In China's rich traditional culture,
We tend to see handicraft
complement and influence each other in development,
《嘉人Marie Claire》5月刊的
The JOURNAL栏目,
Through the eyes of two contemporary artists,
Explore how they are:
the balance maintained between two or more processes,
Seeing the artist maintain the uniqueness of each craft,
also gradually merge them further,
creating new art forms,
In turn, traditional handicrafts are transformed into works that carry the concept of contemporary art.
Weng Jijun's Untitled|Untitled works use lacquer, ramie, and gold leaf techniques
In the early 90s, a solo trip to Paris was an opportunity for Weng Jijun and an inspiration in the dark. At that time, art education in China made many artists not understand the history and new process of European and American art. In addition to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and other well-known attractions, various art galleries and galleries are frequent places in his Paris itinerary. It was at this time that he discovered that art is no longer just a representation of life, but also a reflection and reflection on society by the artist himself. Artistic creation is no longer limited to paper and easel paintings, but can be comprehensively expressed with many unimagined materials and media. This seems to be a definite inspiration that inspired Weng Jijun's later creations.
Weng Jijun is painting an unfinished work
From paper to lacquer to a contemporary narrative of craftsmanship
"People who study art have a special feeling for materials," Weng Jijun remembers when he first came into contact with lacquer in an elective course at a university, and he felt that lacquer was a very special material, "because there are many variables in the painting process, and like ceramics, unexpected changes will occur in every link." It can be flowing, viscous, and can also be mixed with different materials to create different shaping forces. "It can be molded, it can be pinched, and after it is thoroughly shaded, it will be cured very firmly. For Weng Jijun, this is a rare quality of other materials, so he began to slowly use lacquer to paint.
For him, the creation of art has always been a linear process. Like all artists of his generation, his artistic creation also started from realism, from Renaissance creations to Holbein's drawings, which were the objects of his initial interest and study. As time went on, he discovered that art was not just a representation of life, and that surrealist brushwork entered his concept, and he began to travel from time and space to a more abstract expression.
Weng Jijun uses abrasives to polish unfinished works and dig out parts that need to be inlaid with other materials
The Buddha head series is a transformation of him, which is not a continuation of the traditional aesthetic experience of composition, but a more symbolic expression. "I want to speak and express through the materials themselves, so I will focus on the two aspects of the physical nature and cultural properties of the materials, so as to focus on the universe, human beings and life, which is what I want to show in the recent 'Agglomeration' series. ”
Weng Jijun's experiments and explorations in lacquer have always accompanied Weng Jijun's creative process, and he has gradually realized the inheritance of the material itself and the traditional Chinese context—inclusiveness, modesty, plasticity, rigidity and softness. But he prefers to use craftsmanship as a tool for creation rather than a inheritor of craftsmanship, "All creations need a medium of expression, just like a fashion designer needs to build on fabrics to express." Therefore, whether it is an artist or a craftsman, it is necessary to express it with craftsmanship. In this point of view, there is no one who is more important, but the position of thinking is not the same, and the inheritor of the craft may be more focused on how to refine the technique. Artists, on the other hand, focus more on how to connect the craft with the current life and times after mastering it, so as to realize their own artistic expression. ”
This also seems to be a higher requirement, understanding, deconstruction, and reorganization. In the "Agglomeration" series of works, Weng Jijun transforms the "texture pattern" of the "rhino leather paint" in the traditional lacquer art into the exploration of the origin of life and the depiction of the image form of the universe, making this traditional technique a "new" language in the current era, "Such a creation must understand the craft, understand its ins and outs, from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty to the present, how to interpret the traditional exquisite skills into their own things, this is something that artists should think about." ”
Detail of Weng Jijun's work
One life is two, two is three, and three is everything
Weng Jijun's exploration of craftsmanship is a slow, long-term process, and when we ask how to find inspiration in the vast traditional crafts, his answer seems to be simple and straightforward – rely on feeling. It's like flipping through a book of techniques, opening a book at any time will have hundreds of introductions to traditional techniques, but people's energy is limited, and they can't read every one seriously.
