The completion of an exhibition is like a retrospect on the previous stage, and the launch of the next leg of the journey. Art creation is a process about constant self-challenges, as well as keeping a loyal heart.
“Perplexities”come from the inner desire to change oneself. Our study of traditional plastic arts started in the year 2016. The bloodline of Han and Tang dynasties in our body beckoned us. Following its guidance, we initiated a journey of modelling after the antique and searching for the ancient. On our way, there were contradictions and conflicts between the original knowledge system and the newly unveiled Chinese traditional art, which had conjured up collisions difficult to resolve. It is inevitable to experience the process of quantitative to qualitative change in the study of traditional plastic arts, which is our own tradition. After years of training in western modeling, naturally "a Chinese body with a Western brain " came into being. Therefore, it is not easy for the consciousness of thinking to instantly adapt to another modeling system, which is reflected in the creation of works to be quite stiff. Many works are not satisfying even after one year efforts, so that they were demolished in the stage of bozzetto.
As an art practitioner, the best and most direct way to study traditional plastic arts is to return to the on-site reality of traditional plastic arts, conduct grottoes, temples, mausoleum sites and museums field visits, where we can have dialogues with the traditional clay sculptures, stone statues, pottery figurines, woodcarving works of art. With the in-depth study of traditional plastic arts, the way we look at art, even life, has changed. In my opinion, it is more "Chinese " than before. It took us four years to carry out fieldwork and study following the clue of time and region of the spreading route of Buddhism from the west to the east. At the beginning, it was no more than gaining a superficial understanding through cursory observation. However, when we gradually experienced and saw more, we have constructed the historical vein of the traditional Chinese plastic arts in our mind. And it naturally gave rise to our personal preferences or choices, to our interested points and fields that we desire to study in depth and repeatedly. Just as after this solo exhibition, we will relaunch a route from the Central Plains to the Northwest, to revisit the journey and do the research again with a new perspective.
In the process of studying traditional plastic arts, it is not only the plastic arts itself that touches or influences us, but also the relationship between art and life. When we went to different provinces and regions, while looking for traditional plastic arts, we would certainly intervene with life, contact local people, witness their living status, and perceive their way of thinking. The gentle, moderate and upright Shanxi people, the Gelao society and worldly life in Sichuan Province, the simplicity and boldness of the northwesterners and the scenery of lonely smoke in desert are all sources of inspiration.
I think there are always misreading or misunderstanding about tradition. When it comes to "tradition ", we will think it as "retro ". Of course, one reason for making this judgment is "practising and imitating the ancient " actually leads to a dead end. After all, the thousands of years of tradition is a very long process, from the chronological perspective or the changes of artistic style. We need to approach it slowly and integrate with it. When going deep into the research, we will find no way out by imitating or copying blindly, because we are living in the present, and have lost the social and cultural background of the old time. We can’t travel back to the context of the past, either create such works, as art is closely related to its time, culture, life state and so on. We will fall into another trap of misunderstanding to view the tradition from the technical language and appearance. Fortunately, in the course of studying tradition in recent years, our creation has been continuously adjusted and deepened, which is a courageous process of practical transformation.
Traditional art is like a double-edged sword.It has powerful energy, but one may get lost if getting too close to it.Traditional art has always been around us. It is actually the soul of Chinese art, and has been inherited with the change of times. Studying tradition is not new. What matters is from which angle to look at and study it, how to absorb the nutrients suitable for oneself. I never follow the traditional modeling language of a certain period to come out with a creation, because the direct appropriation of the past language symbols will enter another realm of misunderstanding.We infuse our understanding of the traditional artistic spirit and modeling language into the artwork and get it presented imperceptibly, in the hope of "internalization in the mind and externalization in the shape ". Ultimately, the work looks similar to the antique, yet with enhanced feelings of inner spirit. It is exactly what we are looking for, a sensation of moistening things silently.
A life without perplexities begins at forty. The determined mind comes from four years of studying traditional plastic arts. We have unprecedented confidence in our creation, as if having opened a new window to observe the real scenery in China. We will be loyal to our perception, and continue to create more works featuring Chinese motifs. I believe that we will create better Chinese sculptures embodied with oriental spirit!
Li Wei
