The decorative configuration of paper-cut patterns inspires modern graphic design
Folk paper-cutting is a kind of conceptual modeling, and the creation of paper-cutting patterns relies on a typical original way of thinking. This kind of thinking is a natural way of visual perception without professional training, and embodies the traditional Chinese aesthetic ideals: "the unity of nature and man" and "the environment creates phenomena outside the world". That is to say, it is not a mechanical copy of natural objects, but full of cognition and ideality, and a purposeful grasp of the overall structural pattern of the object.
Graphics are closely related to the subjective consciousness of the creator. Folk paper-cut creators usually have dual identities, namely artists and farmers (or citizens). Of course, the vast majority of people who have created countless impressive works throughout their lives do not realize that they are also the former until they die. They do not have the seriousness and rigor of professional artists to study their works, and they do not need to rack their brains to deliberately strengthen the theme and meaning of their works. Professional training is even less possible. They only create based on the most authentic pursuit of beauty, without any scruples in their hearts. There are no formulaic restrictions in their creations, and they allow their emotions to be revealed and poured out naturally and unconsciously. Non-utilitarian motives often make it easier for them to approach the essence of beauty.
When traditional folk paper-cutting artists convert their visual feelings into symbolic graphics, they are never limited by the static time and space, nor are they constrained by visual viewpoints. Instead, they are based on the authors original visual cognition of the object. According to the inner wishes and self-ideal, we rearrange and construct the order of reality, and materialize the creation into a visual form to rationalize it, thereby effectively eliminating conflicts caused by the imbalance between reality and ideals, subject and object, It adjusts the contradiction between subject culture and instinct, rationality and sensibility, society and individual.
These are particularly evident in the paper-cut configurations of ethnic minorities in the north and some south. For example, in paper-cutting, a horses head, a cows head, a tigers head, or even a humans head are cut out with front eyes, a mouth and nose; another example is a tiger cub appearing on a tigers body, and the shape of "five poisons" appearing in the tigers belly. This kind of original visual thinking is infinitely free. It is human nature that is not controlled and interfered by scientific knowledge.It breaks the constraints of real objects on peoples free imagination and creation, transcends the boundaries between nature and reality, and creates a vivid and flexible artistic reality. Looking back on the development of art, countless artists have been inspired by folk art: the Austrian painter Klimt and the Japanese painter Higashiyama Kaii used traditional folk art for reference in paintings and created world-famous modern art works. . French painter Henri Matisse boldly absorbed the nutrients of traditional folk paper-cutting art, thus giving birth to the unique Fauvist art. “Primary visual thinking is something that modern professional artists dream of but often find difficult to obtain.”
