55th Annual NCECA Conference and Exhibition Catalogue - Rivers, Reflections, Reinventions

March 2021

Although the sprawling forms and dribbles of colors in Renqian Yang’s ceramic works sometimes evoke an impression of splashing water or flowing streams, there’s never any symbolic figure that can be designated to a specific motivation or inspiration in her creation. Renqian Yang focuses on a more abstract level of depicting and conveying various feelings shared by humans—“tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on”. She is interested in basic emotions and the concept of antithesis. The typical contrast in most of her works—the sense of freeness and fluidity expressed through the very hard and brittle material, ceramic—also stems from her subconscious addiction to the duality of things and phenomena. During her creation, she attempts to wander through opposite extremes of things and spark inexperienced scintillation by juxtaposing, combining or counterposing them. The representation of her works always appear a state of flowing, sprawling, spreading and diffusing.

ArtPulse

Issue No.34

2021

In ancient times, myths were legendary stories steeped in tradition and came with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation. They are concerned with non-human beings and explain some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature. Some myths are melodramatic and distorted records or interpretations of public memories, somehow reflecting a public awareness of explaining and propagating ideas on events or phenomena. Today’s writers and artists don't usually attempt to create new myths; but due to myths’ classical and enduring nature, contemporary literature and art often leverage them to generate modern content. Their plots are often cited, retold, and elaborated on. They are used for symbolic concepts, inspirations for new storylines, or their mythological characters are repurposed to generate characters anew. Chen Dongfan, a contemporary artist active in both China and New York, incorporates mythic elements in his abstract-impacted expressionistic oil paintings and discovers their new meanings in contemporary life in response to current events and topical opinions.

Tussle Magazine

Oct. 29th, 2020

Meditation is difficult to define, as its practices vary both between traditions and within them. In spite of the countless customs to practice meditation in different cultures, the goal through all kinds of rituals is indubitably consistent – to train attention and awareness, in order to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. No matter what technique individuals use to reach this state, they always pursue a spiritual sublimation to transcendental consciousness. Though as a diligent practitioner of meditation in daily life, artist Shuling Guo never restricts herself to any specific technique or method. She believes the most critical part in her practice is not the way to meditate, but the highest mental state she achieves. Therefore, minimizing superficial forms and concentrating on the most intrinsic essence has become her philosophy in both living and painting. Every year, Shuling Guo spends a lot of time living on a sailing boat and enjoys a simple way of life far from stressful environments. She clears her mind to contemplate herself and the world, at the same time completes her paintings during the voyages.

ArtChina 艺术中国

Oct. 20th, 2020

在不同的习俗中，冥想有十分多样的具体表现，因此难以给出统一的定义。尽管不同文化有无数种各具特色的方式去实行冥想，其通过仪式要达到的目标却总是高度一致的——训练注意力或知觉，以达到一种头脑清明、情绪平静的稳定状态。无论实践者采取何种技巧，最终目的都是追求达到超然意识的精神境界提升。艺术家郭淑玲在日常生活中也是一名勤奋的冥想实践者，然而她的冥想从不局限于某种特定的技巧或形式。她认为冥想的核心是这一过程中所能达到最高的精神境界，而非实行冥想的方式。因此，减少对表象的关注、集中于真正的本质，于她而言既是生活的准则，也是创作的信条。每年，她有许多时间居住于船上，过着远离压力的简单生活。她排除杂念来深思自我和世界，同时在航行的旅途中完成画作。

Nov. 2020

Now—in this moment—the frontier of research and practice of Chinese contemporary art is advancing towards what new directions? Because the mission, responsibility, and ambition of art in our time is different today than at any other point in history, how might artistic pioneers improve their self-awareness and achieve new breakthroughs? With the goal of enhancing and broadening our awareness of art and the ongoing dialogue that surrounds it, I sat down for a conversation with Professor Eugene Yuejin Wang, founder of the Chinese Art Media Lab at Harvard University. The Chinese Art Media Lab (CAMLab) at Harvard University was founded in 2019. In its projects, CAMLab uses cutting-edge multimedia storytelling and multi-sensory technologies to interpret and model both traditional and contemporary Chinese art. Unshackled from analogue forms of curation, CAMLab’s projects engage participants through multisensory and multidimensional spatial journeys to convey critical artistic concepts. Every project is grounded in a process that incorporates extensive research into art history and cognitive styles, with an ultimate goal of inheriting and recreating the most authentic memories of art, culture, and historical narrative. “The past is a foreign country.” British writer L. P. Hartley opened his 1953 book The Go-Between with this short sentence. Since then, this aphorism has been cited by many scholars from different fields of study—including by historian and geographer David Lowenthal as the title of his 1985 book—to encapsulate a sense of unfamiliarity with one’s own cultural inheritance due to obliviousness, as well as a sense of enlightenment relating the known and the unknown while exploring forgotten realms.

CAFA Art Info;

南京大学《艺术理论与艺术史学刊》

Sep. 3rd, 2020

中国艺术最前沿的研究和实践正在沿着怎样的方向前进？这个时代所赋予艺术的使命、责任、追求亦与历史各个阶段皆不相同，探索者们又如何认知自我、实现突破？笔者海良与哈佛大学中国艺术实验室的创始人汪悦进教授就实验室的研究领域、艺术实践进行了对谈。哈佛大学中国艺术实验室CAMLab (Chinese Art Media Lab) 创建于2019年，是整合尖端学术研究与多媒体艺术创意的国际平台，开启中国文化艺术想象时空的跨界实验基地，熔铸精神维度文化体验的艺术展示空间，所作项目多以新媒体技术手段解读并重现中国传统艺术或当代艺术，创建全面多维的空间体验以传达核心艺术观念，并不拘泥于大众约定俗成的艺术形式。项目的艺术观念均来自于长期大量对艺术史及认知方式的学术研究，其核心希望承载并复现传统文化和历史沿革的真正记忆。英国作家L. P. Hartley在1953年出版小说中开篇写道：“昔日如异邦。”后又被David Lowenthal等不同领域学者引用及重新表达，以说明记忆的遗忘令人对原本自身的传承也产生陌生感，而重新探索被遗忘的领域又会不断唤起融会贯通的畅快感。

