Artist Interview
Q: How do you understand the inherent meaning of "youth" in the current context?
Wenjue: "The ability to simultaneously employ both first-person and third-person perspectives."
Q: In your creative career, what serves as the "core"? And why have you made this your creative focal point?
Wenjue: I particularly resonate with the concept of a "hypothetical bag" or "transformation box" I once heard about. It’s an imaginary bag that can hold an infinite number of things. I use this bag to collect the information I need and receive, then place it into the transformation box for processing. From this emerges something like the outline of an "embryo," which I begin to polish, gradually shaping its form until the work is completed. This "hypothetical bag" contains "potential infinity."
Q: How do "materials" influence the form and content of your work?
Wenjue: My creations primarily revolve around the medium of oil painting because I deeply appreciate tactile textures. Oil painting allows me to express the states I envision. Through its layer-by-layer buildup, akin to the formation of flesh, the imagery gradually emerges and grows.
Q: In the current historical context, how do you understand the "intrinsic value" of art?
Wenjue: To echo Fujimoto Tatsuki’s notion of "fantastical hues," art exists in the interstice between reality and fantasy, bringing the two into contact while simultaneously constructing one world after another within that space.
*The exhibition is academically supported by the Chinese Modern Art Archive (Centre for Visual Studies, Peking University)
