Artist Huang Yongyu is known for his great vigor and versatility. He paints, writes, designs, creates prints and draws comics. And at 94, he has fallen into a new habit of art creation: carving figures on earthen zisha teapots.
The production of zisha teapots using special clay is a long-standing craft unique to Yixing, Jiangsu province.
Over the past year, Huang has been creating the art on earthenwares in his studio in Yixing. He has engraved on each of 108 teapots a main figure from the classic Chinese novel, Shui Hu Zhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh), and had these teapots fired in Yixing. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Asked why he started the project, Huang simply said, "(It's because) I had nothing to kill time!"
His first zisha teapot was one on which he engraved a Chinese zodiac animal and gifted it to a friend. It triggered his interest to produce more such wares.
He said in Yixing, he wrote in the morning and spent the afternoon carving on earthenwares, sometimes one and at most eight pots.
He chose the distinctive characters from Shui Hu Zhuan because of a personal interest. He began to draw those outlaws in 1960 and he thought highly of the independence, courage and integrity of them. (Photo provided to China Daily)
It was not until he completed the teapots that he found he had created too many. He called these teapots "a burden of happiness". He shared them with the audience at an exhibition that ends at the National Art Museum of China on Tuesday. (Photo provided to China Daily)
These teapots show his sense of humor and convey his views on the right and wrong.
"An old man had nothing to do, so he found something he could do; in a fashionable way, you can say it's an old guy's performance art," Huang said.
Artist Huang Yongyu is known for his great vigor and versatility. He paints, writes, designs, creates prints and draws comics. And at 94, he has fallen into a new habit of art creation: carving figures on earthen zisha teapots. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Artist Huang Yongyu is known for his great vigor and versatility. He paints, writes, designs, creates prints and draws comics. And at 94, he has fallen into a new habit of art creation: carving figures on earthen zisha teapots. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Artist Huang Yongyu is known for his great vigor and versatility. He paints, writes, designs, creates prints and draws comics. And at 94, he has fallen into a new habit of art creation: carving figures on earthen zisha teapots. (Photo provided to China Daily)
