Interview location: Art Age magazine
Li Guohua (hereinafter referred to as Li): Many of the creative elements of your works involve ancient myths, such as the characters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Why do you trace and re-create the ancient myths?
Wu Jian'an (hereinafter referred to as Wu): I am only interested in some of the images of ancient myths, which is probably related to the fairy tales I read when I was a child. These stories often jump out impression affect my mood and judgment, after many repeated, they finally become a energetic core, rooted in the spiritual world; and, middle school I can not compatible with the environment, perhaps because of adolescence, I do not like textbooks, especially to politics, which left many negative impact, to some extent may also force me to escape to the world to avoid real boredom and loneliness; moreover, after college, read some psychoanalysis books, also stimulate the growth of myth image in my mind.
Du Xinyun (hereinafter referred to as Du): Each mythological system has its own integrity and taboos, but now you put it together. Do you have taboos when choosing an image?(The question seems somewhat contradictory.)
Wu: Taboos appear because of a fear of punishment, or a fear that something happens to what you love. It seems that I have no taboos in most cases, but when the image is organized, my inner yearning or disgust will always be reflected. At this time, the taboos may not come from some mythological system, but my own likes and dislikes.
Li: Your works convey a sense of repression, but they express it through traditional art forms. Where does your repression come from?
Wu: It may be related to personality. I am a little withdrawn. I believe I can make very cheerful and lyrical works, but I don't feel satisfied.
I like the painting of small brush and brush each painting, which fascinated me, it is both troublesome, depressed and changeable, but can vividly show the mental strength of the worker. Such work seems to mark an upper limit on the spirit of labor, or an extreme state in which we seek to do something. The art of the European Middle Ages and the early Renaissance was also the ultimate, with artists creating an absolute energy of independent existence rooted in the spirit of labor, unlike later paintings that required too much interpretation to gain energy. Before reading paintings with strong interpretation, people need to be familiar with the words of interpretation, which is difficult for the public to do. Too much interpretation replaces the labor value of independent individuals, so the works become bloody.
Du: Not realistic enough.
Wu: Some people also think that they are very advanced and elegant things. But I think the closer to the beast, the more like the real person, his energy is positive, no "top". The Gothic art in Europe is an example. Because it is not elegant and cannot be separated from the beast, it is constantly confused and wandering around. However, this entanglement and struggle makes people see a fresh and passionate national spirit of unremitting struggle, which is the spiritual result created by them in the pursuit of perfection.
Du: What do you think of the relationship between civilization and barbarism?
Wu: Civilization is particularly dynamic when it just draws the boundary with barbarism. Slowly, with the accumulation of civilization itself, it will gradually lose the ability of prenatal and healthy birth. In the past, when talking about the boundary between civilization and barbarism, we say that animals are barbaric, so there will be the title of "barbarians", which means that they still have a certain gap from the real "people". China has always looked down on foreigners, but it is interesting to note that when the mid-19th century large-scale national failure, we use the "foreigners" to call the foreign strong, smart from the concept of the ocean to escape the invaders civilization or savage debate, so the line of "civilization and barbarism" definition itself. This division deliberately divides the world into two opposite situations, and this evolutionary world view is the logic from barbarism to civilization, from low to advanced, from simple to complex as the criterion to judge the quality of culture, which is very bad.
The glorious period of the development of ancient Chinese thought is with the spring and autumn period and the warring states period, I think when people just found from savage delicate civilization, people also with many animals, such as bloodthirsty, will be destroyed by natural disasters at any time, so people in the struggle, struggle, looking for upward opportunity, this state at that time is called "civilization". Chinese civilization to the Ming and Qing Dynasties after the more delicate, but they lost the original blood! Full people carry cage frame bird really civilization, but left the horse back, become nothing!
Of course, it is also wrong to completely pursue barbarism. What is worth pursuing is the state of incomplete division of civilization and barbarism.
Du: Sometimes the overdeveloped culture instead weakens the human instinct more and more.
