Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
Curated by Zhao Yan, ZHÙ: the solo exhibition of Feng Jie, Professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Secretary of the Party Branch of the School of Continuing Education at CAFA, was unveiled at HUAIXUAN on March 16, 2025. Artist Feng Jie and curator Zhao Yan took the Chinese character “筑”(Zhù) as the pivotal image and three natural symbols extracted from traditional Chinese art were reconstructed in Feng’s contemporary paintings. In the dialogue between natural elements and the architectural forms of the courtyard, the multi-dimensional connotation and profound deconstruction of the word “筑”(Zhù) were extended, thus Feng’s thinking on issues such as nature, technology and the relationship between man and nature in recent years were further expressed in his creation.
Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
Although the natural themes remained dominant in Feng Jie’s creation, curator Zhao Yan said that new works by Feng also showed different appearances from his early creations. In the words of the artist himself, the purpose of this solo exhibition “is also to bring out some of my experimental creation in recent years, which I would like to share and discuss with colleagues and friends in the art world.”
Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
Feng Jie has maintained a continuous thinking about nature, people, and the relationship between people and nature in his work. His series of works with themes on water, clouds and mountains, and bamboos echo the symbolic, structural and aesthetic interest of the exhibition theme “筑”(Zhù). The reproduction of these classic aesthetic themes does not only reflect a recollection of the artistic spirit in the distant past, but it also constitutes a motif to explore the pastoral spirit of contemporary citizens.
Regarding the changes in Feng’s creation in recent years, curator Zhao Yan believed that these new works “reflect the artist’s gradual shift from realistically expressive methods in the early years to the pursuit of a semi-real and semi-virtual image in ‘virtual environment’. The same is true for the ‘Bamboo’ series. Although the bamboo in the painting still looks like a concrete object, it can be found that the artist is actually more concerned with the formal sense of bamboo through a lot of focus and depiction on the local parts, exploring the form of oblique and vertical lines. To a certain extent, these new tendencies constitute the artist’s experiment in making a certain transformation of the previous realistic creation methods. Therefore, in my opinion, these are some new experiments based on personal considerations by Prof. Feng Jie, showing some of his thoughts and innovations in creation that he wants to present to everyone who visits this exhibition.”
Feng Jie, Water, Ink and color on silk, 93x50cm
Feng Jie, Cloud in Moutain, Acrylic on paper, 45x25cm
Feng Jie, Cloud in Moutain, Acrylic on paper, 70x40cm
Feng Jie, Bamboo, Acrylic on canvas, 50x200cm
Curator Zhao Yan analyzed the derivative meaning of “筑”(Zhù) in the preface. The original meaning of “筑” refers to the pestle used to pound soil when walls were built in ancient times, and it also refers to an ancient musical instrument, which symbolizes the interweaving of technology and art. “Not only does it contain “竹” (bamboo), but the traditional Chinese character “筑” also contains “木”(wood). It is a word with typical natural meanings, so it is used as a symbolic icon of the works in this exhibition showing Feng’s concern for nature. Secondly, the word “筑” has a structural meaning, conveying a meaning of construction, which includes natural objects, technical means, and spatial relationships, and it also means the reconstruction and expression of nature. The three natural themes displayed in this exhibition from the front hall to the back hall: water, cloud in mountain and bamboo, are exactly the response to this structural relationship. They are intertwined. Its form in oracle bone script is just like the concrete representation of handheld tools, which carries the traditional construction wisdom, while implying the metaphor of the joint construction of nature and technology.”
Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
With tempera, painting on paper, easel painting, video, Suzhou embroidery and other different media, artist Feng Jie captures and depicts the natural symbols composed of the misty clouds, the flowing water surface, the hillside shrouded in clouds, and some visual fragment of the bamboo forest, which constitute the three themed sections of the exhibition. The three symbols of “Water”, “Cloud in Mountain” and “Bamboo” are also classic cultural symbols in the Chinese art tradition. Interestingly, HUAIXUAN where the exhibition is located, is also an ancient historical and cultural building. Visitors move around in the layout of the Siheyuan (a traditional Chinese quadrangle dwelling), looking for “nature” in the building, so as to feel the special communication between the works, nature and the building.
Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
Based on the particularity of this architectural space, the interaction and response between the curatorial design of works and the space are carefully considered. As the curator introduced: “These three symbols all involve the relationship between man and nature, so the exhibition also applies different spaces of the courtyard to set the exhibition route. For example, when people enter the courtyard, they come to an open-air exhibition hall, cross the courtyard to enter the next exhibition hall, and finally they enter the side exhibition hall from the side corridor. This route and the structural relationship of the ancient building constitute a relation from outside-indoor-outdoor-indoor dynamic, which involves several viewing relationships from outside to inside, from inside to outside, and then from inside to outside again.”
“In the first two sections, the ‘Water’ and ‘Cloud in Mountain’ series are placed, and they are transformed through the intersection of the courtyard, which allows us to see the natural process in the image while passing through a real natural space. The last section for the ‘Bamboo’ series is designed as a darkroom to illuminate the image, thus creating a viewing experience of the spectator looking from the indoor to the outdoor, just like at the way featured at a typical Suzhou garden.”
Exhibition View of Feng Jie's Art Exhibition ZHÙ
Therefore, visitors start from “Could in Mountain” characterized by Feng’s contemporary interpretation of “a corner and half side” in traditional Chinese landscape paintings from the Southern Song Dynasty, and then they enter the classic exhibition hall to find that Feng creates a dreamlike “water” with tempera and Suzhou embroidery. In the “Cloud in Mountain” series, visitors can appreciate how the artist further abstracts the classic image “Clouds and Mountains” in the traditional Chinese painting. At the last exhibition hall, “Bamboo” is not only a radical of the core image of Chinese character “筑”, but it also symbolizes a gentleman’s virtue in traditional Chinese culture, and further it constitutes a creative carrier for Feng to explore the integration of contemporary formal beauty and Chinese classical charm. It can be said that in the interaction between the natural world constructed by “Water”, “Cloud in Mountain” and “Bamboo” and HUAIXUAN, the artist’s comprehension of nature, aesthetic taste and artistic exploration in his current creation are comprehensively reflected. The exhibition remains on view till April 11, 2025.
Edited (EN) by Sue/CAFA ART INFO
About the Exhibition
Curator: Zhao Yan
Dates: March 16—April 11, 2025
Venue: HUAIXUAN
Address: South Gate No. 3, Chaoyang Royal Mansion, 79-3 Chaonei Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China
