Situation And Development Of Chinese Contemporary Soft Sculpture

Sculpture, a branch of plastic arts, deals with materials through techniques suchas sculpting, shaping and structuring. It explores various possibilities in materialproperties, and combines different techniques to create three-dimensional worksof art. Sculpture, a branch of plastic arts, deals with materials throughtechniques such as sculpting, shaping and structuring. It explores variouspossibilities in material properties, and combines different techniques to createthree-dimensional works of art. Soft sculpture, which breaks away from thesolemnness of traditional sculpture, is an offshoot of sculpture art. Softsculpture in a narrow sense is to produce works using soft materials such ascotton, hemp, silk, fur, fiber, etc., and employing techniques like cutting, sewing,filling, patching, etc.Soft sculpture comes from the west, and in China it has been recognized as anindependent art, termed “needlework” in Chinese, for quite a while. Traditional"needlework" sews daily normality with an artistic eye, the hopes and feelingsintertwined in the weaving of needles and threads, bringing out the original cleanartistic instinct. Soft sculpture in China came out with fiber art. Mr. WAN Man,employed by Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts then, founded the "Wan Man WallHangings Institute" in1986. And the founding marked the beginning of softsculpture in China. Soft sculpture artists objectify their own emotions intoworks of art, expressing their unique understandings of life and society.