China News Service, Zhuzhou, March 27th. Title: "Half Life" between Taiwanese Artists and Liling's Underglaze Multicolored Porcelain: China's Colorful Chinese Heart
Author Liu Man
"Under the high temperature of 1380 degrees Celsius, the mud, the color material and the glaze slurry are perfectly integrated. The Liling underglaze multicolored porcelain is like a natural beauty, beautiful from the inside out." Bright spring, new year passed. In her studio in Liling, Hunan, a 60-year-old Taiwanese artist Guan Lan gently turned the porcelain blanks in one hand, and painted the flowers and plants with a pen in the other, with a focused expression and expectant eyes.
She introduced that the successfully fired Liling underglaze multicolored porcelain has the characteristics of white as jade, sound like chime, thin as paper, and colorful like rainbow. If there is a kiln change during firing, the color of the ceramic glaze will become richer and increase the three-dimensional appearance of the picture. , "Really a surprise."
Liling underglaze multicolored porcelain works created by Guan Lan.
Photo by Liu Man
Guan Lan's ancestral home in Yangjiang, Guangdong, was born in Hong Kong in 1953. Since childhood, he followed his father and an important descendant of the Geshan School of Painting, Guan Baomin, to learn the essence of Geshan Flower and Bird Painting. After middle school, he was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of Taiwan Normal University, and the family moved to Taiwan with her.
She studied under the masters of Chinese painting such as Huang Junbi and Lin Yushan in university, and was deeply influenced by Chinese traditional culture, laying the foundation for cross-strait cultural and artistic exchanges after graduation.
In the 1980s, Guan Lan and his father founded the "Geshan Art Gallery" in Taiwan, which was the first to cooperate with the mainland in painting exhibitions. Since then, it has led to exhibitions by mainland painters such as Guan Shanyue, Zhao Shaoang, and Wang Zhaomin in Taiwan, which aroused strong responses.
"We have done a lot of work to promote cross-strait cultural exchanges through Hong Kong, a third place. I even brought Duoyunxuan's paintings to Taiwan for exhibitions." Guan Lan began to travel between the two sides of the strait many times.
In 2012, Guan Lan returned home to visit relatives with her husband Ding Zhixing, whose ancestral home is Yiyang, Hunan, and accidentally saw an exhibition of Liling underglaze colorful porcelain in Changsha.
"Bairun is like jade, and color is like a rainbow. It's so beautiful that she is'shocked as a man of heaven'." So far, she can't forget the first time she saw Liling porcelain.
Guanlan uses the techniques of piled white and piled carving, plus the performance characteristics of underglaze color, and piles the glaze dots on the painted koi scales, revealing a vague three-dimensional feeling.
Photo by Liu Man
Guan Lan immediately decided to go to Liling, one of the "Three Ancient Porcelain Capitals of China", to paint porcelain with great concentration. It has been nearly 10 years now.
"I had difficulties at the beginning. When I painted on paper, it was what I painted. But the painting of porcelain has to be tempered by a kiln. What I painted is not necessarily what I painted. I often painted very satisfied and burned out in a mess." After countless explorations. Through experimentation, she gradually mastered this chemical change with a solid foundation in painting. While absorbing the essence of underglaze colorful colors, she enriched the underglaze colorful creations.
Guan Lan uses the techniques of piled white and piled carvings, the "part-time work with writing" painting method, and the performance characteristics of the underglaze color craftsmanship, so that the painted flowers, birds, fish and insects appear on the porcelain more naturally and smartly, such as glaze. The pulp dots are piled on the painted koi scales, revealing a three-dimensional effect.
She will also work on the theme of Chinese traditional culture such as the twenty-four solar terms and the twelve zodiac signs.
In 2013, Liling ushered in the first exhibition of Taiwanese artists. The protagonist was Guan Lan, titled "Chinese Color, Chinese Heart".
"In the history of Chinese porcelain for thousands of years, the emergence of multicolored porcelain under the glaze in Liling is a wonderful flower in the history of porcelain, and it is unique." In these years, Guan Lan and her husband have been walking through the streets and alleys of Liling, looking for creations. At the same time of inspiration, it also witnessed the development of this small city prospered by porcelain.
Guan Lan said that Liling has good porcelain clay, underglaze color and complete kiln firing process. The industrial market has a bright future, but the problem of talents has become increasingly prominent.
"There is a big gap in the young power, which is reflected in the creation, painting, kiln, and promotion of Liling porcelain." She suggested that the government and enterprises introduce some incentive policies and measures to establish a complete talent supply system to make the "kiln fire" "Life is endless, passed on from generation to generation.
Porcelain painting by Guan Lan.
Photo by Liu Man
At present, Guan Lan has begun to number his Liling underglaze multicolored porcelain works, recording the weight, firing temperature, and scrap rate.
“If the buyer accidentally breaks it, they can replace it with a new one by returning the fragments and tracing the source. This is also an exploration to enhance the consumer experience.” She also plans to build her own kiln and studio.
"Liling is the birthplace of the underglaze multicolored porcelain. I have become attached to it in more than half a century. The longer I create, the more I feel that it can have a variety of artistic expressions to show the beauty of traditional Chinese culture. I will continue to explore here and remain obsessed. "Guan Lan said.
(Finish)