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Xuziyin, a high-ranking industrial
artist, Great Provincial Master of Art
＆ Crafts of Jiangxi, Senior Member
of China Arts crafts Association, was born
January 1,1940 in Yugan, Jiangxi. He graduated form
Fine Arts Department of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute
in 1961, and has ever since been engaged in ceramic
art creation and book art design at the ceramic
Research Institute of light Industry Ministry for
over 40 years. He also works now as an art editor
with such journals as China ceramic Industry at
Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute. His binding and layout
design for China Ceramics was awarded the Second
Prize for Integrated Design at China National
Periodicals' Exhibition as well as the First Prize
of the Light Industry Ministry. Through his practice
of ceramic creation, he has developed a new
technique which can bring out a natural
texture and a tonal gradation of Chinese ink
painting in overglaze decoration, and in his
persistent attempts at new approaches to ceramics,
he constantly finds new expressions and forms of
art, and in his persistent attempts at new
approaches to ceramics, he style, in which he can
render a soul to the great mountains and water
depicted in the form of abstract lines and
textures, bring to full play the aesthetic
effects
produced by different materials, and represent a
contemporary aesthetic perception and a fused
inspiration of both Chinese and Western arts. His
overglaze painting, heavy colored with fine delicate
strokes, shows a particular attention to the
truthful glaze painting, heavy colored with fine
delicate strokes, shows a particular attention to
the truthful portrayal of nature in its entire
splendor. It is the combination of integrated beauty
and great vitality, the embodiment of the spirit of
the time and the flavor of the nationality, and
hence gives people a feeling of harmony, elegance
and originality.
Many of his works, such as "The Setting Sun", "Birds Flushed by the
Waterfall", "Thunderstorm", "The Wilderness", etc.,have
been awarded the Grand Prizes at the exhibitions on
the national, provincial and municipal levels. His
thesis" Originality is the Life of Ceramic Art" has
won the Second Prize for Excellent Thesis of Jiangxi
Province. He held an exhibition for his ceramic art
works in Hong Kong in 1996, and has participated in
many ceramic art exhibitions at home and abroad, and
his works have been highly acclaimed by artists,
collectors and museums in China, the U.S Japan,
France, etc. Many of them have been covered by
ceramic art pictorials, newspapers, periodicals and
television reports as the works of "Original
Artists" or the models of creative work.
In ancient times, Chinese ceramics had made a significant contribution to
the development of the worldis ceramics. However, in
modern times, its progress slowed down. Traditional
techniques died hard in our mind and prevented us
from thinking creatively. It was particularly the
case after the introduction of the techniques of
Chinese traditional painting into the ceramic
decoration. Since then, an expression through
Chinese ink painting techniques has become a
dominant trend in ceramic art. While applying
traditional Chinese painting technique on ceramic
decoration, some people ignore the specific
properties of ceramic materials materials and
ceramic technological process, and gave no
consideration to the peculiarity of ceramic art
itself. This disregard did hold up the development
of the ceramic art.
When contemporary ceramics constitutes a shock to the traditional
concepts deep-roofed in our mind, our ceramic
artists are not in the least discouraged and
depressed. Instead, they follow the example of their
ancestors who blazed a trail in the field of
ceramics, and endeavor to make new discoveries and
work new wonders. In the process of a great ceramic
art transformation, a new generation of ceramic
artists grow up. Among them is Mr. Xu Ziyin.
His ceramic artwork entitled ìCranes Greet
Spring in Flocks ì was highly
acclaimed in a ceramic exhibition in U.S in 1993,
and it was collected by an American connoisseur. At
the Fifth National Ceramic Artistic Creation
Competition in 1994, his painting on porcelain
plaque entitled ì The Setting
Sun ì was awarded the Second Prize
for its brand new style. Afterwards, it was
collected by a Japanese at the exhibition in
celebration of the 65th anniversary of
the establishment of the Seto city, Japan.
Therefore, it can be concluded that his new
landscape painting style is not only popular with
people in the East, but is also well received by the
westerners. The main reason for his popularity can
be summed up just in one word: the value of art lies
in its originality.
Originality is the life of Xu Ziyinìs overglaze painting. For
this reason, he lays less stress on the traditional
handlings of brush strokes of Chinese ink painting,
but pays more attention to the contemporary
visualization of individuality. Free from the
constraints of such traditional landscape ink
painting techniques as stroke texture, he makes a
full use of the finished decorative effects of
different ceramic enamels on the glazed piece to
bring out the perfect texture and tonal gradation of
an ink painting. On his charming, and meaningful
artworks which is also full of national traits, his
creative personality as well at his profound
understanding and special feelings to the life and
nature can be vividly seen in his porcelain
landscape painting.
His overgalze landscape painting is not a simple imitation of
nature, but a reflection of feelings from the bottom
of his heart. Mountains and water in his painting is
not depicted as what he sees with his eyes, but as
what he feels in his heart. He gives the landscape
painting manis feelings and breaths by pouring in
his own emotions and life, and itis hard to tear a
soul apart from the depicted mountains and water.
Therefore, the landscape painting is personified. It
is the result of the individualized impression of
these things, thus, it is highly subjective.
Most of Xu ZiYinis words are paintings on porcelain plaque,
which use close-up pictures of mountains and water
to achieve a see-the-world-in-a-grain-of-sand
effect. Though these paintings only depict part of
the natural scenery, they conjure up more readily
deep and high, flat and vast, deep and high,
flat and vast, deep and serence, immense and mighty
images. In his painting, he tries to weave in the
perspective concepts of both Chinese and Western
styles, the contemporary compositionalist
considerations and the hitghlighted individuality,
and create a representation unique in style, brand
new in vision and original in art. using
simplification and epitomization, he renders his
works a strong sense of abstractionism and a rhythm
of the time, which enlarges manis understanding of
the sorld and satisfies the contemporary aesthetic
need.
President and
Professor of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute
Great Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts
Qin Xilin |
