Wang Jianhua: art with bronze wire
The key of working out a good bronze wire painting lies in
the draft drawing. Due to the particularity of bronze wire painting, it is hard
to make copies of existing works, which makes the draft drawing extremely
difficult. To create an ideal painting, Wang usually starts by drawing a great
many sketches, before selecting the one that can best represent his design
concept. Then, he will make further and repetitive revisions to the drawing.
Having finished the draft drawing, Wang then sets out to carve grooves on the
glass with an iron pen by placing the draft under the glass. Prior to this, the
wires have to be processed in a special liquid medicine so that they will not
rust. The next step is to place the bronze wires to the grooves, and then
meticulously and painstakingly adhere them by glue.
The next important step is color spraying. To do this well, one has to
control the thickness of the colors to spray over the right place. The size of a
picture determines the type of spray pens to be used. Usually, a small one is
used for a small picture. The preparation of pigments also counts, and the
smaller the pigment particles, the better for color spraying.
Although strictly speaking, bronze wire paintings are done by replacing the
lines of traditional Chinese realistic painting with bronze wires, there is a
color limitation. Such paintings cannot be colored in the way they look like in
real life because not only will that eliminate the three-dimensional and
relivo-like effects of the bronze wire, but also cause additional difficulties
to the spraying. Therefore, the colors of bronze wire paintings are not complex
at all, as only five colors are used.
Any kind of folk artworks is characterized with a strong local and folk
flavor, so is bronze wire painting. Though unique in their making techniques,
the paintings invariably embody the environment and experience of the folk
artists, whose works are inspired by the many of local customs and morals. The
greatest feature of Wang Jianhua' works, as he said himself, is the fact that he
draws on many of the traditional aesthetic characteristics of Chinese folk arts,
especially from New
Year Pictures, and makes innovations on the way of expression in his
creation of bronze wire paintings.
The success of bronze wire painting marks a new breakthrough in the world of
folk arts. Though still very young, such unique folk customs are bound to gain
further development with the enormous efforts of the devoted folk artists.
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