Omens: New Works by Wu Jian’an

Foreword

Wu Jian’an’s imagination has always operated simultaneously in multiple dimensions. Likewise, his works also simultaneously expand the viewer's artistic imagination in various directions. He travels between words and images while adding a layer of storytelling above figuration and abstraction. He introduces sound and performance to break away from mere visuals and viewing. He freely traverses temporal divides, instantaneously taking viewers from today’s world back to mysterious primeval times. His art spans various media and styles: painting, sculpture, paper cut, and installation, all of which provide him with a varied vocabulary yet also arouse his desire to cross boundaries–to integrate, transgress and disarrange.

Omens are mythical. They are occurrences of strange phenomena that portend major events, either natural disaster or dynastic change, or even the end of humankind and the earth. The concept and logic of omens transcend cultural and geographical spheres; their language is that of ancient scientific theory and political philosophy. In all such cases, omens involve the imagination of the unknown and the future. From this perspective, it is worth considering the relationship between omensand art, especially contemporary art, because art is always related to imagination, and true contemporary art always aims to create a trajectory to the unknown and the future.

In this way this exhibition establishes a unique link between contemporary thinking and the mythical world. The four themes presented here are all rooted in ancient Chinese legends: the headless giant Xing Tian who fought against the Supreme Divinity, grotesque animalsfrom the Classic of Mountains and Seas that make strange sounds, the catastrophic ending for the boy assassin Mei Jianchi, the Coin Trees of the Han dynasty that have inspired Wu Jian’an’s Daydream Forest. Like cultural genes, these stories and characters have been passed down and reborn inWu’s art.

WU Hung (curator)

October, 2016