What is missing - a brief analysis of Fu Wenjun's "Stamps" series of works
Text / Liao Sha Ni (Researcher and Curator, Guangdong Museum of Art)
"Stamps - The Great Sphinx", Fu Wenjun, Digital Painting Photography, 80x100cm, 2014
Stamps - David, Fu Wenjun, Digital Photography, 80x100cm, 2014
No country can inherit a tradition that has remained unchanged in the long course of cultural development. Both in the East and the West, tradition and classicism have become ambiguous or even disappeared under the erosion of business and consumer culture. At the same time, the cultural identity of each nation as an independent individual has become precarious under the cultural colonization of powerful countries.
In the discussion of culture and history, Fu Wenjun can be regarded as a dedicated researcher. At the parallel exhibition of the Venice Biennale "Untentified Voices" last year (2013), I was deeply impressed by Mr. Fu Wenjun's work. Although I had also paid attention to his creation before, after the Venice Biennale, I realized that Fu Wenjun has a distinct main line from his early creation to the present, that is, reflection on culture and history in art.
In his Stamp series, the artist cleverly blends stamps with classic images from Eastern and Western cultures. It's just that the classic way of appearing on camera is missing.
"Stamps - Dunhuang Ladies", Fu Wenjun, digital painting photography, 80x100cm, 2014
"Stamps - Statue of Dunhuang", Fu Wenjun, digital painting photography, 80x100cm, 2014
In my opinion, the essence of Fu Wenjun's creation is the borrowing and interpretation of the medium of stamps.
As we all know, stamps are issued by the state, its existence has the following characteristics, first of all, its design is usually a symbol of national sovereignty, such as Qing Dynasty stamps mostly use dragons as patterns, dragons embody supreme authority, but also the symbol of the nation. Secondly, the stamp itself is a commodity, that is, the calculation of postage. Moreover, it became at some point a tool for propaganda and indoctrination, such as the fascists creating a cult of personality for Hitler by printing a large number of stamps, Kim Jong-il, Stalin, and so on.
In the Stamps series, the artist replaces the contents of the stamps with "mutilated, broken classics of tradition", such as David without genitals, Mona Lisa with lost eyes, sphinxes with lost sniffles, and grotto statues with missing palms.
This medium and such a theme design can be described as ingenious.
From a global perspective, both the East and the West have become incomplete under the strong attack of commercial culture. Such a defect can be understood as a form that does not have full content or a fractured inheritance. It can even be said that it is the cultural attitude of the whole people, just some time ago, the release of the iPhone 6 really surprised me, people can take out tens of thousands of yuan to rush to buy a communication tool, but few people are willing to spend hundreds of yuan to see a Shakespeare play.
Therefore, the weakness of culture is not weak in its connotation itself, but in the attitude of people. As presented in the "Stamps" work, the classic seems to exist only as a form, and people only taste or one-sidedly accept its connotations, all of which lead to the slow loss of the essence of traditional culture.
"Stamp - Mona Lisa" Fu Wenjun Digital Painting Photography 80x100cm 2014
"Stamps - Rock Carvings on Cliffs", Fu Wenjun, Digital Painting Photography, 80x100cm, 2014
In addition, starting from the Chinese national individual, there is another obvious deficiency, that is, the lack of Chinese sexual cultural identity.
Western culture dominates the spread of culture around the world, while China has undergone changes in industrialization and urbanization. Although for a long time, there have been people who have insisted on the emphasis on traditional classics, but these are particularly incongruous to the tone of the overall society.
In the process of global integration, the West inadvertently became the yardstick, which inevitably destroyed the religious and cultural diversity of the East and the West. Over time, it will lose its cultural charm and Chinese identity. Cultural identity implies collective spiritual centripetal force, what else can a nation without spiritual centripetal force do?
"Stamps - Grotto Statues" Fu Wenjun Digital Painting Photography 80x100cm 2014
Stamps - Venus, Fu Wenjun, Digital Photography, 80x100cm, 2014
If China wants to occupy the dominant force of culture in globalization, the most important thing to do is to clarify the position and identity of Chinese culture, rather than blindly Westernization.
In addition, both the East and the West should deeply understand the traditional cultural connotation and ideological implications on the platform of equal value, rather than one-sided and limited inheritance. There are no borders in the contribution of cultural achievements, and we must avoid the dilemma of the times brought about by selfishness and narrow national consciousness.
As shown in Fu Wenjun's works, the current cultural inheritance is more of an imitation of traditional skills or classical tastes, and we should find what we are missing...