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yy combines oriental meditation and social concern to realize dialogue with sentient beings, "Cai Wanlin's Art World" academic dialogue held in Today Art Museum

1 Mar 2023, 13:02

From December 17, 2022 to March 3, 2023, "Cai Wanlin: Ethereal and Solace" solo exhibition will be exhibited in Hall 2 of Today Art Museum. He has created nearly 60 works including oil paintings, sculptures and large-scale public installations. These works of different media and sizes make the "yy" as an emotional carrier not only limited to the two-dimensional plane, but also integrated into the real situation, encouraging the audience to have an interactive dialogue with the images in the painting.

At 3:00 pm on February 26, 2023, "Cai Wanlin's Art World" academic dialogue was held at the exhibition site of Hall 2 of Today Art Museum. This event was chosen to be held at the end of the exhibition. On the one hand, it summarized the success of this exhibition, and on the other hand, it also inspired the artist Cai Wanlin's next artistic creation.

Academic Dialogue

This Dialogue is hosted by Deputy Director of Today Art Museum, curator of this exhibition Exhibitor Yan Yan hosts, Peng Feng, dean and professor of the School of Art, Peking University, famous curator; Doctor of theory, Yang Shuo, visiting scholar at the University of Leicester, UK; Senior media person, former editor-in-chief of Artron Art Network, Chen Yiming; Artist Hua Qing;Lin Song, Art Consultant of Modern Business Department of Beijing Rongbao Auction, Deputy Secretary-General of Beijing Gallery Association; Art Critic, Lecturer of Beijing International Studies University, Doctor of Philosophy of Art Department of Peking University, Zhou Wanjing >Attended the event with artist Cai Wanlin.

Guests present

The host of the event, Yan Yan, deputy curator of Today Art Museum and curator of this exhibition, first introduced the guests who participated in the dialogue, and then The introduction said, "Our curatorial ideas for this exhibition are based on the reading of the artist's creation, and we hope to explore some problems that the artist may not have noticed in his subconscious during the creative process, and present them through the exhibition. On the one hand, the exhibition focuses on a person’s situation and actions, and on the other hand, it is an aspect of the issue of love and reconciliation. Then, the representative works of the artist are selected to form the narrative structure of the entire exhibition.” If Cai Wanlin in creation is If he is a "player" of color and image, he also encourages the audience who enter the exhibition hall to become a "player" of his exhibition, watch, participate, explore, and empathize. What new cognitions and feelings did the guests have after visiting the exhibition? Let's see what they say.

Event host Yan Yan, deputy director of Today Art Museum and curator of this exhibition

Peng Feng:

Let yy become a symbol of Chinese contemporary art images

Today, how to define a successful artist is what we often do as art theorists Questions to think about. In terms of image style, today is indeed basically exhausted. I found that one of the ingenious things about Mr. Cai is that his schema is that he tells his own story in a narrative way, so as to express his feelings and thoughts about the world. We know that after the so-called contemporary art of the 20th century, this has largely been removed. At present, the behavior of artists still expressing their feelings is often accused of being sentimental or narcissistic, but in Teacher Cai's works, these problems are very different. So when I saw Teacher Cai's works for the first time, I was particularly impressed.

Peking University School of Art Dean, Professor, Famous Curator Peng Feng

Teacher Cai took a very strange road . For him, it is not important to make a new symbol or image, but how the symbol of this image can express his thoughts and feelings about the world more effectively is more important. He didn't make it more complicated like expressionism, which is consistent with today's image-turned era. From the perspective of surreal pop art, I think Teacher Cai can further refine yy and make it a symbol of himself, making him particularly simple and more violent. Then through the constant repetition of such an image, let it show value, and then continue to enlarge, this is a strategy. The images created by Teacher Cai can be accepted by the public, I think it provides us with a particularly good case. Therefore, there is actually no rule to follow for the success of an artist. The most interesting thing about art is that it often surprises people.

Artists Cai Wanlin (left) and Peng Feng (right)

We have seen more and more works of Mr. Cai today, And more and more mature. The reason for this is that he does not regard creation as a simple image and production, leaving himself a large space for self-expression and free creation. But without being expressionist, without being cynical, he deftly walks in a middle ground. And this is an automatic creative process, so in a sense, the biggest condition for a successful artist is to dare to face the true self.

