Extending Prints

In contemporary art creation, the situation for engraving is different from before.Based on the clue of the role that engraving has played during historical development,engravings are roughly divided into the following stages: engraving as a decorationmethod, engraving as a kind of weapon in wars, engraving as a category of formativearts, and engraving as a way of thinking. In modern times, with the development oftime, the concept of engraving appears more than a presentation or language; instead,it is expanded to a way of thinking by some artists who apply it to their art creation. Inthis regard, this paper sorts out the works of some contemporarily active artists withengraving background (Xu Bing, Hong Hao and Qiu Zhijie), for the purpose ofproving my opinion on this. Based on this, it also further analyzes the reasons for“engraving as a way of thinking”.