The impact of hollowing operations on form in Chinese folk paper-cutting
Paper-cutting art is a creation of working people who transform a kind of labor skill in life into plastic art, that is, the skill of cutting clothes is transformed into the art of cutting patterns. "Cutting" is an important feature of Chinese folk paper-cutting art.
The working women who can cut paper among the people (especially in rural areas) are all skilled women. In order to meet and facilitate the practical needs of life in their work as nvhong, the parts of the patterns they used could not fall apart. In order to make the cut patterns complete, they created many scissoring techniques and processing methods, such as folding and shearing. , and the "shape-breaking method" that will be discussed later. These methods enable the paper lines of the pattern to be connected line by line. The line mentioned here is broad and refers not only to regular lines but also to unconventional lines of different widths, shapes, and lengths. In Chinese painting, the point is understood as the shortest line, and the surface is understood as a broad line (or a collection of lines) or a part of a broad line, emphasizing the use of brushwork. We should have similar thinking when looking at the paper threads in Chinese folk paper-cutting.
The characteristics of connected lines have three main significances for the art of paper-cutting: 1. It makes the art of paper-cutting different from other arts, such as painting. 2. This feature is a general feature of paper-cut art and is common to all paper-cut art. It is not a personal characteristic of a certain paper-cut art, and cannot be used to distinguish the differences between various "species" of paper-cut art. Compare the differences between Polish paper-cutting and Chinese folk paper-cutting. 3. This feature is based on “cutting”. Although "cut" and "cut" both have the meaning of "cutting", they are essentially different. "Cut" here refers to the activity of cutting off a certain part of the paper with scissors. "Cut" has two meanings: one is "cut" and the other is "cut". "Cut" is regulated and defined by "cut". "Xinhua Dictionary" (Shanghai(Wuyin Library) Interpretation: "Cui" means arrangement and choice, such as being original. According to this explanation, "cutting" means to remove unnecessary parts through arrangement and selection according to the purpose, so that the necessary parts can be shaped. "Cut" obviously involves thinking, so it is different from "cut". The word "cutting" is often compared with "sewing", and "sewing" is actually a type of female celebrity. Precisely because of its relationship with sewing, tailoring marks the mutual relationship between Chinese folk paper-cutting art and female celebrities, and reveals the origin and development of Chinese folk paper-cutting art. Therefore, "cut" is a general feature of paper-cut art. When describing this feature of Chinese folk paper-cut art, one must use "cut" to define and distinguish ones own personality characteristics before "cut".
In the Chinese folk paper-cut art, there is a form of expression that the author expresses emotions, entertains himself, or is used exclusively for appreciation without any other functional value. It is formed in the tradition of paper-cut art form. It is composed of more than two paper-cut "units". The units are not connected by lines. Each "unit" is a complete "line-connected" form of expression. . This form is mostly used in the expression of color collage. Monochrome paper-cutting can also be expressed in this form. It is generally used in the creation of drama themes. Ku Shulan from Shaanxi Province and Jia Jiaojiao from Shanxi Province have used this technique to create many excellent works.
