A student of Tang’s told us that all the students chose lacquer as their major by themselves. Although at first they knew little about lacquer making and were even seriously allergic to raw lacquer, they still held on. “They learn very fast. I feel relieved on their success and I can see the hope of Chinese lacquer in my students. China is the origin of lacquer, not Japan, despite what the Japanese say. However, the process of lacquer making in China once ceased. This resulted in Chinese people’s ignorance and lack of aesthetic taste for lacquer. That is why I accepted this position, switched my role and start from zero.” Tang Mingxiu also figured out that people who set up their mind to work on art are unnecessarily worrying about employment. Excellent artists live on their works. “My own experience can be a convincing example. For more than 30 years, I have been living with the money from the works I sold. To be frank, now there are many collectors who are interested in our students’ works. But I suggest that they do not enter the market too impulsively. It takes a long time to finish a piece of lacquerware. To do the work well, one need to get rid of the lure of the market.” Ahead there is still a long match for the revival of lacquer. There is no reason for us to be overly optimistic. Furthur development requires a consistent cultural standpoint and attitude.
Make the Lacquerwares Fashionable, Return Lacquerware to Life
Chen Jie majored in lacquer in the 1980s. In 1988, he started his own workshop, pioneering the Fuzhou lacquer market. “I had no idea about the market, I just made lacquerwares. I failed at first and realized the traditions were definitely out of date. The majority of consumers are young people who are eager to see the novelty. There were even people who thought lacquer craft was the same as making coffins.”
Chen Jie began to make his lacquerwares more fashionable, hoping they would be used in daily life rather than being collected on a shelf. With this concept in mind, he developed many new categories of lacquerwares such as furniture, stationery, vases and accessories. He designed many stylish bracelets for girls and his folding screen is sold at 300 thousand RMB. Enterprisers like to put it in their living room.
Art is also a form of commodity and lacquerwares are commodities with deep roots in art.
Lacquer Paintings Exalt the Cultural Taste of Lacquer
The aesthetic taste of an artist determines his cultural ground. Shen Kelong, who has shifted his identity from an oil painter to a lacquer painter, is seeking outlets. He used to be a promising oil painter. Not satisfied with representational art, he successfully extended his art into abstract. Afterward, he became obsessed with lacquer and started to express his abstract ideas through lacquer, from which he discovered deeper Chinese philosophies. However, to change medium for any painter is undoubtedly a high stakes gamble of your artistic identity
In 2007, Shen Kelong, graduated from the sculpture department of Nanjing Art Institute. He did a painting where he painted lacquer on the flax, presenting the impression of ink painting. “Lacquer can diffuse and pile, which is not available on rice paper. Lacquer painting is Chinese oil painting and I can see its infinite possibilities. Showing the lacquer painting to European people will accumulate our advantage and confidence.”
This February, Shen held exhibition in Beijing, all of his 21 pieces of lacquer paintings sold out. His oil paintings were sold at least 100 thousand RMB per piece. It takes more than 10 times longer to complete a lacquer painting so the setting the price of his lacquer painting at 300 thousand RMB were still reasonable.
At present, Shen Kelong works on his lacquer paintings in peace and is not in the least eager to cast his works into the market. “Lacquer paintings have to stand the examination of time. Therefore, I often need to slow down and think about it.”
Lacquer painter Tang Zhiyi also shifted from oil painting. He attaches much importance on the cultivation of students. “Art academies only teach lacquer to students in third and forth grade, I think that is too late. Recently I pointed out that leaning should start from the second year. Students need time to establish an affiliation with lacquer without which they cannot do well at all. Our goal is to cultivate talent that will succeed the traditions as well as talent that will be able to innovate. Only in this way can we move further. Lacquer painting takes a long time. During the process of making and using lacquer appear unexpected changes may happen. That is exactly the attraction of lacquer.”
Translated by Quran
Editor: Shi Liwei
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