This work of art was finally completed. It took me more than ten years off and on. During the long creative experiment, I gradually overcame the difficulties and made progress towards the predetermined goal. The reason why I define this work as an experiment is that, on the one hand, I have never seen similar works before and have no examples to follow, on the other hand, I have no relevant practice and lack of experience.

 

In my mind, I defined this piece as jewelry. Because of my preference for traditional Chinese jewelry, I love the delicate beauty. I also love baroque art, the kind of sophisticated luxury.

 

This piece was designed to bring these things together. Peony is the national flower of China, with its implied meaning of beauty and prosperity. Outlining the flower with the elaborate-style painting of Song Dynasty, and separating cupronickel from jade, this kind of effect of gold inlaid with jade is full of the inner philosophical sentiment of Oriental aesthetics.

 

My creation steps are as follows:

First, composition and tinting. Colored painting of equal size (230x270cm) is a part of the composition, which is presented in the form of mural painting, showing a richer and fuller state.

 

Second, sample clay sculpture. This step is to produce a relievo and clay sculpture, which is the Western modeling method since the Renaissance (perspective compression method), and to be precise, it is a basso-relievo.

 

Third, remaking. This is to decompose the semi-hard material produced by the remaking process, namely the part of jade and metal.

 

Fourth, revamping and casting-copper. It is considerably not easy to cast cupronickel, because ensuring that the finished product is consistent with the model is too difficult. This step lasted for a long time, with failures again and again, the key is to keep the shapes of the lines with different thicknesses unchanged.

 

Fifth, jade carving. It took me more time than the previous step, casting copper. First, I need to find the suitable jade. It requires strong foresight and understanding of the collocation of colors and textures to reasonably combine the inherent colors and changing mechanisms of natural raw materials. Most jade will have a lot of cracks, especially for those with large size, so cutting out a piece of material to make those "defects" natural and reasonable is particularly important, and it is in which the ingenuity lies. Using a variety of technical measures to achieve the desired effect indirectly or directly. Although a variety of technological choices and innovations have been made in this process, technology is only the means, no matter how complex it is, aesthetics is the key.

 

Ten years ago, I thought about this question: since the reform and opening-up policy, China has made amazing progress in economy and other aspects. As an ordinary sculptor, how should I record such an era in my own way? The Chinese nation has excellent culture to revive and advanced science to learn from. Today, we should be more confident. "Exquisite Beauty – Dialogue with Baroque" is finally presented in front of you, just to commemorate this great era.

 

May 2021

Xikang Lai