Fenjiu ✕ Artist Wang Yi | Master of Intangible Cultural Heritage Series: The Realm of the Wandering Heart
2024-08-21
"Wandering Heart" is a pursuit of life art and wisdom that harmonizes with nature, encouraging people to find inner tranquility through harmony with nature. It represents a state of spiritual freedom and leisure, an understanding and reverence for the laws of life and the universe. Indeed, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) culture is the philosophical practice of this existential thought.As carriers of human civilization history, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) cannot be separated from protection and inheritance, nor can it be separated from innovation and transformation. The brewing techniques of Fenjiu were included in the first batch of national-level ICH conservation project listings in 2006. The Master Series works are a tribute by Fenjiu and the artist to the masters of traditional ICH craftsmanship, as well as an attempt to realize the responsibility and vision of inheriting and reviving ICH craftsmanship through the manufacture of industrial products.
This series of ICH craft boxes was designed by artist Wang Yi for Fenjiu, combining the historical culture of Fenjiu. It extracts and deconstructs the poetic beauty of typical Eastern landscapes and the spirit of investigating things to acquire knowledge. Through ICH crafts such as lacquer, cloisonné, fine wood inlay, and wood grain gold as expressive media, it reshapes into readable contemporary iconography. When applied in home design, the wine storage box combines practicality and artistry, serving both as a wine storage box and as a standalone home decor hanging picture, making ICH craftsmanship an integral part of contemporary lifestyle.
"From a distance, the mountains are colorful; up close, the water is silent." Landscapes serve as compensatory images for human emotions, housing the upward and transcendent aspects of life, being spiritual homes and places for settling the soul. They are poetic, healing, "walkable," "viewable," "tourable," and "inhabitable." The natural imagery in the paintings comes from Wang Yi's series works such as "Mountains" and "Water," where the flowing and elegant beauty of landscape poetry, combined with real and imaginary painting techniques, attempts to glimpse the infinite vastness in space and time through the perspective of "water surfaces." By leveraging the fluidity of lacquer and the exquisite representation of fine wood inlay and wood grain tumor patterns, aligning with their natural properties, the creation truly achieves a dialogue with nature.
The Humanities Series draws from Wang Yi's work "Spring Outing," integrating line drawing and flat color application techniques. It arranges continuous patterns in overlapping arrangements, introducing the rich and stable colors of Northern Qi murals in harmonious reflection. Characters in wide robes and long sleeves, riding horses and singing, are placed in the painting in a simple yet vivid arrangement. This not only embodies the humorous charm unique to freehand characters but also presents a grand and solemn visual impression.
Unlike the complex decorative techniques and brilliant color schemes of traditional cloisonné, artist Wang Yi’s cloisonné composition and color scheme introduce traditional mural concepts into modern minimalist design. By utilizing the transparency and luster between the blue dot application and firing of cloisonné enamel, he further enhances the richly layered and profoundly beautiful order of the image, infusing it with a vibrant modern vibe. Thus, the traditional Eastern humanistic temperament and the spirit of investigating things are injected into contemporary aesthetics.
ICH craftsmanship is an ideal carrier for artists' emotional expression, allowing works to carry the profound cultural essence of Eastern traditional humanistic sensation. It presents the expressive context of the works thoroughly yet subtly, while also endowing them with a clear and beautiful visual impact and readability upon closer examination. "Wandering Heart" is thus fully embodied in this series. It is not just a design concept but also a lifestyle attitude. The exterior of the works is the dignified charm of Eastern aesthetics, while the content expresses the artist's understanding and insights on coexistence with nature, the universe, and life.
