The Zhu Bingren Bronze Art Museum (Jiangnan Copper House), located on Hefang Street in Hangzhou, is holding an exhibition of molten copper art. This exhibition is different in that there is no “Do not take pictures or touch” signs in the whole exhibition, because Zhu Bingren believes that art comes from life and should also return to life, so that the audience can feel all the sensory experiences brought by molten copper at their fingertips.

This exhibition brings together the essence of Zhu Bingren’s 40 years of molten copper art, an artist of melting realism, a master of Chinese arts and crafts, and a representative inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage bronze carving skills, covering not only the core exhibits of the National Museum’s “Melting Ancient and Modern: Eighty Years and Standing” exhibition and the “Yongjin Hong Kong” art exhibition, but also a number of new works are unveiled for the first time, together connecting a bronze civilization epic that connects tradition and contemporary.

“Gengcai Haihe” was launched in May

I hope to surpass myself in everything I do

At the exhibition site, the “Blue and White Series” aroused everyone’s strong curiosity and reached out to touch it. This is a set of copper bottles, which looks completely indistinguishable from the glazed porcelain vases of the Forbidden City, but it is all copper, and it is very heavy to pick up. It transplants the glaze aesthetics of Yuan blue and white to the copper tire, and presents a flowing glaze color change with Zhu Bingren’s original Gengcai technique. Zhu Bingren said: “Gengcai techniques draw on the traditional techniques of five colors, enamel colors and pastels, and the hand-colored high-temperature color not only retains the elegance of copper metal, but the color is more magnificent than the traditional copper artworks.” The outside world calls this unique art form “Zhu Bingrencai”.

Zhu Bingren is such an artist who pursues innovation and creativity all his life, using copper as the carrier, whether it is copper melting art or copper murals, he hopes to take a new step and surpass himself in everything he does. Recently, Zhu Bingren is planning a large-scale exhibition of Gengcai, which will be held at the Tianjin Museum from May 1 to August 25, 2025.

Planning the exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s house

Bringing copper art to the world stage

The audience walked from “Spring and Qingyan” to “Burning Sunflowers” in the underground palace of Jiangnan Copper House, as if following the work from Southeast Asia to Europe…… On the road of inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage skills, Zhu Bingren has never stopped, and he has always been committed to making copper art not only exist as a cultural heritage, but also become a “golden business card” handed by Chinese civilization to the world.

The bronze mural “Spring and Qingyan” is currently on display in the lobby of the China Cultural Centre in Singapore; “Burning Sunflowers” was unveiled in the 2024 “From Beijing to Paris” Chinese Art Exhibition, and was deeply loved by French audiences. Many of Zhu Bingren’s works have been collected by cultural institutions in many countries, and have also been selected as national gifts to foreign friends many times.

This year, Zhu Bingren also has a big plan, which will hold an exhibition at the former residence of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy, and is currently in full swing.