After walking out of the exhibition of "K11 Crafts Walking", the audience present were all amazed. When traditional Chinese crafts are presented in the form of digital light and shadow, the audience in the exhibition feels as if they have entered a visual and auditory feast. Traditional crafts are more vivid and vivid against the backdrop of modern technology. Everything is so novel, the rendering of light and shadow just rightly conveys delicacy and magnificence to every sense of the audience; everything is so familiar, the Chinese romance that has been precipitated for thousands of years, and the deep-rooted oriental aesthetics reappear in front of you, that scene at the end of the 17th century The wave of "Chinese style" seems to have never gone far.
The first exhibition at Shanghai K11 last year received wide acclaim as soon as it came out. The charitable organization K11 Craft & Guild Foundation (KCG) upholds the spirit of consistent persistence and advocacy, and brings "K11 Craft & Guild Tour" to the second stop of the tour – Guangzhou, one of the most important ports in the era of great navigation, and strives to Awaken the public's awareness of inheritance and recognition of cultural identity. The exhibition uses modern technology to deconstruct ancient techniques and interprets "black lacquer and gold" with contemporary art, helping modern people better understand this craft and recreating the legend and glory of the prosperous Chinese and French craftsmanship.
The exhibition starts with the oriental viewing art form "Walk in Lying" which began in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Through five exhibition areas, following the sound into the dream, sailing in the prosperous age, between sitting and sleeping, crafting in the prosperous age, and beyond the square inch, it starts a journey of cultural exchange between China and the West. Going back in time to the seventeenth century, and then crossing the millennium to the present, it allows us to experience the enduringness of "black lacquer and gold" in an instant.
The modern and contemporary works exhibited this time internalize and absorb the technique of "black lacquer and gold", combined with contemporary aesthetics, and interpreted in a more modern artistic language. French artist Vincent Cazeneuve specially created a work titled "Untitled" for this Guangzhou station. This group of works is composed of 52 lacquer plates, and the positions can be freely combined randomly. This flexibility leaves room for the imagination of the audience and extends infinite possibilities. The lacquer plate uses old rice bags as the carcass, and is hand-painted layer by layer by the artist, supplemented by copper powder and gold leaf, showing the extraordinary plasticity and creativity of traditional lacquer craftsmanship. Just as lacquer craft needs to be adjusted in combination with lacquer tree species, origin, climate, etc., "Untitled" also incorporates the artist's state and mood at that time, and can be expressed in a variety of ways through different combinations.
This exhibition also exhibited a group of digital artwork "Eight Immortals" created by the French art group Obvious Art. The theme of the work is derived from the legend of the Eight Immortals of Chinese Taoism. Through the video installation of black lacquer and gold, the Eight Immortals are abstractly made into their iconic magic tools, so as to arouse the audience's deep thinking about the relationship between artists and creative tools. The collision of traditional mythology and modern technology creates new sparks. The creative team uses the current popular AI image calculation program to input description text and parameters into the calculation program and convert it into a digital image. Can tools as creative means represent the artist himself? This fresh angle is equally thought-provoking.
Historically, China and France have both been major craft countries and have a profound foundation for exchanges. The seventeenth-century background used in the exhibition is one of the grand scenes of Sino-French cultural exchanges. KCG invited French artists to participate in the exhibition this time, hoping to continue the spirit of cultural exchange between the East and the West while revitalizing the character of traditional craftsmen, and further integrate at the artistic level, so as to realize the rapid development of ancient craftsmanship and traditional oriental aesthetics across regions.
