The Landscape of Post-birth
What have provided this work with inspiration are scenes that are close and familiar to the artist. The artist’s concept of sculpture lies in the integration of the nature’s harmony, the power and modern materials and the traditional poetic aesthetics within one work, and next the recreation of a landscape. Such a surrealist sculpture comprising nature, tradition and industrialization produces interaction and publicity. The artist stabilizes the living tree branches of his backyard home with bronze, enlarges the image of street-side rocks into an integrated part of the sculpture, and introduces the 12 zodiacs to the work in the form of toy models that are appealing to children. None of these images are invented by the artist, they are instead what they appear in real life. The use and reinvention of the ready-made at the same time create a special landscape, containing familiar factors while leaving a gap against the real. The artist has sensitively captured the visual elements of life and developed them to the finest, creating a surrealistic and futuristic landscape. The work provides perception on and anticipation to the future, initiating a landscape open to the future. In a sense, the artist, via his works, reminds the audience of reflection on the reference frame of daily experience and the change of external surroundings, while continuously introspecting subject awareness and examining the change of the objective world. As a result, it’s possible for the audience to further perceive and understand the Chinese contemporary arts’ value and significance produced in process of transformation from traditional aesthetics into modern one.
Chen Wenling
1969 Born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China.Graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China.Now Works and Lives in Beijing, His artworks have been collected by China Art Museum, National Gallery of Korea, DenverArtMuseum, Arox Art Museum.etc. In 2011, he was awarded the Most Popular Award in the International Sculpture Exhibition at Aarhus City of Denmark, The same year, he won the Public Art Prize in the 7th of the Sculpture by the Sea at Perth, Australia.