Chinese artist Fu Wenjun latest Digital Pictorial Photography works solo show at Dairy Arts Center
What is photography? When the question asked, everyone will have an image/images appear in their mind. Does the photography art just stop growing, existing as these commonly acknowledge schemes? The artist Fu Wenjun doesn’t think so. Turning away from the recording function of photography widely recognized by the public, Fu Wenjun aims at exploring to place photography art in dialogue with other art media, like Chinese painting, oil painting, print, sculpture etc, so as to extend the possibility of photography art and to provide the viewers different visual experience. Based on these reflections on the photography art, Fu Wenjun put forward concept and practice of “Digital Pictorial Photography”, an innovative photography art style.
On the occasion of the solo show at Diary Arts Center, titled “Is it photography?”, Fu Wenjun will exhibit his latest Digital Pictorial Photography works, which focus on his exploration of photography with the connection of painting, especially with sculpture. Apart from the aesthetic and artistic features, Fu Wenjun’s works show an Eastern philosophy thinking towards the global or regional issues related to history, culture, human life and nature. He brings another angle to view things happening around us and in our world. Is it photography? Yes, it is. It’s not the common one, but brings new interpretation to the definition of photography art.
The works June Snow, Tang Ceramic Horse, Play Shadow, Mysterious Ceramic Figurepresent the rich and colorful history of the city Xi’an, continuously inhabited since about 1100 BC. The objects like pagoda, ceramic art, shadow play show the open attitude towards different religions and integration of Chinese and other ethic culture in a long history happened in this city, as the starting point of the Silk Road, connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia with East Africa, West Asia and Southern Europe.
Under the Earth’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 16,000 ft. This “isolated” wonderland is given not only breathtaking natural landscape, but also the Tibetan people, their lifestyle and their unique culture are very fascinating, which lead to the series Wind from Tibet. The series focuses on the Sho Dun Festival, known as Yogurt festival is an important celebration for the Tibetan lay people as well as the monks usually in the middle of August, after a month’s retreat by the monks who stay within their monasteries to avoid walking on the emerging summer insects and killing them.
The works of Fu Wenjun may confuse the viewers at a first glance if they are photography. In this way the artist called attention to people’s activity of reading images, highlighting processes of translation and interpretation that are shared by artist and viewer alike. In the process these works provoke us to reconsider the degree to which our pictures of reality are shaped by the visual conventions and codes of particular media.
About the artist
Fu Wenjun (b.1955, www,fuwenjun,com), graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and currently lives and works in Chongqing. He creates principally through the art media of photography, installation, sculpture and oil painting, and has put forward the concept and practice of “Digital Pictorial Photography”.
His works embody his reflections on many issues related to the Eastern and Western history, culture and humanity, including the relationship between different cultures in the age of globalisation, the heritage of traditional Chinese culture in a rapidly changing society, industrialisation and urbanisation in Chinese cities.
His solo exhibitions are presented at the National Art Museum of China (Beijing), at the Museu Europeu de Arte Moderno (Barcelona), at the Old Summer Palace Museum (Beijing), at the Today Art Museum (Beijing), at the United Nations Headquarters (New York), at the Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou) and at other international art organizations.
Fu Wenjun exhibited at significant international exhibitions, including the Esposizione Triennale di Arti Visive a Roma, London Art Biennale, Biennale Internazionale d’Arte del Mediterraneo, Triennale dell’Arte Contemporanea, 1st Asia Biennial/5th Guangzhou Triennial, XVIII Bienal de Cerveira, NordArt, collateral exhibition of Biennale di Venezia 2013, entitled Voice of the Unseen Chinese Independent Art 1979/Today.
He has won numerous awards, including the first prize from International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Argentina, “The Best Artist in the World” at Tour Eiffel La Grande Exposition Universelle, International Award “Lorenzo il Magnifico” of X Florence Biennale.
His works are among international organization and museum collections, such as the National Art Museum of China, Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts in France.
About the exhibition
Title: Is It Photography? Fu Wenjun Solo Exhibition
Duration: October 12 – November 25, 2018
Venue: Hand-Rudy & MacMillon Family Gallery, Diary Arts Center
Exhibition reception: October 12 | 5-8 pm
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday: 10 – 6 or later | Saturday: 12 – 7:30 or later | Sunday: 12 – 5:30 or later
Address: 2590 Walnut Street (26th & Walnut) | Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA
Media Contact
Company Name: Fu Wenjun Studio
Contact Person: Studio
Email: Send Email
Phone: 13708199834
State: Chongqing
Country: China
Website: www.fuwenjun.com
