyin is made by firing at one time. Its face is plump, jade-like and white powder, which reflects the texture of white porcelain. Wearing a white shirt, the porcelain color is white and has the luster of jade, which has the typical characteristics of Foshan pottery. It is understood that this is the largest Guanyin pottery wall hanging in Shiwan in recent years.
"Because of the heavy workload, it is difficult to achieve seamless launch." Feng Zhiwei introduced that this ceramic Guanyin is flat-fired, and the surrounding clouds rise and fall from time to time. In order to prevent these floating clouds from being deformed by Guanyin above, he used more than a dozen bricks with different heights to pad the "floating clouds" and fired them, so that the whole shape was in a balanced state.