"In fact, this also requires the artist to maintain a sensitivity to things, and only in this way can he inherit and extend it, of course, not to imitate, but to recreate." When it comes to the combination and collocation between materials, he compares it to nature, "Everything in the world is interdependent and interconnected, and wood, stone, metal, etc., together constitute the space of life." ”
Weng Jijun's material box, the work will use a variety of different materials combined with lacquer
Therefore, in his creation, he does not simply superimpose the two materials crudely, but regards the world as a community, looking for the connection between each other, so as to complete the visual manifestation and expression, "Why do we want to do the combination? In fact, I am thinking more about the necessity of the survival of a community, shrinking the large space of the universe into a small space such as a 'work of art'." I combine lacquer with modern acrylic and lamps, which actually connects the different points in the progress of human civilization, so as to grow more ideas. ”
One life is two, two is three, and three is everything, which seems to be an exhibition of Eastern philosophy. For Weng Jijun, he does not seem to oppose the East and the West, but instead seeks new and self-expression in the flow and convergence, "What remains in the tradition must be inherited and learned, and at the same time, we also have a yearning for the unknown and mysterious." So in my work, you can feel the traditional techniques here, but you can't find the same thing in a museum. We need to invisibly perpetuate the brilliance created by our ancestors, and at the same time give it a new lease of life. ”
Weng Jijun's 2024 work Untitled is being presented in Lueur des Astres, a solo exhibition at Galerie Dumonteil Paris
Just like the theme of his new solo exhibition, "Lueur des Astres", his works are always concerned with processes and traces: "The history of human civilization is in fact constantly moving forward on two legs, one step forward, one step behind the other." Another step forward, one leg behind the other. Therefore, what you present must be connected with the previous things and complement each other. ”
This seems to be the same as Weng Jijun's experiment with lacquer in the studio. Each dot represents a "trace", and each color, material, or texture is added, and the lacquer will glow with a new color on the basis of the previous one, and eventually become a part of the work. "Artistic creation is also a combination of sensibility and rationality, which as a superstructure grasps the overall pattern and systematically completes thinking from the context of history. But the implementation in the work is emotional, because every layer of change is unpredictable. "Sensibility and reason intersect with each other, leaving traces on the work.
Traces of oxidation of lacquer
During the creative process, Weng Jijun records the colors and materials used in each layer
In these traces, we also see the diversity and complexity of lacquer art, as well as the binary opposition between artists and craftsmen, tradition and modernity, East and West, in which Weng Jijun leisurely wanders, telling a new dimension of technique with inheritance, creativity and reinvention.
Weng Jijun's "Gathering Sun and Planet Series"
When He Yuefeng was shortlisted for the 2024 LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize, everyone often used the word "collision" to describe his work Bamboo Rock. The work is a combination of two traditional handicrafts, bamboo weaving and lacquer, in which the two materials are intertwined to form the shape of a stone, and the contrast between strength and lightness clearly shows the tension between the different materials. But in his own view, it's more like a fusion, "In nature, these two materials exist like brothers." There are sumac trees in the bamboo forest, and there will be bamboo forests between the sumac trees, which is the inspiration that nature gave me, and it is not that I forcibly grafted, it is like this. Therefore, his creation is more like a process of following the trend. What he cares about is not the final result, but the flow of time and the expansion of thinking in the creative process.
He Yuefeng's Bamboo Rock, which combines bamboo weaving with lacquer to create a stone-like shape, has been shortlisted for the 2024 LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize
A third of happiness
One-third happiness is a concept proposed by He Yuefeng. That is, the ideal state of a person is one-third of the time to work, one-third of the time to create, and one-third of the time to study. In these three contexts, people can constantly examine themselves and adjust themselves to see the wider world from different perspectives.
But before achieving one-third of happiness, He Yuefeng was also a person who almost lost his life. As a product designer, like most people, he has to go back and forth between different projects, designs, and business logic. With more and more repetitive work and less time to live and study, he realized that he needed to adjust the pace of the moment, "I began to control the proportion of work and improve efficiency, so as to leave more time to do what I like, so that I can be quiet and relaxing, instead of just working on some projects non-stop." ”
It was at this stage that he began to encounter a series of handicrafts, "I usually like to use my hands, and I often make food. One day I went to the mall and couldn't buy a spoon I wanted, so I started from utensils and home furnishings, wondering how to make a bowl and a spoon, a table and a chair by myself. Unlike many inheritors who make a living from handicrafts, for He Yuefeng, it's more of a hobby. He never seems to have a clear goal of learning a certain craft, but follows his feelings, and continues to explore and play with the beauty of the craft that spans time.
He Yuefeng's work "Stone for the Clouds"
"Because it's not my profession, I don't have to make a living from it, so I don't stick to what the artisans are doing right now. I have more energy to go back to the roots and explore the ideas and logic behind the craft. I wonder what is the origin of it, why is there such a craft that has been handed down?", So, whenever I accidentally encounter a favorite craft, He Yue Feng rents a space in this village or city, just like a vacation to observe, feel, and understand new techniques.
