Chambers Fine Art is delighted to announce its participation in ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, 2015. Dedicated since 2000 to the promotion of contemporary art from China, this year we are excited to exhibit a solo-presentation of new works by Wu Jian’an.
Born in Beijing in 1980, Wu Jian’an graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2005. Since Daydreams, his first exhibition at Chambers Fine Art in 2006, he has won wide acclaim for the way in which he uses techniques derived from the traditional art of paper cutting in increasingly ambitious multi-layered works and installations.
In addition to his enthusiasm for “anything related to old China,” not the classical China of calligraphy and literati culture but paper cuts, shadow puppets, the Dunhuang Grottoes, frescoes, carved stones etc., Wu has also found inspiration in a wide range of esoteric visual and literary materials as he systematically elaborates the thematic content and technical complexity of his work. In contrast to The Heaven of Nine Levels (2008) and Transformation (2014), both of which responded to specific mythological and philosophical sources, the new group of paper cuts completed in 2015 refers to this material in more general terms.
Now it is the Energy behind these particular manifestations that Wu aims to express. Multiple layers of writhing figures and abstract forms, hand-dyed and dipped in wax, converge in brightly-hued pulsating forms against neutral backgrounds. Only partially attached to the flat surface of the mount, many of the hundreds of component parts project into three-dimensional space, further enlivening the vibrancy of Wu’s mysterious images. Differentiated only by presence or absence of color, central image and background are composed from identical elements and depend on each other. As revealed by the titles of the individual works, Wu draws attention to various kinds of energy, the energy of the heart, of colors and different sources uniting to create an even stronger force.
Wu Jian’an is currently Associate Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Experimental Art, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. His most recent exhibition was Transformation- A Tale of Contemporary Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage at Prince Gong’s Mansion, Beijing. His work is also currently featured in an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.