Descrizione Opera / Biografia
Yan Shu, one of the most noted litterateurs in Northern Song dynasty, wrote a line which endured through ages: “Last night, the west wind withered green trees. Ascending the tall building alone, I had a full view of the road that stretched far way.” A modern scholar Wang Guowei once cited this sentence as a metaphor to describe the mental state that one had to go through in order to be successful.
The reason why so many Chinese people love this line is because there is a vivid dichotomy in it: the withered trees remind people that time is fleeting. However, seen from a distance, the depressed scene is but only one part of the view. Long as the way is, people will keep on searching the unknown.
Conceptual photography “A Wind from Yesterday” presents a similar tension: the image of euphrates poplar, a plant that grows in northwest China, is displayed on a page made from woodblock printing in Song Dynasty. People can sense a vitality which has lasted for over a thousand years. The truth is that withered euphrates poplars stubbornly stand in the desert. Books of Song woodblock printing are regarded as priceless cultural heritages by Chinese people for their complicated and exquisite craftsmanship. Two seemingly lifeless old forms are brought back to life in superposition, which conveys the very aesthetic purpose of postmodernism. History is not always heavy and depressing, it can also be fresh. The artist captures a glimpse of the history, but his final aim is to direct our attention to the future.
Fu Wenjun
www.fuwenjun.com
1955 born in Chongqing, China
Graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
Currently lives and works in Chongqing, China
Selected solo exhibitions
“Thoughtful Images --- Fu Wenjun’s Abstract Photography Exhibition” (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2015)
“Graphic Expression of Spirit” (The Old Summer Palace, Beijing, 2010)
“Show of Formality” (Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2010)
Selected collective exhibitions
Triennale dell’Arte Contemporanea (Veronafiere, Verona, 2016)
1st Asia Biennial/5th Guangzhou Triennial (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2015)
XVIII Bienal de Cerveira (Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal, 2015)
Nord Art 2015 (Büdelsdorf, Germany, 2015)
Photo Shanghai (Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, 2014)
Voice of the Unseen Chinese Independent Art 1979/Today (Venice Art Biennale, Venice 2013)
Conceptual Renewal: A Short History of Chinese Contemporary Photography (Si Shang Art Museum, Beijing, 2012)
4th Guangzhou Triennial (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2012)
Salon des indépendants, (Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, Paris, 2010)
Welding --- International Tour Exhibition of the Chinese Contemporary Art in the First Ten Years of the 21st Century (Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, the Hague, 2010)
35th Japan AJAC Yokohama International Overseas Artists Exhibition (Yokohama Art Museum, Yokohama, 2009)
