Beijing Commune is pleased to represent the important Chinese artist Wang Luyan, and will present his first solo exhibition “Corresponding Non-correspondence” in the gallery on July 5, 2018.This exhibition will showcase a new series of works created by the artist, and it will last until August 21, 2018.
Wang Luyan considers that all things exist in relationships, and relationships all present their correspondences. Every judgment or choice made by people is made when it forms a corresponding relationship with things. However, for those uncontroverted and indisputable correspondences, there is no need for people to judge or make decisions about them. Questioning is the basis of thought rather than belief. Wang Luyan attempts to question the conventionalized corresponding phenomena which no longer lead people to think in a skeptical way. For example, is there a substanceof “back” hidden behind the representation of “face”? Could the distance that people tend to shorten be an indispensable demand when they communicate with each other? Is the opposite direction corresponding to the target the destination that the walkers are going to?
The artist attempts to present the paradox in the corresponding relationship through this exhibition as an observer rather than a respondent. Question and confusion always occupy a preponderant position in his works. The thought of questioning is not merely to transform ignorance to awareness, but to move from one confusion to another which requires more deep thinking. Confusion keeps the human mind fresh, whereas the uncontroversial mind means the end of the mind. Once the mind ends, the individual will no longer exist. Wang Luyan’s works in this exhibition are filled with various confusions as well.
This exhibition will showcase dozens of the artist’s latest works in the series of "Corresponding Non-correspondence". Those works all face the paradox in various correspondences from different perspectives. Through the use of everyday materials, such as newspapers, latex, cardboard, acrylic paints, plastic boxes，wooden boxes and others, the artist presents his creative process fromgenerating concept to generating works, from the practice in his studio to the presentation in this exhibition. The artist keeps his mind fresh during the creative process by means of self-questioning and self-denial.The artist believes that the original project will be changed for various unexpected reasons. He regards the procedural drafts as “formal works”, constantly raises questions during his creation and logically speculates and demonstrates them in a visual way. This reflects Wang Luyan’s exploration of using draft as art language.
As mentioned by the artist, the judgments in the paradox are mutually negated. The judgment in the artist’s works is also negative by questioning the reverse of the opposite concept. For the artist, the “face”is the “back” and vice versa; to the left is to the right; going forward is going backward; the other is the self and vice versa. Those corresponding relationships make it difficult to judge their distinction.
However, will there still be self if we do not judge? If the judgments are always incorrect, will the self be difficult to be established? The self can be fulfilled by a series of clear wills, each of which is a conclusive concept. Thus, the self is in a certain finished form likes those works. But if the artist wants the work—the self to be “alive”, he cannot end it at the end. The work will eventually “die” in some physical forms, while only the thought—the concept that the artist constantly endows the works with, could keep it alive.Nevertheless, to make the work never end requires satisfying a harsh premise, that is, the questions for the works need not to be answered by the artist, or whose answers would be denied by the latter answers. The thought in Wang Luyan’s works is in an infinite cycle, which will not end in negating certain negative judgments. For Wang Luyan, the alive thought will not end to the end. It is also the basic reason why the artist uses art as a tool of thought.
