The Singapore experience is all about shopping, yes? Perhaps. But shopping covers a huge spectrum, and these days, in the build-up to the Chinese New Year, it is traditional arts of China that are lighting up the streets of Chinatown and even sleek interiors like Vivocity mall.
As part of an annual feature, the mall is playing host to several artists from Shanghai, who have put their works on sale for the month preceding the lunar new year, that falls on February 14.
One of the most attractive stalls is that of Liu Cai Feng, a master paper cutting artist. She began learning the art from her father when she was 15, she says with the help of an interpreter.
Earlier she learnt drawing, though this was not a required preliminary. Simple cuttings can be made directly, without the artist drawing it out first. Simple for the master artist may not be as easy as she makes it look.
Before our eyes she folds up a tiny piece of red paper into tinier folds, snips away, and soon, two miniscule rats come tumbling out, their tails curling artistically.
The rat, like the trees, flowers, cats, tigers and various other animals from the Chinese zodiac, are common motifs in this traditional art that dates back over a thousand years.
This style of paper cutting is from South China, explains the interpreter. Its delicacy and intricate designs are characteristic features. Liu Cai Feng has been practising it for the past 30 years.
‘Inside' painting
Nearby is another master artist, the versatile and jovial Xiao Yingqi, a much awarded master of ‘inside painting', and group leader of the Shanghai Yun Li Special Art Troupe. The designs are painted on the inside of a crystal vase or ball with a specially designed brush whose tip is perpendicular to the handle. The paints are Chinese watercolours and oils. “On paper the colours would fade, but here they will not,” says his student, Feng Li. She is studying Tourism at university, but has become a student of inside painting due to her admiration for the art as well as for the artist. “His animals are so lifelike,” she points out.
The teacher hails from a traditional family of artists. His only daughter is in the U.S. and runs a business of this art as well as paper cutting. The master began learning at six from his father. With some English and some acting, with a mock whack and a pretend wail, he conveys that his father was a strict taskmaster.
“My eyes would be red. So would my father's,” he says, referring to the effect of the intricate work which is done with the help of a magnifying glass. The first inside painting he made was of a horse, he explains, as he is born in 1954, the year of the horse, and that is his lucky animal.
He is also adept at paper cutting, besides mask making. Here, the colour scheme of the masks representing characters from Chinese opera is significant. Black signifies strength, while yellow means graceful, and red, passionate. Blue symbolises life, hope and desire for life, explains the duo, while white stands for cleverness and brown for friendship.
Li adds, “Master is very kind and patient. He has taught me a lot — to be good to people, patient and kind.”
