周氏父女傾心營(yíng)造“紅樓”

周長(zhǎng)興父女微雕藝術(shù)展在香港取得成功，國(guó)畫(huà)大師劉海栗當(dāng)年曾到現(xiàn)場(chǎng)參觀并向周氏父女祝賀

After the success of their micro-sculpture exhibition in Hong Kong， Zhou Changxing and his daughter receive warm congratulations from Master Liu Haisu.

六千杰作構(gòu)成“立體紅樓”

微雕大師周長(zhǎng)興出生于上海，20年前我們相識(shí)在京華。爾后，因本人常駐南美當(dāng)記者，除偶通書(shū)簡(jiǎn)之外，已多年沒(méi)有直接聯(lián)系。

不久前我重返故里到他家拜訪時(shí)，不想他出了驚人成就：他將曹雪芹在《紅樓夢(mèng)》各章回中敘述的廳堂陳設(shè)和院宅點(diǎn)綴，以微雕的手法，精雕細(xì)刻加以立體化，形成“紅樓微型系列新設(shè)”。這一系列可以歸為六大文化：古陶、青銅、瓷、家具、茶、文字，他分別以6000件作品將它體現(xiàn)，形成洋洋大觀系列。其中怡紅院、瀟湘館、稻香村和攏翠庵以體積1∶10的比例縮小；秋爽齋微縮比例則為1∶5；天香樓以1∶20縮小。他把這批寶貝統(tǒng)統(tǒng)收容在六扇博古架中，每扇僅半尺有余，只是一本雜志的大小，每架陳設(shè)有180余件石制器皿，其中有造型逼真的美人拳和玲瓏剔透的玉如意，賈寶玉房?jī)?nèi)的博古架則是參照臺(tái)北故宮陳列的乾隆帝漱芳齋多寶格精制。

方寸之間，別有洞天。周長(zhǎng)興從11歲起開(kāi)始迷戀《紅樓夢(mèng)》，對(duì)它反復(fù)吟誦，百讀不厭。他同筆者細(xì)述對(duì)紅樓研究的獨(dú)到心得時(shí)，簡(jiǎn)直是眉飛色舞、滔滔不絕。他說(shuō)他的6000件紅樓“新設(shè)”，件件都有根有據(jù)。就說(shuō)大觀園怡紅院多寶格所在之地吧，因?yàn)檫@里乃寶玉日常起居之所，也是賈府中待人接物的場(chǎng)所，所以多寶格上陳列之珍品，當(dāng)然是其望族身價(jià)的一種顯示。

周長(zhǎng)興創(chuàng)作的這些作品與宮廷收藏毫不遜色，造型或天圓地方，或葵花蕉葉、或連環(huán)求璧，全隨所陳設(shè)的器皿形狀而別。其陳設(shè)上至盤古時(shí)代的石器陶具、商周時(shí)期的青銅鼎爵，下及隋唐五代的官窯工藝和宋元明清的云板玉器，有的銅綠斑駁，古趣橫生；有的巧奪天工，栩栩如生。在取材用材方面十分講究品種和質(zhì)地，其中名貴的木材有楠木、紫檀、紅木、烏木、綠木、雞翅、黃楊、黃花梨、紅花梨等；石料有田黃石、雞血石、笑容石、青田石、壽山石、黃凍、孔雀凍、荔子凍、玻璃凍、紫砂凍、歙石和烏鴉皮等；其他名貴材料還有琥珀、珊瑚、珍珠、翡翠、瑪瑙等。其中有塊雞血石其紋路呈鮮紅色，簡(jiǎn)直像一掛瀑布從九天潑灑而下，另一塊紅珊瑚重約三兩，市價(jià)1萬(wàn)多元，還有孔雀石和羊臘桃花凍石均屬不可多得的絕品。周氏杰作所用之材非木即石，這是與《紅樓夢(mèng)》深刻的隱喻和寓意相吻合的，書(shū)上的賈寶玉前身原是青埂峰下的一塊頑石，而林黛玉的前身則是靈河岸上三生石畔的一棵絳珠仙草。無(wú)怪賈寶玉曾一語(yǔ)道破“木石之盟”的天機(jī)：“都道是金玉良緣，俺只念木石前盟”，由此足見(jiàn)周先生構(gòu)思立意和定型設(shè)計(jì)的良苦用心。

百萬(wàn)字“石頭記”雕琢巨制

與紅樓“新設(shè)”相配套的稀世之珍《石頭記》，是系列歸結(jié)為六大文化中的文字部分，用老到而規(guī)范的石刻微雕藝術(shù)再現(xiàn)《紅樓夢(mèng)》的全部文字，共計(jì)100萬(wàn)字。這項(xiàng)巨制宏篇，是由周長(zhǎng)興大師的千金周麗菊完成的。

