Without paper, the development of human civilization may not exist. This simple material originally made of plant fibers arranged in random crosses carries the knowledge and memory of generations of human beings, and is also the carrier of emotion, creativity and imagination. With the accelerated development of the digital age, paper seems to be slowly fading out of people’s lives. Handwritten letters are replaced by electronic communication tools such as emails and text messages. Electronic screens are like black holes that swallow up our time.
“Symmetry Series” 2022
Paper certainly isn’t going away entirely — let’s hope it does. It has been a medium for countless literati and artists to express their inspiration and feelings for thousands of years, and it will retain its unique charm now or in the future. Chinese artist Chen Fenwan chose to start with the concept of “paper” and integrate Chinese folk paper-cutting and contemporary art into her unique visual vocabulary. Through super-large space installations and other forms of works, she talks to the public and explores the role of art in public spaces. multidimensional boundaries. When the paper outlines each other’s shapes along the axis of symmetry, people walk into the staggered blue sea area or stay in the spring garden forever; the West Lake, which is covered with human-shaped paper through the public collection, is a concrete image of memory and digitization. The poetry of technology… This “artist made of paper” breaks the inherent form of paper-cutting and redefines the concept of this art in people’s minds. In a bounded world, use limited materials to build an infinitely creative world that is full of fun and thought-provoking.
“Never Stop” explores the concept of “infinity” with the dragon, an imaginary creature with special significance in Chinese culture. Chen Fenwan uses the keel joints of different angles as “points”, and then uses these points to form a “line” with infinite combinations, turning, turning, and extending infinitely. The nodes form the body of the dragon looming in the space, and the light patterns are the traces of the dragon surging in the space.
Chen Fenwan, who showed artistic talent since childhood, firmly chose to become an art student. She graduated from the Printmaking Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, founded Maru Studio in 2014, and officially became an artist. At first, the nickname given to her by people around her was reserved by Chen Fenwan as a stage name, and this name perfectly explained the artist’s personality of not following the trend, and her creative style full of innocence, vigor, and deep meaning. When we asked why she chose to use Chen Fen Wan to represent herself as an artist, which is well known to the public, she said: “One time when I was eating hot pot, I ordered beef balls made with powdered ingredients, and my friends laughed at me as “I didn’t pursue it”. , I used it as a stage name over time. Meatballs are very pure, while powdered balls have impurities, but this kind of feeling of impurities is very suitable for me-diverse and unreasonable.”
Paper played an important role in Chen Fenwan’s childhood, and this medium naturally became her main creative inspiration after setting up her studio. She said: “I learned painting and calligraphy since childhood. Drawing paper, rice paper, picture books and origami games …If you want to look back, paper has actually been with me growing up. Even red envelopes, bus tickets, movie tickets, and tags are all gadgets that I liked when I was young. Later, I majored in book art for four years in college, because books The relationship with paper itself is very large, and the impulse to create is getting stronger and stronger. Gradually, I extract paper alone and use it as a medium for creation. In short, as a creator, I encountered the medium of paper and Start working with it.”
“Symmetrical Nature: Blue Breathing”
Left: “Symmetrical Nature: Gardens of the World”: gorgeous rose petals and irises blooming in the coming year, July flowers on the coast, mountain daisies and sunflowers… flowers that originally came from different regions of the world and grew in different seasons, Grafted into the same garden by virtue of imagination. The urban context is integrated with local plants, from which grow flowers and lush forests, implying that urban life will get rid of the predicament and open its arms to the new life. At the same time, a little powder and dark colors are applied to become an oasis where imagination and reality are symmetrical.
