"What I'm expressing is not the scenery, not the seasons, it's the heart, it's the sticky stuff in the heart."
In this way, artist Li Lei answered the question of curator Mi Yi about the relationship between the theme and the work.
This is a dialogue between the two before the exhibition "Remembering Jiangnan - Scenery of the Past and Li Lei's Poetic and Abstract Art", which is an exhibition successfully held at the Buddha Memorial Hall in the face of the epidemic and various obstacles, and the cultural and artistic exchanges between the two sides of the strait are still successfully held under limited conditions.
At a time when the epidemic is prolonging, most of the discussions in the art world are: What is the necessity of the existence of art at the moment of the epidemic?
Li Lei once said that "my creation is an experience of my own life", and "Remembering Jiangnan - Scenery Used to Be Familiar With Li Lei's Poetic and Abstract Art" exhibition is the curator Mi Yi from the direction of the artist's continuous questioning and thinking about the meaning of life, and constantly gives the answer to this question in the curation.
As a representative artist of Haipai art, Li Lei gave Mi Yi a very high evaluation in his speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, saying:
"Thanks to Miss Mi Yi's meticulous exhibition planning, she is young and promising, and she is already a rising star in our art world."
The exhibition was co-ordinated by Taiwan's Shangqu Zhiye, but for the main curator Mi Yi, the process was not easy.
First of all, abstract art, because there is no specific depiction of "objects" on the picture, makes the audience often think that it is difficult to understand and does not understand what the artist is painting when watching.
Therefore, in the core of the theme, it is necessary to show the characteristics of the artist's eclecticism and integration of Chinese and Western cultures, but also to present the artist's personality full of romantic feelings and lyrical characteristics, and at the same time allow the audience to have another way to read his works.
Mi Yi closely followed the artist Li Lei's direct reference to the source of people's hearts - the characteristic of "poetic abstraction", and named it "Remembering Jiangnan - Scenery Old Zengzhi". The title comes from the words and phrases in the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's "Three Songs of Remembering Jiangnan Words", which breaks the title with poetry, hoping to present a beautiful image of Jiangnan through the tension of the work itself and the poetry collection created by the artist.
In addition, such a theme setting, Mi Yi also considers from the overall form of curation, hoping that the audience can gradually feel the commonality and vitality of the growth of natural things conveyed from the theme text to the content of the work, bringing a new way for the people of Taiwan to perceive "Jiangnan".
In the ingenuity and context presented in the exhibition, Mi Yi cleverly conceived a holistic work that integrates poetry, painting and environment.
Mi Yi proposed a way to divide the work and space different from the traditional exhibition, with the title and the intuitive feeling presented by the work itself, divided into sub-themes of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and exhibited 12 poems created by Li Lei, which will dialogue with the musicality and rhythmic sense of Li Lei's poems with the works, reflecting the artistic conception and poetic atmosphere of Chinese poetry.
【Mi Yi】: In this exhibition of 12 of your poems, we can find that whether it is a text creation, or a paint or a brush, the works present a strong sense of rhythm and emotional tension, can you tell us whether there is a difference between your mood and thought between different forms of creation and media?
[Li Lei]: I have watched a series of documentaries about the older generation of Taiwanese cultural people, including a film by Zhou Mengdi, and I was very touched to see it. The old poet said, "Poetry, above all, tension." Why not painting? The most important thing in a work of art is the tension of emotion, the tension of life. Creating poetry, painting, and music are all the same, and there must be tension. Specific materials and methods are only appearances, and the core is the spirit. Many times the spirit is indescribable and can only be felt. To make people feel the tension, of course, it takes skills, and these skills need to be acquired through long-term learning and training. Of course, there are also very few people who are born with it. I once wanted to create a performance art in Taiwan: I went to the place where Mr. Zhou Mengdi used to set up a book stall to sell my poetry collection for a while to see how it felt. Ha ha......
In the exhibition logic of planning works with four seasons as sub-themes, the works are no longer classified by series, but regard the exhibition as a holistic work, so that the audience can immerse themselves in it, carefully and slowly read and feel the emotional and imaginative space brought by the works.
【Mi Yi】: Looking at your works, whether in the title or on the screen, you can feel a strong sense of "seasonality" and abundant emotions, seasons and natural environment seem to be an important source of inspiration in your creation, can you talk about the change of nature and your connection?
[Li Lei]: Nature is only an opportunity to touch our emotions, what is important is emotion. We are sentient beings, and emotions are where our lives rest.
For me to do art is a path to understanding life, and it can also be said to be a method of practice, ultimately to achieve liberation from life. In fact, there is no life to be liberated, and it is good to be able to appreciate the essence of life.
I have three levels of description of my art: "the poetic expression of the visual, the intuitive experience of life, and the gradual access to truth."
Looking back at our original question, what is the necessity of the existence of art in the current epidemic? In fact, the importance of art does not lie in what is actually depicted on the picture, but in the creation of art, whether it is painting, poetry or music, he connects people's emotions and the broader resonance and connection, to explore the goal of life from one end to the end.
Mi Yi: In the post-epidemic era, the world is trying to coexist with the virus and seek a balance between nature and human beings, at the same time, how do you think about the development or importance of art under the epidemic?
[Li Lei]: We can't call it the "post-epidemic era" at this time, we are still in the midst of the epidemic, limited by the epidemic, and we pray that the epidemic will pass as soon as possible.
It is certain that the artistic creation of the next stage will definitely be affected by the epidemic, but from the perspective of the long cycle of history, the epidemic is only a wave in the long river of history. I value the universality contained in the uniqueness of life, and universality is what I seek.
In such an exhibition, we are pleased to be able to strive for perfection in the face of difficulties, and we are also pleased to be able to bring the artist's works to the public in Taiwan in a new form with the power of curating, so that they can taste the artist's rich poetry and painting works while visiting the four seasons of Jiangnan at one time.
Under the epidemic situation, while we reflect on life through art, we can also have an outlet for expression because of art, and provide a spiritual solution for life suffering from impermanence.