20277 is a combination of a few spots of ultramarine and blocks of pale scarlet that resemble the colors in Chinese painting, on which the artist has bluntly written "It’s nothing, I just like it" next to the colors. The regular vertical rectangles are inspired by the form of the Spring Festival couplet, and present a new visual development in Wei Jia's work. 21289 was made with a memory of the rich colors of Mexico City. 20265 were inspired by memories of spring, and No. 21289 (all of Wei Jia's works are titled by number, where the first two digits are the year of creation) are combinations of rectangular blocks of color, of which No. On the contrary, he considers his works to be light-hearted and sincere expressions of his true feelings, naturally reflecting his incessant journeys and his relaxed and optimistic outlook on life. Wei Jia always denies that his works are obscure and intricate. “Such a method is the most approachable," says Wei Jia, "everyone might pick up the pieces and put them together.” Since the artist did not use any painting techniques, his creations are not concerned with existing painting forms and styles, but simply present his heart in the most straightforward and improvised way. Other memories are less coherent, more like ambiguous feelings that inspire his imagination and creativity. Some of the scattered thoughts and flashbacks that arise from the newly created works are recorded directly onto the works, written in Wei’s precise calligraphic script. The materials used in the collages are all fragments preserved from the painting process of different periods in the past, thus the process of creating these collages is like reviving the past and giving them new meaning. The works in this exhibition are different from his previous series: they are all collages on paper, and almost none of them are drawn with a brush. Regardless of the viewer's background, the texture of the paper, the rendering of color, the combination of fields, and the presentation of pictorial relationships are the main points of appreciation when viewing Wei Jia's works. Wei Jia believes that although his creations are profoundly connected to traditional Chinese art, they do not require the viewer to be familiar with Asian culture. He creates his works by writing on and dyeing Chinese handmade paper, and then tears the paper up and re-patches the pieces, finding a balance in the interlocking combination of layers. As a result, Wei’s contemporary artworks exude subtle and tranquil literati characteristics beneath their abstract and simple visual language. His past experience has become naturally and deeply imprinted in his creations. His works reveal the serendipity, time, and non-repetition of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting, as well as the judgment and decision of the moment of creation, which he attributes to attaining the state of "wandering in the arts" as described in the Analects of Confucius, that is - he becomes “naturally immersed in art”. With a special love for Chinese handmade paper, he has been exploring and presenting the beauty of this material in his works since 1991. Since his teenage years, Wei Jia has immersed himself in traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy and poetry and has kept a true appreciation and enthusiasm for them. This exhibition will present representative works by Wei Jia from 2018 to 2021, marking another milestone in his artistic career as he continues to break new ground in creativity. This is Wei Jia’s 17th solo exhibition in the United States. We are pleased to announce that we will be presenting Wei Jia's latest solo exhibition Good Times in collaboration with Fou Gallery in New York.
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