ink bamboo

There are two basic styles in Chinese painting: Xie Shi 写实: representation of reality, and Xie Yi 写意 representation of thoughts or meaning. In the first style, a landscape or an object is depicted "truthfully". In Xie Yi, the artist's interpretation and imagination are emphasized. The art object appears "distorted" but is filled with more meaning. A thousand-year-old example of this is the "ink bamboo". Even in the time of the dynasties, bamboo was a popular art object for poets and painters because of its straight posture and the aesthetic shape of the leaves. In painting, green bamboo is often depicted in black and white to this day. This makes the entire picture appear more reduced and aesthetic. The viewer's imagination is stimulated. If you look at it for a long time, you have the illusion of standing in front of a paper cut-out, but at the same time you can vividly imagine the beautiful landscape and atmosphere surrounding the bamboo. You can even hear the rustling of the bamboo leaves... Over time, "ink bamboo" has become a fixed term in Chinese painting, which can be associated with intellectual beauty such as poetry and painting. Now you know the story behind our bamboo silk scarf 😊