周麗菊長(zhǎng)得眉清目秀，性格文靜嫻淑，上學(xué)時(shí)亭亭玉立，出落得似一個(gè)《紅樓夢(mèng)》里的人兒！她本當(dāng)是求學(xué)于醫(yī)學(xué)院的，因受其父的熏陶也愛(ài)上了微雕藝術(shù)，始則見(jiàn)習(xí)家傳，跟著父親刻字把玩，誰(shuí)知成了癖好欲罷不能，心有靈犀一點(diǎn)通的藝術(shù)天賦使她在試身微雕領(lǐng)域時(shí)觸類旁通，很快入了門道。

自學(xué)成才的周先生的行草書(shū)法如鐵劃銀鉤，筆韻遒勁老練，頗得二王懷素之神韻。在父親手把手的傳授下，周麗菊小小年紀(jì)也深得真諦，她的隸書(shū)落筆有神，古樸雄渾中略帶娟秀飄逸，人們從她象牙雕刻《阿房宮賦》《蘭亭集序》和《滕王閣序》等早期作品中已足以見(jiàn)其功底。80年代她的作品赴橫濱展出，日本觀眾的熱情贊揚(yáng)，深深地激勵(lì)著她的上進(jìn)心，她決心要讓有限的生命閃爍出燦爛的火花。她在父親的啟迪和支持下，萌生了一個(gè)采用微雕藝術(shù)將《紅樓夢(mèng)》這部傳世之作刻成一部名副其實(shí)的《石頭記》的大膽設(shè)想，并決意憑自己的毅力將《紅樓夢(mèng)》還原到石頭上，使這部可以經(jīng)天緯地的古典文學(xué)名著，成為一部名副其實(shí)的《石頭記》！從1989年春節(jié)開(kāi)始，她便全力以赴地投入了這項(xiàng)巨大工程中去：她以《紅樓夢(mèng)》三家評(píng)本為藍(lán)本，全部用繁體隸書(shū)來(lái)刻寫，其中每一回目則用小篆刻寫。她廢寢忘食地足足花費(fèi)了兩年光陰，終于把整部120回《紅樓夢(mèng)》的100萬(wàn)字分別刻在了總面積不到1個(gè)平方米的280塊名貴彩石上。這些彩石有的大如手掌，有的小如拇指，分別來(lái)自我國(guó)四大山系，其中有遼寧的艾葉綠、壽山的白芙蓉、青田的封門冰紋和昌化的雞血凍。她在雕刻過(guò)程并未借助放大鏡，全憑肉眼直視操作，聚精會(huì)神，精雕細(xì)刻。最小的字僅為0.25平方毫米，相當(dāng)于一粒大米的1／65，如第105回的全文5000字，便是刻在一塊拇指大小的一方寸彩石上，第一回5400字刻在一塊手掌般大小的紅色昌化石上，正文左側(cè)還刻有《石頭記》的陽(yáng)文印章，而回目則另刻于一塊綠色青田石上。紅綠對(duì)應(yīng)，相映成趣，不失為“怡紅快綠”之含義。

創(chuàng)作過(guò)程既復(fù)雜又艱辛，每塊彩石在動(dòng)工之前她都經(jīng)過(guò)精心選材、劃線、定型、構(gòu)思，進(jìn)入創(chuàng)作之后，又得屏息凝神，全身心地投入，并且必須保持絕對(duì)安寧的環(huán)境。有一個(gè)星期天，周麗菊正在埋頭操作，恰巧有位朋友來(lái)訪，在樓下高聲喊叫，這一喊便攪亂了她的注意力，于是在微刻中留下敗筆，只好忍痛將已刻成的2500字統(tǒng)統(tǒng)磨掉，重新再刻。

自學(xué)成才的“雕癡”