Wu: Yes, the so-called culture is to delimit a protection circle for the crowd. People move in this circle and suffer less interference. In such a circle, the people in it are civilized. History proves that people should not leave other animals. People have their own defects, and people who are always with people will have all kinds of serious problems.
Du: What you talk about has potential words, that is, people should return to what they should be, that is, all things should be closer to the state of animals and plants. The more developed the culture, the more sick people will be, so the more advanced and elegant the culture will be.
Wu: right.
Du: It's got no native vitality.
Wu: Deer that have not encountered wolves will have all kinds of physiological problems after a few generations, so have people. As a member of an animal, man should maintain his original vitality and life state. He must have species to conquer, and also have species to conquer him. In this cycle will make him have awe, love, and the earth will be in a relatively harmonious state. This harmonious state needs to be managed by people. If the natural dangers around people are removed and the position of each species in nature is arranged according to the ideal of human beings, the species itself will become lonely and more dangerous.
Du: He can no longer have sex with the instinct of the natural environment.
Wu: Yes! Today's cats and dogs are no longer animals, into toys, at the same time, human design for themselves a variety of cities, a variety of strange buildings, at this time the earth is no longer the earth, it has been changed into something else.
I yearn for the initial stage of barbarism and civilization, which is a chaotic, not completely civilized and not pure barbaric state, it is particularly dynamic, very easy to let people have daydream. China came from that stage, the era of people is our ancestors, they define today we as many important values, such as the ancient concept of "benevolence, righteousness", today we will these as the criterion of behavior, although most people cannot catch the criterion, but according to them, we today's society can still together, but today's world can create what spiritual wealth for the future? I'm a pessimistic one.
Li: Why do you choose paper-cutting and other forms of expression similar to arts and crafts to present your works?
Wu: Related to the personal hobby. When I was a graduate student, I made paper-cut works, and then some shadow puppets. After graduation, I have been using this technical language, which makes me feel very happy, because I need to do it very carefully, any careless and relaxation are not allowed, otherwise there will be problems.
Li: Besides satisfying you, what fun does this art creation that consumes a lot of energy bring to you?
Wu: It is fun to wait for the final effect of the work. It is difficult to predict the final effect when drawing the drawings, so I am always waiting, and sometimes I need to wait for a long time to see the final effect. This feeling is very wonderful, and the final presentation is like a magical flower blooming in front of my eyes. This feeling is quite enjoyable.
Secondly, the modeling language of shadow play is highly inclusive, with unrestrained freedom and the rigor of rigid carving, which can make the creative image extremely neat, uninhibited on the other hand, so it is very free.
Li: What are you after through this highly focused commitment?
Wu: A sense of peace. Every day, if I can see the work and complete a part of my heart, I will be very practical. If not, I will feel like being in debt, which may be obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Du: What you love is to construct things, because one always wants to keep creating something, and make it exist as long as possible, and then he will feel that his life is meaningful.
Wu: Yes, all people have this ambition, especially the artist. His ambition is very natural. If you do not work seriously one day, you will feel guilty, if you work hard is particularly serious, although tired, but the spirit will be very relaxed.
Li: Why are you obsessed with the creation of the mystical images?
Wu: I am obsessed with them because of their spiritual power that makes me yearn for them. The specific power of each image is also different. For example, "punishment day", he is the most brave spirit recorded in the Chinese national literature image —— head was cut down, but still want to fight, this unyielding spirit makes him can not wait for the soul and the afterlife, the body will jump up to find the enemy revenge! There is no more brave than the punishment day to fight against the fate of the image, no civilization, he is a brutal and cruel to their own hero. It is very addictive, very energetic.
Li: How do you think of your own mystical image symbol?
Wu: The previous created images have little to do with the social and historical reality. As long as the rhythm of the form is satisfied, it can be the images in various myths. In these two years, my works began to appear more and more realistic factors, which may be related to my beginning to pay attention to the history of China. This may be related to age. At the age of twenty, you are concerned about your inner emotions, and at the beginning of thirty, you will inevitably focus on history, the present world and the future.
