It is hard to relate elegant, simple, and unsophisticated artwork with a hammer and a piece of iron board. Yet through the hands of two ordinary workers Guo Haibo and Guo Hailong, the iron board magically turns into this new folk art form in China.

Via hammers of various shapes, the creators can work out a relief carving on a cold and hard iron board. The most prominent feature is the use of the original color of iron, which is processed in a way that generates a visual effect of pencil sketches. As a newly emerged folk art form, iron board carving also demonstrates a breakthrough in Chinese metal forging art.

As a very important artistic expression, relief has been widely adopted since the ancient  time. Unexceptionally, almost all the ancient civilizations in the world have their own inherited treasures of relief works. The art form could be used to express the complex grand scenes of great significance. Usually people use relief to record the history.

With the society's development, metal forging art gradually appeared, ranging from coins and decorations to weapons made from various metals including gold, silver, bronze , and iron.

The bronze metal forging art first appeared in China in Shang Dynasty (about 1600-1100BC). The relief decoration patterns are seen on each bronze ware. By the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), the Silk Road that linked the East and West took Oriental productions like silk to the West, and brought some crafts like metal forging art to the East.

  Guo brothers

Guo Haibo and Guo Hailong, also brothers, invented the new art form of iron board carving in Shijiazhuang, capital city of North China's Hebei Province . The brothers had a fervent interest in painting and sculpture since childhood but eventually became ordinary workers rather than follow their artistic path.

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