Cai Wanlin 
Guide, 2020
oil painting on canvas | 50×60cm

We hope that the yy image created by Mr. Cai, Can be promoted from China to the world! In fact, our art world has not yet created Chinese images for the world. If symbols like ours can go abroad and be accepted by everyone, let foreigners learn more about the social outlook of contemporary China through the understanding of Chinese contemporary art images created by Chinese artists. The state of our lives and culture as a whole. So I heard that Mr. Cai is very happy to have an exhibition in Europe. I saw a Chinese artist who has made contributions to the contemporary art world and contemporary cultural circles. I also hope that Mr. Cai’s yy images can go further and further!

Cai Wanlin 
"House", 2021
Oil painting on canvas | 100x100cm

Lin Song:

Sincere emotions and sincere life responses

In fact, Mr. Cai was originally a collector of our gallery, and now he has changed his identity to become an artist. In fact, he himself is an art student. He discarded many complicated identities and commercial colors, returned to himself, and found a dream in his heart. This is actually a relatively returning process. He intervened in art in this capacity, and in the end he himself had an inseparable relationship with art throughout his life.

Beijing Rongbao Auction Modern Business Department Art Consultant, Deputy Secretary-General of Beijing Gallery Association Lin Song

Teacher Cai was in 798 before The nearly 3,000-square-meter space of Times Space is overcrowded with solo exhibitions. I found that people of different ages, countries, and identities will like his works. I think this is not a question of artistic style, it is a very sincere emotional and life response. Teacher Peng also said just now that he is very real and straightforward. In addition to being related to his life experience, it may also be related to his practice. He can simplify many complicated things and realize a process of simplicity.

Participants watching the exhibition site

Ms. Cai broke the classic model and space, and the traditional way of looking up with a sense of distance Restraint, on the one hand, is because of Teacher Cai’s sincerity in facing life from the inside, and from the outside, I think it is also a means to enter the current way of life and communication. Each of his exhibitions is not a closed system, but an open system. Every audience will be shocked by the volume of the exhibition after they come to see it. He uses this method to combine the feedback about the exhibition, no matter it is positive, negative or controversial. So I think he has been taking the middle route or the tentative and experimental road mentioned by Mr. Peng just now, which is in line with the current social background and real feelings.

Cai Wanlin
"Peace"
Oil painting on canvas | 250x200cm

The exhibition at Today Art Museum has undergone relatively long preparations due to the epidemic period, but because of this, it took a long time to polish, I think the planning of this exhibition is very good, whether it is the exhibition line or the interactive interaction, it is actually done by Mr. Cai and the curator Exhibitor Yan Yan jointly completed it. This exhibition is another creation, and the space where the paintings are presented forms another field, which further enriches your understanding and sorting out of Teacher Cai's works.

Cai Wanlin
"Look Up Everyday", 2021
Oil painting on canvas | 150X150cm

Yang Shuo:

The artist himself is very firm and strong

As Yan Guan said just now, he felt that Teacher Cai’s painting might be partially influenced by Yoshitomo Nara, and they all agreed I chose a cartoon image to express my heart, but they must be different. First of all, each artist has a different personality. Teacher Cai chose to use her own image to express herself and be her spokesperson. On the one hand, this shows that the artist's heart is very firm and strong. On the other hand, I think using his own image to express his heart and his great love for himself is the expression of Zen practice.