Li: What do you think of the mysticism?
Wu: I am particularly interested in mysticism and somewhat afraid, but I want to be with it. Mysticism since the 20th century has produced its big difference, in the past it is a kind of threatening force, is a kind of above the people, but in the 20th century, this nature began to change, first it became the ideological struggle failure, and gradually began to openly against industrial civilization of modern culture. In ancient society, human beings could not completely conquer the world, and the things they were afraid of came from various phenomena in the natural environment, such as wind, rain, thunder and lightning. When people wanted to know them, they would create a certain system of spiritual beliefs to help overcome the fear. After the industrial Revolution, the artificial —— such as steam locomotive, steamer, cannon, and so on, also began to let people do not understand, also let people feel infinite power, thus fear, worship. At the beginning of the 20th century, the fruits of the industrial revolution have been fully shown —— new weapons and new power system to create a new world order, so the human spiritual world began to become chaotic, people replaced the creation of industrial civilization with mysterious things worship. At the same time, industrial civilization has brought people the desire and faith to control all things, and then people no longer have awe.
Science plays a very bad role in the process, encouraging people to think they can do whatever they want, and mysticism at this stage plays the role of blind confidence against industrial civilization, but it is repeatedly defeated, and lost more positions. But mysticism still retains some positions, such as gambling and fate, death and love, etc. The social role played by mysticism since the 20th century can be called the anchor of the spiritual world, which makes the society not fall too fast to the result of the frenzy of science and technological civilization. There is still a chance for the future of world mysticism.
Li: What you think of as mysticism is something that humans cannot conquer and fear of it. People can neither control it nor understand it. This is the composition of mysticism. Can it be understood in this way?
Wu: Basically, but there are so many levels and types of mysticism. Many civilizations can progress and bring people together because of it. In Miao culture, the so-called "no village" is about the relationship between ancient social people and mysticism that has been spread to today. In fact, "evil insect" is a kind of cohesion from the mysterious wizard, it can create a sense of fear, warn people not to provoke it, and worship it will be protected. Because common fear and security people come together to form a complex society.
Du: When you think about metaphysical problems all the time, do you conflict with a very complex reality? What do you think is the point of thinking about these images?
Wu: Yes, but not so obvious. Maybe I didn't get it very keenly when it happened. I guess it is because my social circle is relatively simple, and I have contact with some people in the art circle, as well as some friends and elders.
As for the meaning of thinking about these images, there are both escape and yearning. People always hope to seek comfort in history when escaping and yearning. But I think the ancient elite intellectuals can not make me feel particularly happy, so I chose the barbaric, primitive image of ancient mythology. These images are simple and rough, but they are the original of spiritual power.
Du: Pay close attention to these mythological images, do you feel fear?
Wu: Fear is often felt, but it may not come from mythological images. I'm a little bit phobic. Phobias is not a fear of something specific, but a fear of fear itself, or a fear of "fear". But when it comes to mythological images, fear and uneasiness become specific and no longer fear.
Du: When people think too much, they will weave their own incompatible system with the real world. If they do not, they will fall into bad emotions such as fear and anxiety.
Wu: I won't let myself be 100 percent involved, because being fully involved is really in danger of going astray. I am deliberately protecting myself.
Du: Is your mysticism work designed to solve the problem of personal localization, or are you eager to construct a complete mysticism system belonging to you?
Wu: It may be built in the future, but there is no such spiritual need now, and there is not enough knowledge reserve and personal ability. This needs to be done step by step. In the process of moving towards the goal, there will be many accidents, which may be the final force to determine the direction of progress, and people's subjective ideal may not be able to successfully guide the future. In this process, my thoughts and attention will also change. All these are unknown to me, but I will wait patiently and actively waiting for the future.
2011.01.26
