The Lure Of The Metal

China had a splendid history of the metal sculpture art. So many famous metal sculptures were wildly known as symbols of culture in each dynasty, such as bronzes in Sang and Zhou dynasties, bronze carriages and Changxing palace lantern in Qin and Han dynasties, and iron sculptures in the dynasties after Song, etc. Same as China, the metal sculptures were brilliant in ancient Greece and Rome history. The west ancient artists applied some traditional methods like moulding, carving and melting into the process of metal sculptures and made this kind of methods reach a perfect level.When human stepped into twenty century, their attitude of industry and machine had changed from doubted and afraid to accepted and adapted. Young artists created their works in anti-conventional ways. Spiritual and rational concept was emphasized in art creations. Many artists began to use some new methods instead of ancient bronze moulding. They pursued a new way of creation which was touching the real life, reflecting spirit of time and paving their new art paths.The 1950s and 1960s was a important period for the development of sculpture. After World war two ,the great improvement of productivity makes more and more artists using metal process technique in their works. Artists were not any more limited by traditional mould craft. They applied modern riveting, forging, jointing, polishing, incising into their creating process. Meanwhile, the War brought a great deal of abandoning steel and other materials. These materials made the work of art creation so convenient that promoting the Readymade and Collective Art. As a result, Device Art, Pop Art and Dynamic Sculpture were emerging after that.The improvement of metal processing technology, the boom of art market and the rise of urban sculpture strongly urged the development of contemporary metal sculpture. A number of research and exploration related to the concept of modern metal sculpture emerged. There have been many excellent artists and works, of which the most representative of creative concept includ: the exploration of traditional cultural spirit of metal sculpture; the use and recreation of traditional cultural symbols; the expression of violence aesthetics; the“nature growth”of the industrial civilization in the metal sculpture; the research of pop-style creation in metal materials. Each of these important five concepts of creation has a lot of artists and representative works.