Participants visiting the exhibition siteAnd I saw that many works in the exhibition were created during the epidemic, we can see to many works related to it. Although the facial expressions of these works are similar, there is no emotion, but this object around the character can be a kind of emotional leakage, it can help the yy cartoon phenomenon to express his emotions, and the posture and posture of the character can also To express emotions and visualize the artist's own thoughts. I also noticed that there are some works related to Hulu. This gourd is a symbolic thing in terms of earth phenomena. It may be a very typical symbol in Tibetan Buddhism or Taoism. Son, Duofu and the like. But I noticed that it also has a meaning of suspending the world and panacea, which reminds people of how great it would be if there is a medicine that can save all living beings in the long-term state of the epidemic. In addition, yy's head is integrated with the gourd, and his vines keep climbing up, which reminds me of a passage from Plato, which roughly means "man is not on the ground, but a plant in the sky". The power of God causes roots to grow from the top of our heads, thus keeping our bodies upright. Yy's eyes have been looking up to the sky, looking at the sky, and the vines above his head have been climbing up, so as to reach the rational spiritual world.Cai Wanlin
"Middle Ground", 2022
Oil on canvas | 180x150cmZhou Wanjing:Everyone is calling for true artDo you know where Yoshitomo Nara lives? He lives in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, where snow falls all year round, so when he was a child, no one played with him, he lived in a wooden house every day, surrounded by a world of snow, which I found very interesting. In fact, what Mr. Cai captures this time is a world that has been snowed for three years. It’s finally spring, and the epidemic has passed, and you find that everything seems to be recovering again, so when I entered the venue again today, I felt very deep. Of course, when we talk about the snow in the past three years, whether it is forced by the outside world or a kind of uncertainty in our own subjective heart, in fact, we can see these elements in the new image deepened in Mr. Cai's works. So, when Yang Shuo mentioned Yoshitomo Nara just now, I thought that his place and Teacher Cai's spiritual place are actually the same. Another feeling, I just heard Mr. Peng said that we have to use all available media and illustrations to create a new big thing, and this big thing seems that we can’t describe it in words now. To create an image of China. I think this actually makes me see a very interesting direction, including the exploration of Teacher Cai, who is constantly trying new media. Ceramic works and the introduction of clay are actually very labor-intensive and sophisticated, and at the same time they are prone to failure. It takes a long process to choose in the middle.Art critic, lecturer of Beijing International Studies University, Ph.D. of Department of Art and Philosophy of Peking University Zhou WanjingAbout why everyone buys tickets When I came to see the exhibition, I think one of the main reasons is that it can move people. Whether you are contemporary art, modern art, or ancient art, you need to really exist, and it is actually returning to the original. But another more important reason is that Teacher Cai wants to share his feelings with all beings who are equal. I think from this point of view, it is finally transformed into a work that everyone can understand and like, especially children, even those who have never learned what art is, are more attracted to it. As Mr. Peng said, the purified image actually achieves its popularity, and the popularity is not the kind of quantitative production and popularization achieved by the art of mechanical reproduction, so I think Mr. Cai's creation is very good.Participants watching the showBecause I usually write novels, readers will finally choose what they can understand and impress them . We also found that this exhibition did not talk about "black paintings" and "walking paintings", which means that after three years of heavy snowfall, everyone is calling to see this kind of real art.Cai Wanlin
"Code", 2022
oil on canvas | 80x100cmChen Yiming:yy will have more embeddednessIf you start from trend art From a perspective, when we talk about extracting the characters in it, the first thing I think of is Sun Wukong, and then Yoshitomo Nara. The kaws mentioned by Mr. Lin just now, and then to yy, are actually different development paths. Just like the image of China mentioned by Mr. Peng, in our trend history, such as the image of Monkey King created by Mr. Zhang Guangyu, starting from the Havoc in Heaven, we turned the character symbol of Monkey King into a cultural magic sound. Throughout the subsequent dissemination, Sun Wukong became a materialized or a character image, with a very clear positioning. But he created an image based on the entire Chinese traditional culture, or based on classical texts, so there may be some barriers to dissemination in the West. But later I found out that after ACG became popular in the West, Sun Wukong had already started to be used in his games or many symbolic products. Therefore, it can be said that Sun Wukong is actually the origin of the whole character image that we define as trendy art.Senior media person, former editor-in-chief of Artron Artron Chen YimingWhen we came to Nara Yoshitomo, when we saw When the corners of the eyes of a little girl are turned upwards, it includes anti-war, her philosophical thinking, and some of her thoughts about her childhood or life mentioned by Teacher Wan Jing just now. This is the second guide in trendy art. Thirdly, when it is actually Kaws Bear, he can be embedded in any cultural image or symbol and environment, and he has become an image that can arouse the general resonance of the public. In the fourth stage, why did yy become popular all over the world in a general sense? Even though he was born in China, he can find resonance in the global cultural field.Participants watching the exhibitionIn the process of thinking or discussing with Teacher Cai, I think he is a Zen practitioner A practitioner, a practitioner. We talk about the dual cultivation of compassion and wisdom, compassion and wisdom, these are two aspects of a person, and this is the state that we practitioners want to achieve. I remember the first time I chatted with Mr. Cai, what impressed me the most was that many of his works directly concerned with social reality, such as license plate and lottery, my house culture, the glory of the king and other game elements also entered In his pictures, you will find that everyone's points of interest or popular elements in our social daily life will appear on the picture. But he did not simply express this kind of popular culture in a so-called realistic way, or use a strong point of view, but just used his wisdom.Cai Wanlin
