On the last day of 2020, the "Witnessing The Worm Book - Xu Demin Writing Art Exhibition" opened in Shanghai M50 Cultural and Creative Park. Xu Demin, who is not amazing in his art, the main work of this exhibition is the new series in 2020, Worm Book.
A copy of the "Bug Book" purchased in 2019 made Xu Demin once again immerse himself in the passion of artistic innovation. Zhu Yingchun, the author of "Bug Book", is a famous designer, there is not a single Chinese character in the book, it is completely the creation of insects, "open half an acre of land, plant five years of vegetables, introduce hundreds of insects, set thousands of words, into a book." Wormmark symbols are free from the function and purpose of ideography and are more natural and free than the bird book and worm book that were used as early fonts.
In Xu Demin's view, each insect trace is a unique abstract painting. "[This book] greatly stimulated my aesthetic and creative desires. From time to time, I will turn a few pages, just like reading a post, reading the creation of the world of the bug book. He wrote. Inspired, inspired and motivated by the book, Xu Demin "worshiped insects as a teacher" and began to create for 4 consecutive months from the Spring Festival in 2020, almost uninterruptedly.
On the afternoon of January 2, an old friend came to the exhibition site to watch the exhibition, "The only calligraphy work I have preserved in my early years is hanging in his house." Xu Demin said with a smile. Xu Demin began to learn calligraphy at an early age, and like many people, he wrote for decades, from calligraphy to cursive. However, because it was imitation rather than original, he could not meet his own artistic standards, so he never called himself a calligrapher. Until the "Broken Book" series, he thought he had finally found a unique style.
The creation of "Residual Book", which began in 2014, was inspired by the text residues in the inscriptions, and the artist saw the trauma of history and the fusion of man and nature from the fragments of the stele that had been handed down from the vicissitudes of the past, "It was worn and weathered, and the fragments that were developed to us were passed on to us by a kind of accident, which has jumped out of the level of being a text carrier and is a kind of re-creation." Xu Demin said. The extension of the visual effects produced by the beauty and strangeness of the stele is integrated by Xu Demin into abstract artistic creation, and he uses reverse pen, reverse pen and pen root to poke, and the lines, touch and texture are very different from traditional calligraphy.
From scrap books to worm books, what attracts Xu Demin is still the magic of abstract art hidden in nature. His concept of insect book is different from the ancient Chinese insect book and bird and insect seal book. Bird and insect books are insect traces into the word, strokes imitate insect traces, is written with text content, and Xu Demin's insect book creation is divided into two categories, one is echoed with the traditional bird and insect book, with insect traces as the writing element into the word, and the other type is purely based on insect traces, for the form and form, transformed into a symbolic totem with the visual form of contemporary abstract art.
In the interview, Xu Demin talked about the originality of contemporary abstract art, the artistic spirit of freedom and rebellion. In his continuous creation for many years, the elements and charm of traditional oriental art have always been an extremely important part, but how to innovate on the basis of tradition, different views have been stimulated by his works again and again.
Xu Demin took the ugly books that arouse heated discussion from time to time as an example, he believes that those works that are included in the ranks of ugly books are basically from the best calligraphers of this era, "only the best calligraphers can enter the camp of deviance and breakthroughs, in order to create experimental and breakthrough works, they are actually some warriors with creative spirit." Again, from this point of view, he said: "My bug books belong to the ugly book column in a way, even uglier than theirs." ”
When traditional art and contemporary art collide, the debate between beauty and ugliness has both its limitations and opportunities for progress and integration. As a researcher of abstract art theory, Xu Demin's creation based on theory is a practice worthy of attention in the wave of contemporary art.