Craftsmen also often give He Yuefeng a new perspective and understanding of life, "Many handicrafts may have been eliminated by the times, but they will still adhere to the belief in their hearts, whether they can sell it or not, that is, they are desperately crafting to complete more perfect works." "It seems to be more of a play with the process of time," so much so that I became more and more fond of the process of spending time. I like that kind of state, there are no distractions, no scheming, no social commitments, and all that gives you is the freedom to immerse yourself in the technique. In this process, He Yuefeng will also examine himself and doubt himself, but this will also make him enter a new state, a new calm, "When the silence reaches a certain level, I believe that the answers to many questions will naturally appear in front of you." ”
He Yuefeng's bamboo weaving process
At most, he would go back and forth between several studios, lacquer, pottery, bamboo weaving...... This is what he has been researching and learning over the years, "When you understand more things, you will not delve into a technical level, but will naturally do some cross-border cooperation." The same is true for the creation of Bamboo Rock. Bamboo Rock
Bamboo and sumac trees are living objects for He Yuefeng. "I have lived in bamboo forests since I was a child, and when I grew up, I often worked with bamboo, which is a resilient and compatible material, and also contains the long-term spiritual sustenance of Oriental people. Urushi is also a plant with a long history, and people have been matching these two materials thousands of years ago, with bamboo as the inside and lacquer as the outside. Now, I have only made some changes to their combination, transforming the whole enveloping lacquer into a preserved part, and thus an unprecedented and new object has been created. ”
He Yuefeng is preparing the tile ash that has been smeared on the work
He Yuefeng scrapes ash on unfinished works
He grew up in the countryside, and when he was a child he ran around the mountains. Time seems to be always slow, from early morning to sunset, so that he has enough time to observe the changes of everything in the world, but also let him realize the connotation of every grass and tree is a living thing, to this day, he will still remember the experience of herding sheep when he was a child, "Sheep eat grass in the grass all over the mountains, but it always seems to be unfinished, and the grass will grow one by one." "As he grew up, he realized that unlike many destructive minings, this is a sustainable state of life. The four seasons change in cycles throughout the year, and everything is like a cycle, repeatedly.
And this is also the creative principle he practiced, in his works we rarely see metal products and indecomposible materials, "I prefer materials and processes with temperature and affinity, after all, every grass and tree is taken from nature, of course, it must also be returned to nature, with the least destructive force to create." Therefore, he once planned the "Meeting Valley Art Festival" in the natural environment of the countryside, and all the artworks were placed in the natural space, so that nature itself became a natural frame and raw material for creation. After a few years, when we look at this work again, it has decayed and turned into fertilizer, so that new bamboo can grow again", compared to permanent, non-collapsing, non-rotten artworks, He Yuefeng hopes to respect nature, "Creation is only a phased operation on nature, and in the end nature will still repair it." ”
Detail of the Bamboo Rock work, the overall structure of the work is made of hexagonal weaving, partially mounted in linen, painted with red lacquer, and then carefully sanded to form a glossy surface
The flow and transformation of time
From He Yuefeng's perspective, Chinese craftsmanship has always been very contemporary, "not that what belongs to the 21st century or the present is called contemporary, but the concepts and cognitions behind it." He used the example of bamboo, which he is most familiar with, and at first people thought it might be "practical", so people used their brains to weave a better tool. But until today, the "practical" attribute of bamboo has been replaced. When we look at its contemporaneity again, it shifts from "practicality" to "appreciation", and it transcends the epochality as a representative of remembrance and faith, thus having more contemporary value.
He Yuefeng scrapes ash on unfinished works
He Yuefeng uses sandpaper to polish the paint
Just like a handicraft will continue to have new interpretations with the flow of time. He Yuefeng also does not like to look at problems from a professional perspective, he feels that this restricts people's diverse and fluid identities, "I am not only a designer, but also an artist, a curator, and a collector. It is impossible for people to think about life in only one context, especially in the context of the current times, and we seem to be more embracing the information provided by the times. Between tradition and modernity, each learns from its own strengths and finds its own path. ”
Just like nature and time, they always leave their mark on the work. Life is always flowing, inspiring countless new art and thinking with experiences and feelings.
Planning, co-ordination / Liu Zhuang
摄影/裴瞳瞳采访、撰文/zhuni