The Fun of It, 2022
Oil on linen | 80x100cmWhen the whole ACG, two-dimensional, pop, etc. This kind of flattening of the series has fed our current visual and public visual habits, more works like Kaws or Yoshitomo Nara will become popular. At this time, when Mr. Cai adopts this flat image, he has actually combined Eastern Zen meditation with the care of the whole society. In fact, yy can be said to be Teacher Cai himself, but at the same time, we can also empathize with yy's works. We can find a work in his works that is particularly consistent with the current state of mind and this social feeling, and then find That resonance. This originates from Mr. Cai, who created himself in the image of me, and derived the self of each of our viewers. In this state of all beings in me, he becomes an image in our own mind.Cai Wanlin
"You Win, I Didn't Lose", 2021
Oil on canvas | 180x200cmAt this time we can feel this The cultural image has realized the existence of that kind of super culture. In this process, he can realize the trend culture in the true sense, and form a unique existence in the process of leading the entire social trend of thought and social reality. After yy broke the distinction between the East and the West, he finally formed an image that is so cute, so pure, and can be attached to our multiple imaginations. He has more embeddedness.Huaqing:Giving up is the hardest thingI think Datong society or internationalism It may be a vision of the future, but today the boundaries of nation-states have not been eliminated, so we still hope that Teacher Cai's yy image can represent our China, not only popular in China, but also in the international arena.Artist Hua QingI am an artist myself, so I will briefly talk about my feelings. After I visited the exhibition, I found that each picture frame was designed with great care. Their colors and shapes are very diverse, and they are all set to match the background of the work. There is another one that I just discussed with Teacher Cai. I think it is the hardest thing for us to let go of anything we do. What is the most difficult thing to draw? It is when you stop, you paint for hours or years, you don't know when is the best effect, but stop, this is the most difficult. Today, I feel this way very strongly. When to stop is not the hardest thing, but giving up is the hardest. Abandoning many ideas and many things to express requires incomparable courage, and you clearly know that this is the best. Because we study art, I think I have a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder, and I always want to paint this thing to the best. But you kept painting, and you didn't give up in the end, and didn't make it more simple. I think it is very difficult to grasp this degree. How did Teacher Cai do it? I think it may have something to do with Teacher Cai's meditation practice. If he can reach a certain level through practice, he will give up. Not only painting, but also a lot of things in life, so this is also a great inspiration to me.Participants watching the exhibitionThe trendy art you mentioned, I know that in some current academic or more traditional contemporary Artists tend to reject this art form. From my point of view, I think social sculpture is a trendy history, and social sculpture plays an important role in changing people's mood and environment. So I think the future development model of fashion art is uncertain. But in any case, we cannot deny his social significance today.Cai Wanlin
"Glory of the King", 2021
Oil painting on canvas | 180X200cmCai Wanlin:My true thoughts will continue to be reflected in yyThe source of yy's name is actually a kind of life wisdom in meditation. In fact, meditation is constantly entangled in where we come from, where we are going, and even in our own minds, we will think about why this thing is done, some problems around us and in society, and why they happen. This is it. It is also a concept of constant philosophical thinking. Just like the titles of some of my works, in fact these are issues that I would struggle with and contradict. But what is my character? I don't like complexity, and I want to use the simplest language that is different from others, so that everyone can understand the environment I am in. In fact, during the creation, I didn't think about how others would see my paintings, I was more pursuing my own inner feelings. One of the easiest ways I use is to tell myself. So you can also see the image of yy, he is in a state without mouth and ears, which is actually the state of my meditation.Artist Cai WanlinMr. Peng also mentioned our Chinese schema just now, from Pop to the present, there is no one It is the experience of our Chinese schema. yy does not have this concept of regionality, and there is actually no contradiction between the two. The Chinese schema mentioned by Mr. Peng is a broader semantic concept, which is a concept that can be recognized in China and internationally as an artist who is China. I hope that yy can be like me, he is soft, he is relatively restrained, not aggressive, and he does not have any aggressive movements, most of him is in a very empty state, and his eyes with everyone can be in any direction. Maybe the 100 people present felt that yy was looking at yy, and yy was looking at them. I wanted to achieve a feeling that he was talking to all living beings. I hope everyone can find themselves in yy, he can communicate with us at every level, so we still have to express ourselves in creation.Participants watching the exhibition siteThis image, as Teacher Peng told me, is more simplistic and may have a larger development space. In fact, this is a question that every artist needs to think about when creating. But there is one thing I will always stick to, that is, my true thoughts will constantly be reflected in yy. Through the most concise and simplest form of yy, everyone can understand that this is the direction of my next efforts.Cai Wanlin
"No Phase", 2021
Oil painting on canvas | 100X120cmFor more updates on the global art market in 2023, please continue Follow ArtPro.
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Source: 艺术地球art