Line drawing

Author: Guo Zhufeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Such line drawings often come from the seeds of hard work. In the old days, women had to learn to trace red patterns before mastering needlework. Women would meticulously copy and preserve generations of floral designs for future use. These designs mostly featured individual peonies, fish playing with lotus flowers, and figures or animals, with styles and purposes similar to those of red tracings, serving as drafts for paper-cutting, embroidery, or as templates for bed canopies and cabinet decorations. In the early 1980s, some local cultural centers organized local farmers to create works as part of efforts to explore and support folk art. These artists were mostly elderly women who struggled to depict the politically themed content required by the cultural centers. Forced to find an alternative, they turned to painting their own lives, using traditional floral patterns, resulting in these drawings. Originally intended as rough sketches just to outline colors, the women found them aesthetically pleasing and decided to keep them, as the concept of a "sketch" did not exist in their minds. In these line drawings, the bodies of people and animals are merely symbolic figures that resonate with the natural world, forming a auspicious and emotive composition. Within the inner and outer realms of their forms, grasslands and flowers spread, while animals and fish dragons move freely. Memory and imagination blend perfectly, making it possible. The myriad things of heaven and earth flourish within a carefully crafted container, merging into a harmonious whole, truly embodying the grandeur of dissolving all rules with a single brushstroke. There is a Shaanxi folk song that goes like this: "This long braid can’t reach the sky, This fine girl can’t meet her love, This cooking pot can’t hold two grains of rice, This fierce fire can’t warm you." The background of this song is one of despair and pain, yet the love expressed remains romantic. In fact, every author of these line drawings has endured too much suffering and exhaustion, their pain almost earth-shattering. As a result, they no longer wish to pour their misfortunes into their dreams. Pain can be folded and tucked away within the body, while they prefer to pin their happiness onto new clothes.