Less is more, and the full use of jade carving makes the works full of spirituality and heart-moving.

Jade carving has a history of thousands of years in China. Ancient jade carvings revolved around the culture of the time, so they carry the significance of the times. Nowadays, there is more room for freedom in carving. Whether in the carving of Hetian jade or jadeite, simplicity is increasingly favored. Complex carvings are simplified to better reflect the natural beauty of jade. This is the so-called "less is more".

In fact, jade carving and architectural aesthetics are similar in nature. Both are designs that extract modern elements from traditional culture. From complex to simple, even "letting go" are all manifestations of "less is more", which was actually first proposed by the architectural master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. "Less" does not mean leaving blank space but extracting the essence, and "more" does not mean crowding but richness. To explain it using Chinese aesthetics, it is actually a natural sense of emptiness and silence.

Master Wang Chaoyang made full use of the concept of "less is more" in his sculptures. He said: "If you want to understand that less is more, you can understand it by reading Tang and Song poems. Just a few dozen words can show the vast space like a painting in your mind. For example, "The desert is filled with solitary smoke, and the long river is filled with setting sun." There are only ten words. How big is the space you can feel? If you use an article to describe it, even a thousand words will not have this artistic conception, and it may not be clear, accurate, or magnificent. The more words you use to describe it, the harder it is to imagine.

As far as jade carvings are concerned, most of the carvings we can see nowadays are filled, such as: butterflies, beans, leaves, ruyi, etc. They are very figurative, and you can tell what the subject of the carving is at a glance. Apart from the meaning expressed by the patterns themselves, there is no spatial beauty for imagination at all. Such carvings are difficult to be vivid. After all, there are all the rules and regulations. These complex carvings are actually typical "too much and too little".

If you want your jade carving works to reach the level of "less is more", in fact, the requirements for jade carving masters are very high. First of all, you need to have a certain amount of experience, especially you need to have your own feelings and insights about life. You don't need to think about problems like ordinary people. You need to upgrade a dimension and think from a spatial perspective. You need to see the beauty of jade itself, and thus sublimate such beauty, highly refine your ideas and then display them perfectly on jade.

The sculptor's hands-on process is also a process of dialogue with jade. The ancients said, "All beautiful stones are jade." Jade is the essence of stone. Each piece of jade has its own texture, which is given by nature. Only after sufficient thinking and refinement can the natural beauty of jade be perfectly interpreted. Coupled with the depth given by the carving master, this work will leave more room for imagination, and you can see the ocean in a drop of water and the universe in a grain of sand.

Just like the piece in the picture above, it seems invisible but makes people feel very comfortable at first sight. It perfectly displays the dynamic characteristics of jadeite. People think this piece of jadeite is beautiful, but what exactly is beautiful about it? The charm comes from the original stone itself. Although there is no specific image, but playing with it in your hands and slowly reading it will really give you a different feeling.

By appreciating it from different angles, you can feel the flow of light on jade. This does not require a stereotyped image to express, because complex lines will hinder such charm and beauty. Therefore, the energy of jade itself will be like the release of life, allowing you to feel the beauty of material and light and shadow.

Sculpture is like the living environment. Addition will make it too complicated, while subtraction will remove unnecessary things. Leaving blank space will make people feel comfortable. Jade has its own texture, and the trajectory of its movement over billions of years is inherently beautiful. Why does it need destructive modification? Wouldn't it be better if it were to give it a little polish and allow it to appear in a natural way?

There are too many repeated encounters in life. If you can come across a different kind of jade, it will be easier to be moved. Every piece of jade in the world is different. Only by slightly modifying the most authentic beauty of jade material can we express people's momentary emotion for beauty in the most simple way.

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