Colorful Sanxingdui|the Starry Sky

 

"Magical, ancient, and sophisticated." These are the three key words young artist Zeng Pu used to describe Sanxingdui. It was in 2003 that Zeng Pu, then a college student, learned about Sanxingdui for the first time. When he saw a big bronze mask in the Sanxingdui Museum, he was impressed by its advanced shape and huge size. Since then, hehas visited the Sanxingdui Museum many times to appreciate its mystery.

The young artist Zeng Pu is fond of painting, and his art works utilize portrait painting as their main form of expression, directly carrying the torch passed on by the spiritual portrait painting of contemporary artists such as He Duoling, Liu Hong, and Mao Yan. Zeng Pu has been regarded as one of the representatives of the next generation of emerging artists in Chengdu, and even throughout all of China since winning the most prestigious New Star Art Award at the 1st New Star Art Festival held in Chengdu in 2010.

Zeng Pu believed that, from an artistic perspective, the ritual sense and impression of sacrificial occasions embodied by cultural relics unearthed in the Sanxingdui site differedfrom thosein the general public's perceptions of them today. In addition, although the Sanxingdui civilization dates back to ancient times, we couldsee from the unearthed cultural relics that the Sanxingdui civilization had an artistic tradition all its own, with the cultural relics demonstrating not only a remarkable level of craftsmanship but also that a tremendous amount of such work was produced, which toldus that this was a highly artistically developed civilization.

"Sanxingdui cultural relics before their colors faded may be have been particularly gorgeous and dreamy." Zeng Pu told us that Sanxingdui cultural relics were similar to the starry sky because they were both awe-inspiring, and had a certain flow and sense ofblending to their character. In the re-creation project, Zeng Pu chose the Kneeling Bronze Figure as the object forhis re-creation. "Its upper body is a Sanxingdui mask, and the lower body impressed me very much because it remindedme of the pottery figurines of the Han Dynasty, which mademe feel a sense of connection and inheritance between civilizations." Zeng Pu said, explaining why he chose the Kneeling Bronze Figure. In terms of coloring, Zeng Pu applied rich colors such as red, yellow, and pink to his work. According to Zeng Pu, today, thousands of years later, it is truly wonderful that the Sanxingdui civilization could still be so complete.