Wu Jian'an--RROJECTS

“Wu Jian’an : Of the Infinite Mind” Exhibition view©️Wu Jian’an Studio

Wu Jian’an: Of the Infinite Mind

On December 9, 2018, Wu Jian’an: Of the Infinite Mind officially opened at Beijing Guardian Art Center. The exhibition was jointly organized by the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Guardian Art Center, with co-organization by Wanying Art Space. Professor Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association, and Chairman of the Beijing Artists Association, served as the academic host, while Ms. Zheng Yan, Artistic Director of Wanying Art Space, acted as the curator.

The exhibition aimed to present over 100 works across seven recent series by Wu Jian’an, organized into distinct thematic chapters. Within this new cultural landmark in Beijing, the exhibition showcased the artist’s unique trajectory in both artistic thought and visual creation, highlighting his latest explorations and achievements.

“Wu Jian’an : Of the Infinite Mind” Exhibition view©️Wu Jian’an Studio

As Zhu Xi wrote in Collected Annotations on the Four Books: The Doctrine of the Mean, “Sincerity is the state of being real and without falsehood; it is the inherent principle of Heaven.” Within the context of Chinese culture, “无妄wuwang” (of the infinite mind) primarily signifies “truth” or “authenticity,” and more profoundly, it refers to a spiritual state of pursuing one’s original heart, using truth to dispel illusion. Drawing on black-and-white Xuan paper-cut works as prototypes, Wu Jian’an created the bronze sculpture Daydream Forest, modeled on a “money tree” structure reminiscent of the Han dynasty, visualizing an individual’s intuitive, spiritual response to the crises of reality.

“Wu Jian’an : Of the Infinite Mind” Exhibition view©️Wu Jian’an Studio

In Masks – The Shadows of the Blade, Wu Jian’an pierces, slices, and punctures swollen buffalo hide with various sharp tools, capturing the latent or overt impulses of violence and destruction within the mind. Beneath the work’s striking visual style, Wu consistently dissects the inner world in a direct and candid manner, imbuing his visual experimentation with psychological and sociological significance, while simultaneously granting the piece a pure, cohesive tone and a powerful, visceral impact.

“Wu Jian’an : Of the Infinite Mind” Exhibition view©️Wu Jian’an Studio

On the other hand, both the Records of the Grand Historian - Biography of Lord Chunshen and the Strategies of the Warring States - Chu Strategies IV contain expressions such as “In the world, there are calamities of the unforeseen, and there are blessings of the unforeseen”, in which “无妄wuwang” denotes a state of the unexpected or the unforeseen. The exhibition’s English title, Of the Infinite Mind, highlights this aspect of “无妄wuwang”. In Western terms, “infinite” refers to that which cannot be strictly defined—an existence that transcends time and space, surpassing conventional boundaries, akin to the notion of the “formless.”

In works such as Artificialitys, The Treasure, and 500 Brushstrokes, Wu Jian’an explores the realization of the “infinite” through multiple dimensions: concept, material, and language. The Treasure and Artificialitys continue his use of animal motifs, while transforming materials and reconfiguring spatial relationships to create a narrative layer atop the figurative and the abstract, forming a theatrical “myth” that is at once real and imaginary. 500 Brushstrokes incorporates marks left by many different individuals, collaging ink on paper as if assembling a collective paper-cut, transforming the “two-dimensional” surface into a temporal and spatial encounter shaped by each participant’s stroke.

“Wu Jian’an : Of the Infinite Mind” Exhibition view©️Wu Jian’an Studio

In the words of renowned art historian, critic, curator, and University of Chicago professor Wu Hung:"Individual and collective, ancient and contemporary, tradition and future, figurative and abstract, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, text and image… Wu Jian’an’s artistic imagination can dissolve these concepts—not through struggle or critique, but quite naturally, or rather, he can link these seemingly opposing ideas together."

Going beyond convention and arriving unexpectedly, this provides viewers with a dual delight—intellectual and sensory—while for Wu Jian’an, breaking boundaries, integrating, disrupting, crossing disciplines, and transcending is both the method for creating such unexpected encounters and an inevitable part of his artistic practice. “When I create, anticipation and fear coexist, because I don’t know if it will succeed, or even how the experimental result will appear. Yet it is precisely this uncontrollability, this suddenness, that makes art so magical,” Wu Jian’an explains.

In curator Zheng Yan’s vision, the exhibition “Of the Infinite Mind” fully leverages the spatial characteristics of the second-floor galleries at Guardian Art Center, using Wu Jian’an’s works of varying textures, scales, and languages to construct an entirely new visual-perceptual field. On one hand, it highlights the multiple layers and tensions in his artistic creation; on the other, it offers viewers an unusual aesthetic and spiritual experience.

Compared with Wu Jian’an’s solo exhibition “Omens” at Beijing Minsheng Art Museum two years ago, “Of the Infinite Mind” is both a counterpart and a continuation. “Omens” and “Of the Infinite Mind” are like two sides of the same coin: one inadvertently reveals a hidden order, while the other arrives unbidden and without cause. Ancient myths, legends, prophecies, and symbolic illustrations—all of these can be interpreted in two or even more entirely different ways within the system Wu Jian’an constructs through contemporary art. “Of the Infinite Mind” is, in essence, an almost Daoist artistic discovery and a journey of the mind.

Wu Jian’an: Of the Infinite Mind

2018.12.09 – 2019.01.05

Guardian Art Center, Beijing. China