周長(zhǎng)興原是上海汽車拖拉機(jī)研究所的金屬造型技師，祖籍浙江嵊州。這個(gè)山明水秀、茂林修竹的越劇故鄉(xiāng)能工巧匠輩出，環(huán)境的熏陶使他從小便忘情于山水，對(duì)藝術(shù)情有獨(dú)鐘，尤其在竹木雕刻上有股子癡勁。少年時(shí)他父母雙亡，舉目無(wú)親，8歲便外出學(xué)藝，闖蕩江湖，只身來(lái)到十里洋場(chǎng)上海進(jìn)了一家工廠當(dāng)學(xué)徒。他從勤雜、鉗工一直干到鈑金工，雕、鏤、切、刻、銼、創(chuàng)、鍛，百般手藝樣樣都會(huì)，這為日后的微雕絕技打下了堅(jiān)實(shí)基礎(chǔ)。業(yè)余時(shí)間他憑著自己的天賦和鉆研精神，一邊默習(xí)名家印譜，一邊臨摹諸家字帖，博采眾家之長(zhǎng)，經(jīng)過(guò)天長(zhǎng)日久的探索和磨礪，漸漸領(lǐng)悟藝中三昧，逐步掌握了微雕藝技的要領(lǐng)和規(guī)律。有時(shí)為捕捉一個(gè)稍縱即逝的藝術(shù)靈感，他常常夜不成寐，甚至在睡夢(mèng)中尋覓或遨游理想的藝術(shù)境界，一旦有了新的靈感，即使在數(shù)九寒夜他也會(huì)立即披衣下床勞作起來(lái)。他在藝術(shù)上的用心追求幾乎達(dá)到了如癡如醉的地步，難怪人們賜他一個(gè)雅號(hào)叫“雕癡”。一個(gè)出身清寒，既無(wú)家學(xué)淵源，也沒(méi)進(jìn)過(guò)課堂深造的人能終成大器，全憑天資聰穎，好學(xué)深思，勤奮刻苦。

這位微雕大師用不無(wú)感慨的詩(shī)句袒露心聲曰：“無(wú)情歲月石磨人，遍體鱗傷五內(nèi)損，雖已紅樓夢(mèng)成真，奈何殘燈油耗盡?！笔堑模L(zhǎng)年累月嘔心瀝血的創(chuàng)作和操勞，嚴(yán)重耗蝕了老周的健康，早年他的大部分胃被切除，如今身體日益消瘦。親友們?yōu)樗麚?dān)憂，都勸他見(jiàn)好就收，保命要緊，而他卻認(rèn)為真正珍惜生命，就是要在有生之年為世上留下有意義的痕跡。因此，他發(fā)誓要在奔向縹緲之鄉(xiāng)以前，多為人民創(chuàng)造些精神財(cái)富，為振興中華努力。

Father and Daughter Carve Dreams

By Sun Guowei

I first met miniature sculpture master Zhou Changxing twenty years ago in Beijing. Then I worked as a journalist in South America for a long while and we exchanged a few letters occasionally. I was surprised to see his extraordinary masterpieces when I visited him at his home in Shanghai recently.

He translated all the literary descriptions of houses and furnishings in A Dream of the Red Mansions (also known as The Story of the Stone)， a famous Chinese classic novel by Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)， into miniature sculptures. The complete series contains 6，000 pieces， which are categorized into six groups: ancient pottery， bronze， porcelain， furniture， tea and writing.

Six separate houses in the novel are reduced in size and they can be all displayed on six antique shelves， as large as a magazine， with over 180 stone pieces on each shelf.

Zhou Changxing became an aficionado of the novel long before he became a sculptor. Since he was a boy of 11， he has read the story numerous times. It is obvious that the fiction inspired him as a sculptor. He can easily tell you where and how one of the 6，000 pieces in his master creation series is mentioned in the novel.

Some critics believe Zhou’s creation is as valuable as those in ancient imperial collections of treasures. He chose both precious gems such as jades， ambers， corals， pearls， emeralds， agates and woods such as rosewood， mahogany， ebony， boxwood， etc， for his carvings. It is no coincidence that the materials are of stone and wood. They correspond to the metaphors in the novel: in their previous lives， the hero of the romance is a remaining stone rejected from a sky-mending project and the heroine is an immortal flower on the bank of a magic river.

Zhou Changxing’s daughter transferred the 1 million words of the complete novel onto 280 stones， whose total area is less than 1 square meter. She learned the micro-sculpting techniques and calligraphy from his father and she is a sculptor in her own right. In the 1980s her ivory sculptures of Chinese literary masterpieces such as Ode to the Epang Palace and The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection were exhibited in Japan. Inspired and supported by her father， she determined to create a real story of stone of her own by carving the story on precious stones. She started the work during the Spring Festival of 1989. She spent a good two years carving the whole 120 chapters on colored stones， whose sizes are either as large as a palm or as small as a thumb. She did not use a magnifying glass to help her work. She used only her naked eyes. The smallest word is 0.25 square millimeter， equal to the one sixty-fifth of a grain of rice. All the text was done in the style of the seal script with the exception of chapter titles which were in the style of the official script.

All the gems were carefully chosen. Before she put the knife to a gem， she would study the target stone most carefully to decide where to put all the words of a chapter onto the stone surface. Carving required most painstaking attention and deep concentration. She remembers vividly an accident one Sunday， when a visiting friend called her aloud downstairs and she was jolted out of focus for a twinkling of the eye. This distraction led to an imperfect stroke. She had to grind off all of the 2，500 characters already carved and start from scratch again.

(Translated by David)