Chen Fenwan remains sensitive and curious in her life. She observes the world, and sometimes deliberately exercises her ability to collect information, and even makes observation lists and plans. For example, during the epidemic, she began to re-measure the distance between each other’s eyes and hugs. These weighty feelings subtly become part of her perspective. It is true that art comes from life. For Chen Fenwan, inspiration is the sum of life experience and aesthetic experience, and art creation is her process of expression. She tries to use personal experience to sum up a collective emotion that can resonate with people—whether it is through paper-cutting or other forms—to provide some new experiences and possibilities, which may bring new thinking to the audience and at the same time draw The distance between people. She believes that a good artist is always ready to find and embrace his audience while expressing himself sincerely. Yet finding an audience was one of the difficulties she faced when she first opened her studio in 2014. She recalled: “The first difficulty in the initial stage was how to find your audience, and the second was how to survive with the work. I have always protected my creative sensitivity, but in order to survive, I was very anxious and my body became very nervous. Unhealthy. I remember that in order to save money to buy creative materials, I took some orders for paper art decorations, and it took a month to earn 500 RMB, and then half was deducted by the other party for various reasons.”
The four words of not forgetting the original intention are easy to say but difficult to do. During the nine years since the establishment of Wan Studio, Chen Fenwan has met like-minded partners, and the team has grown from two to eight. The eight hearts are connected together through a common vision, and the art created by the eight hands pushes the name Chen Fenwan to the world stage. “After experiencing various types of project work, we gradually have our own division of tasks, which is a bit like an assembly line: each plays his own strengths, and in the process of constant friction, we form a tacit understanding and order in chaos. However, every work plan is impossible. It’s the same process, and there will be new attempts every time.” Chen Fenwan talked about her personal state of mind and the growth of the studio: “Compared to when I was alone, now I have a partner who can share all parts of the work for me. I can concentrate more on my creation. I need to trust them, but I also need to be the one who holds the direction. I often describe my art projects as a collective labor, and “Chen Fenwan” is also a The product of the team. This not only refers to the parts in the work that need to be constructed repeatedly, but also the hands behind it that are never less than eight pairs, which makes me more confident to realize the new ideas that arise in my heart when I want to try them. “
“Flower of Infinity”: The head flower shape composed of paper-cut totem elements combined with the iconic skeleton layered structure in Chen Fenwan’s creations, jointly extend into irregular-shaped flowers that grow wantonly. Squares, circles… The repeated planes break through dimensions. “Flower of Infinity” imagines infinity in the shape of squares and circles, and discusses time and space flexibly.
Maintaining an open and tolerant attitude towards everything probably indirectly contributed to Chen Fenwan’s positive artistic style. Few people associate traditional paper-cutting with contemporary art, or even regard them as opposites, but Chen Fenwan prefers to understand the combination of the two as a kind of iteration and re-creation. She said: “We are on the road of continuation of tradition. No one can appear without any history. If tradition is the past, then modernity is only the past of the future. Whether it is traditional, popular, avant-garde, or conservative, art is It is a distorting mirror of the times. I am a person living in the present, and paper-cutting meets me with all the history it has gone through. My paper-cutting is very reasonable to use contemporary technology, thinking, and concepts to complete.” This process The biggest challenge is that she needs to go back to the history of paper-cutting, including techniques, styles, and the values and metaphors it carries. On the other hand, she reminded her that she should not go back too deeply, and only hoped that she had a little knowledge. Chen Fenwan believed that only in this way could she move forward boldly.
Chen Fenwan is constantly thinking about what graphics to remove and what to keep in the process of paper-cut creation, which is also a metaphor for the choices that everyone will face in the process of life. She chooses not to set limits on herself. There is no clear boundary between history, present and future, everything is relative; the art of paper-cutting does not need paper, any medium can be used to express feelings and self-expression. Listen to your inner voice, break the rules and regulations of established cognition, and a limited life can also be full of infinite possibilities.
“Garden of Transit” is Chen Fenwan’s interesting interpretation of the tender symbol of “hand”. Hands are often associated with our warm memories in the course of life – touching, hugging, holding hands… and the palm prints on the hands are often associated with fate. Chen Fenwan presents the palmprints of the contributors in the form of paper-cuts. In a space full of mirrors, he combines and rotates different palmprints to form a shimmering “transportation array” to build a carefully laid out garden. The metaphor of uncontrollable fate and the ritual sense of in-depth details collide with two seemingly mutually exclusive elements to create a romantic and humorous work of art.