Tussle Magazine

Apr. 4th, 2020

While constantly being cheered and inspired by nature, Letven’s art practice comes into relatively rational and symbolized forms that reflect her experience, ideology, and pursuit. Her creation includes installations, sculptures, drawings, paintings and artist’s books, exploring a personal language of abstraction through different art mediums, with a focus on her interest in exploring and interpreting natural form, pattern, repetition, and rhythm through her reductive creative process. Letven refers to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's theory that there exists an acausal connection between two or more psychic and physical phenomena or meaningful coincidence because it expresses her strong belief in an omnipresent, deeper order of life rather than randomness. In essence, harboring a positive attitude towards the destruction, turbulence, and transformation of the world, Letven attempts to create joyful and exuberant artworks, in order to uplift her audience with peacefulness and optimism. 

ArtChina 艺术中国

Mar. 24th, 2020

大自然为勒特文源源不断地提供着慰藉和创作灵感。而她的艺术创作形式则表现得相对理性和符号化，反映着她的经历、意识和追求。她的创作包括装置、雕塑、绘画和艺术家书籍等，于不同的艺术媒介之间探索着她独特的个人抽象语言。她对于探索和表现自然的形式、图像、重复和韵律有着独到的兴趣，以去繁就简的方式进行着创作。瑞士心理学家卡尔·扬的理论认为两个或以上的心理和物理现象，或有意义的巧合之间，一定存在着因果联系。勒特文引用这一理论来表达她坚信的原则：比起完全的随机性，世上的事物之间一定始终存在着深层的规律和联系。本质上，她怀着积极的态度去看待世上一切破坏、动荡和变动的现象，致力于创作出昂扬的、充满活力的艺术作品，希望鼓舞人们拥有平和乐观的内心。

Tussle Magazine

Oct. 4th, 2019

To adore spirits in ordinariness; to pursue eternity from the minute. Living in reality, pursuing the ultimate ideality beyond reality has always been a lifelong goal of most artists in history. Artist Michael Eade's longing for nature and contemplation on ideality is reflected on every detail of his work and life. Eade's art studio is filled with gadgets he has collected everywhere in his daily life. His collection includes multi-colored pebbles, dried rose petals, accessories people have lost at Sunday markets, and shiny crystal fragments. Eade has also built up a tiny shrine in the corner of his studio using collected elements — comprised of an abandoned Asian Buddha statue, glittering side ornaments, and a small vintage mirror in the back. Eade's philosophies have continuously impacted his art creations. His works depict the cycles of nature in nonexistent worlds uninfluenced by the passing of time. Life, death, and rebirth are his constant themes — alternately or concurrently.

ArtChina 艺术中国

Oct. 4th, 2019

在日常中仰望神性，自细微中追寻永恒。立于现实之中，追求现实之上的终极理想之状态，一直是古今艺术家的终身目标。例如波提切利在《春》与《维纳斯的诞生》中以细致妩媚的笔触描绘出众神明身处自然之中的形象，体现波氏对于理想之美的想象，令作品散发出幻境的、超越的、非物质的精神气息。对这一超然境界的追求，为许多艺术家所继承和探索，在今天的当代艺术界也是备受青睐的创作主题。当代蛋彩画与陶瓷艺术家迈克尔·伊德对于理想自然的向往和深思，体现在他的作品和日常生活的每一处细节。伊德的生活哲学潜移默化地影响着他的创作。他的作品描绘着架空世界中独立于时间的自然循环，死亡与新生一直是交替或同时出现的主题，不断地出现在他的蛋彩画与陶瓷雕塑中。

ArtChina 艺术中国

Jun. 19th, 2019

谈思远在成长中恰好经历了信息革命的时代，从小就一直受到现实世界与虚拟世界交汇所带来的变革与冲击。种种冲击和变化并未令他在眼花缭乱中失去创作的务实性，而是为他提供了抓取各种灵感的来源。他使用手喷漆作画，这或多或少与汽车模型制作的方式有所关联；他的许多创作是对一件件独立新闻事件的解构和重组，很可能来自于他在新闻界的经历所带来的视角。而他对身边的空间关系着迷，一直致力于探索真实空间和虚拟空间交叉的影响，则是源于他身处信息快速更迭革新的时代中所引发的观察。

ArtChina 艺术中国

Apr. 17th, 2019

飞行在万米高空的越洋飞机上，或是坐在熙熙攘攘的日常通勤火车上，此时此刻正在进行迁徙的人类有百万之多。庞大的基数令动态的行为变成了一种相对稳定的状态，而这其中每个个体的运动仿佛变得无足轻重起来。旅行的意义是什么？迁徙带来怎样的变化？动荡不安的环境中，个人又将何去何从？艺术家韩沁着迷于这样的事实，不间断地思考着动态变化的环境给人们带来的精神影响。她的绘画作品《旅行的形状》始于她在火车上观察旅客的经验；而蓝晒，手绘和丝绸微喷作品《迁徙时代》系列，其构思则诞生于她的一次长途飞行中。从她的明晰、单一层次的表达形式到有叙事性、有空间感的多层次表达形式的进化，不难看出，不论是对人类集群的认识还是迁徙形式的思考，她的表达都在渐渐地复杂化、多维化，并开始在作品本身的语境里记录下时间流逝的痕迹。