Here, in the double portraits of the Cuspinian’s wedding by Lucas Cranach the Elder, there is full of symbols of symbolism. As a humanist, the husband worn a red beret alluded his identity as a doctor, and the parrot to in the rear of his wife also echoed the bride 's chastity and virtue by religious associations. The water appeared in the center of the picture and the burning jungle behind, represented two genders and harmonious symbiosis of fire and water to describe the relationships between husband and wife and in the metaphor of Immaculate advocated by Christianity. The owl and the prey, the swan and the eagle on the top of the picture are also the themes that humanist scholars love, referring to courage and wisdom. Apollo, the goddess of Muse and the stars that represent Epiphany, interspersed the background. These mythical figures also have their own symbolic meanings, which are closely combined with the spiritual melody advocated by the society at that time.
The process of interpreting this work fascinates me, and I see a generality across culture, as I understand the works from a symbolic point of view. In the East, a lotus leaf and a bamboo, also has its specific meaning, not only the representation of nature. Especially in literary works, the use of metaphor to innuendo particular information is everywhere. The act of giving specific meaning through figurative or abstract symbols runs through civilization, and it also includes a society where our information explode and entertaining causes death today. But is there a change in motivation? Once these were used as a manifestation of power, to admonish people or to advocate virtue, what consciousness do people have when they use these symbols nowadays? When we watch historical works, because of lack of certain background knowledge, those symbols that were obvious at that time may have only decorative effect. But even with abundant historical knowledge, who can say that they do understand these works correctly? This applies not only to the west, but also to our own culture. Legends, strange stories, and all kinds of information are mixed together. Why were ancient people obsessed with painting bamboo and drawing mountains and waters? Why can some of our sculptures find references in Central Asia? Sometimes the process is more attractive than the conclusion.
Due to this interest, I often use many symbolic elements in my works to create the contents of a picture in a stacked way. Different layers integrate together in a transparent overlay and spalling to get organic connections, and this process naturally produces an effect, which relates to individual and the overall. This is a process of communication, and I have designed a clue to be interpreted differently by the audience. The expression in this way, a large amount of information we contact every day, regardless of its value or not, and emotional changes the information brings as well as changes in knowledge level can all be originally reflected in the works, while my unique perspective of women also naturally intertwine in the works. I have no paper drawing, and specifically I have no pencil and charcoal tools to outline the general composition in the base material. The setting of the picture is an ongoing process, loosely outlining approximate location and contour only with chalk and was completely swept away in the late coloring. After completion of the background color, I use chalk to loosely mark the position of the background and generally mark the position and dynamic of figures and then cover them when finishing the painting. Each layer is operated like this and occasionally there are a couple of stronger chalk lines left, but it is limited to this. There are many uncontrollable factors in the picture, so it is the inevitable to re adjust the composition in the late main. Most of time, I have to spend a lot of time with my favorite details covered, but this is not the thing, after all, and all of these bases are to serve the overall content, and these covered parts have become my reservation information and clues.
I have been interested in the artists of the Northern Renaissance, such as Bosch, Bruegel, Lucas Cranach, Petrus Christus and so on. In particular, Lucas Cranach’s exaggerate character expression, the use of lines and facial treatment of almost illustrations. I do not feel that I am estranged from his works for centuries but very familiar, instead. His work has a melancholy temperament. Although the human body violates anatomy, it is inexplicable in harmony with each other, which is an extra reference for my creation. The process of trying to understand the Bosch works is also full of accidents and surprises, combining religious reform, geographical discovery and language evolution.
In my creation, things that can be seen everywhere provide a lot of inspiration. I often break up the elements of plants, animals, bones and so on, and even make abstract generalizations to get a new method of interpretation. In comparison with previous years when I may still be exploring the stage of personal language, in this period, I am relatively quiet and have a clearer direction for the topics I’m interested in. The process is not easy, and today I still keep constantly asking myself questions; perhaps it is also the pleasure of the art industry.
In 2017 I went to Germany when Cassell Literature Exhibition began. It became bustling in this small town that ordinarily is visited by few people. The streets there were full of artistic circles of pilgrims and sociality, and if you found a German restaurant for dinner, maybe a group of art teachers from America were at the table nearby talked with eloquence; behind you, some Chinese were yelling and drinking German beer with a plate of pork elbow full of grease. Walking the streets, perhaps you could see art performance on a corner, so lively. Originally I intended to buy a two-day ticket to satisfy my curiosity, but I came back hometown in the next day. There is no doubt that I have seen a lot of the works of my own interest, but in a certain time, I had a very impetuous feeling like shopping in the popular tourist attractions, unable to stay any longer.
After Basel, I returned to Munich and Berlin, and fortunately I enjoyed myself of art in the two cities. Around Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, there is a collection of many art museums from classics to experiments. As for Munich 's Alte Pinakothek, I felt it slowly at the atmosphere where staff is much more than the audience after visiting many masterpieces, which is the feeling never before. Soon after I came back, I started Vanity series. The reason why I choose this word as the name of this series is its relationship with vanitas. Vanitas, as a category of Western still life painting with advisory and religious functions, I feel the spiritual meaning it conveys has something in common with our Eastern nihilism. Compared to the difference, I care more about the similarities, and starting from my own experience, I think that is the common method to coexist in the fierce collision of different culture. Thinking about how to use a method of irony and approximately joking to express our present state, the element balloon goes into my concerns: it is playful, light, flashy, but also extremely unstable that cannot withstand a single blow. The next is to determine the different space to expand the composition, and finally I create a series of this works after referring to traditional and abstract generalizations of a number of portraits.
In other group of works, I pay more attention to female physical characteristics and external relations, about both background elements and endless cycles. For example, in the work "Croquet ", reproduction and elapse are tangled in plant patterns of the background, while in Fig, the fig tree in the white symmetry background is implied life cycles. I want to convey information in a sensually confused form, which also comes from my own physical and psychological experience. But I can 't control whether the information resonates with the audience. A series of small events in the past two years are the causes of my changes at the surrounding views. The future is uncertain and we must seize the moment, which particularly I shall count it as a personal favor.
People who engage in creation would struggle with their works’ uniqueness. In my opinion, as long as the people are the social animals, they could not say their things are unique, and especially in the visual field, it must be accumulated results by layers. However, everyone is unique and we must incorporate our own experiences and feelings in the process of exploration, so that’s why the art often gets newer and very attractive.
Yan Wei
February 2018