Amazing stories hidden in paper

Two paper-cutting artists with unbelievable skills – Xiaoguang Qiao from China and Karen Bit Vejle from Scandinavia – embark upon the same task: to look for dragons in their cultural heritage and make them come alive in a magnificent papercut. What happens when the Chinese and the Norse dragons meet?

Welcome to the Paper Dialogues →

蕴藏在纸里的精彩故事

两位才艺超凡的剪纸艺术家-来自中国的乔晓光和来自北欧的凯伦碧特维乐-着手进行相同的创作工作:寻找在他们文化遗产中的龙的故事、并将之生动地呈现在精美的剪纸艺术中。当中国龙遇上北欧龙,会激荡出什么样的火花呢?

欢迎进入纸的对话
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annecaecilie@museumforpapirkunst.dk

Paper Dialogues is an artistic collaboration between Xiaoguang Qiao from China and Karen Bit Vejle from Scandinavia. In this project, Qiao and Bit will each create a large-scale papercut where they interpret their own culture and history in order to present it to each other and to the audience. The continuous dialogue between the artists is an important part of the creation process and brings new elements to the artworks.

The art of papercutting, invented in China more than 1500 years ago, has a long history also in Scandinavia. For Bit it has always been a dream to come to the homeland of papercutting. For Qiao it was amazing to see the ancient Chinese art form performed with Bit’s cool elegance and Scandinavian touch.

The Chinese dragon is well known to Nordic. But do people in China know that Scandinavia has a dragon tradition too? This mythical creature, which has existed forever and tells stories for eternity, will be a main motif in both artworks.

纸的对话是一项艺术合作,由中国的乔晓光和北欧的凯伦碧特维乐这两位艺术家携手进行。项目中乔和碧特将各自创作一幅大型剪纸,他们透过作品阐述自己的文化和历史,以将之呈现给对方和观众。此外艺术家之间不断进行的对话也是创作过程中的重要部分,相信能藉此为作品带来新的元素。

剪纸艺术于一千五百多年前发源于中国,在北欧亦有悠久的历史。对碧特而言,一访剪纸的原乡一直是她的梦想,而乔则十分乐见中国古老的艺术形式让碧特用她冷静的优雅与斯堪的纳维亚特有的质感表现出来。

中国龙为北欧人所熟知,但中国人知道北欧也有龙的传统吗?龙这个一直存在并诉说着永恒故事的神秘生物,将是这两件作品的共同主题。

Xiaoguang Qiao

Xiaoguang Qiao is both a scholar and an artist. For decades he has been exploring modern art based on traditional folk art. In addition to papercutting, he works with oil painting and ink art. He is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (CAFA), where he is also director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Center. Qiao is inspired by the paper-cutting techniques he has observed and collected in his fieldwork in rural China.

Bit about Qiao: We are quite different in our style; he has a very masculine expression whereas my papercuts are much more effeminate and ornamented. He has been a great inspiration to me, not least because he has taken the Chinese tradition of papercutting to a completely new place. He is truly a great artist and I respect him deeply.

乔晓光

乔晓光既是学者也是艺术家。几十年来,他一直在探索以传统民间艺术为根基的现代艺术。除了剪纸,他也从事油画和水墨艺术创作。他在北京中央美术学院任职教授,同时亦担任非物质文化遗产研究中心主任。乔在中国农村田野调查时观察并搜集了许多剪纸的技巧,从中获取不少创作灵感。

碧特谈乔:我们的风格十分不同,他的表现手法非常男性化,而我的剪纸则较为柔弱和具装饰性。乔让我深受启发,这不仅是因为他把中国的剪纸传统提升到一个全新的境界。他是一个真正伟大的艺术家,我由衷地敬佩他

Papercutting by Xiaoguang Qiao

Papercutting by Xiaoguang Qiao

Karen Bit Vejle

Karen Bit Vejle is a recognised papercut artist and an unequalled storyteller. She opened her first show in 2008, and in few years her art has spread to art museums throughout Scandinavia and in the USA. Bit works in the Scandinavian tradition of papercutting, where the world-famous fairytale writer H. C. Andersen was one of her predecessors. Like the great Danish writer, she too tells the most captivating stories in her art.

Qiao about Bit: Her devotion to papercut is a kind of inner instinct need. She has integrated all the wisdom, passion, craft, as well as understanding of life in her papercut. Her papercut language is the perfect combination of Nordic silhouette style and classical handmade decorative ornamentation techniques.

凯伦碧特维乐

凯伦碧特维乐是知名的剪纸艺术家和无与伦比的说书人。2008年她在挪威首次举办展览,此后的短短几年她的作品已经到北欧各国和美国许多艺术博物馆展出。碧特的创作源于斯堪的纳维亚的剪纸传统,举世知名的童话作家安徒生是她的前辈之一。就像这位伟大的丹麦作家,碧特也用她的艺术诉说着最迷人的故事。

乔谈碧特:她对剪纸的投入是一种内心的本能需要。她将所有的智慧、热情、工艺、以及对生命的理解汇注到她的剪纸作品中。她的剪纸语言是北欧轮廓风格和古典手工装饰技术的完美结合

Papercutting by Karen Bit Vejle

Papercutting by Karen Bit Vejle

Paper Dialogues is a conversation beyond words. When the two artists first met they soon discovered that they could communicate across language barriers. The connection was immediate and based on artistic similarities – despite the fact that they are both deeply rooted in folk art traditions of their respective countries.

Paper Dialogues is a powerful encounter – full of contrast, understanding and innovation. Ancient motifs tell new stories. Traditional art forms find new expressions. Strangers become acquaintances, and the differences – well, perhaps we are not so different after all. We can all relate to the quiet beauty of papercuts – and the impressive roar of the dragon.

 

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纸的对话是一场超越语言的交谈。初次见面时,两位艺术家很快就发现他们可以跨越语言障碍进行沟通。这样直接的连接是基于艺术的相似之处 – 尽管他俩的创作都深深植根于各自国家的民间艺术传统。

纸的对话是一次强而有力的邂逅 – 充满对比、理解和创新。古老的图案诉说着新的故事。传统的艺术形式找到新的表现形式。陌生人变得熟识,而其差异 – 嗯,也许我们其实并没有那么不同。我们都可以感受到剪纸的宁静之美 – 还有龙那威风的咆哮。

 

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