What matters is not abstraction, but what form is used to express what ideas.

Artist Chen Mifan took an old photo with his parents, grandparents.

Introduction: Recently, the artist Chen Mifan held his solo exhibition in this space, showing his 12 paintings and installations. The richness of work forms, the exhibition presents such a rich work form with a stretch and fresh exhibition experience through the narrative way of turning, drifting and tracing. These works are carefully selected from the artist's creation in the past six years, focusing on Chen Mifan's personal regional trajectory, identity and form transformation, trying to outline the internal integration of Chen Mifan's thoughts and the diversity of expression in his artistic creation in recent years. The creative intention and exhibition effect of each work are carefully considered by the artist. So, what is the creative intention behind these works? What is the relationship between works? What are the clues of the artist's thinking in the overall exhibition? Yachang Art Network interviewed artist Chen Mifan on these issues.

Interviewee: artist Chen Mifan

Interviewer: Pei Gang

field fabrication

Yachang Art Network: Does this work have anything to do with the previous Mulan River?

Chen Mifan: My brother and I cooperated to install Mulan River in 2007. This is my personal work, but personally, I think it will definitely not be completely separated from the previous creation, and there is a certain connection in creative thinking. This work "Source" and "Drift Wood" have a certain relationship with the immigration and identity of Mulan River. The first work I saw when I walked in this door was created in the gallery. This time it is a 2 m× 3 m frame. Just like when I usually work in the studio, acrylic material drops on this frame thirty or forty times, with a certain thickness. Making various textures on it will leave traces of nature, just like farming. This exhibition mainly moved the working state to the gallery. I have worked in the gallery for more than ten days.

In addition, this kind of work of using local materials also represents a piece of land, and cultivation can only yield, which is also related to Mulan River. For example, in the countryside of my hometown in Fujian. I grew up in such an environment when I was a child. Why is there the project Mulan River, Homesickness or other emotions involved? I think this is a natural form from the beginning. The arrangement of this "field" is also like the architectural pattern in the south. First enter a door with wings on both sides, like a house with a symmetrical axis, and finally enter a hall. Then there are continuous "torches" on the table, like a hall with statues and ancestral tablets, so I will arrange the exhibition according to this form.

The works created by artists on the spot, such as the traditional quadrangle structure, have complex meanings such as time, history and ethnic group.

Artists create parts on the spot.

The artist's on-site creation and its source

Source: cement, neon lights, iron plates, 100× 100×235cm, 20 16.

Source "

Yachang Art Network: Is the exhibition a whole project? Are the two works "Source" and "Floating Wood" a group of works?

Chen Yifan: Actually, the installation of this site is a project. These two pieces can also be said to be a group or independent. My concept of space is that there is a pile of bonfires similar to the source in the middle of the "yard", which is burning. Why did I choose neon red light? Because the burning gas (or neon gas) inside stimulates the fluorescence inside through the atomization of mercury, it is very energetic and has the process of energy transfer. Unlike LED, it is a cold light source. I especially like the feeling of neon lights, but I may be worried about what to do if I choose neon lights. In fact, torches and bonfires will always go out to some extent. It slowly returns to the natural state with the attenuation of energy.

The light box of "driftwood" is made of longan wood in my hometown, which is a unique longan tree in our hometown. I piled these blocks together, symbolizing the family's "photo" or a kind of inheritance, and tied them with ropes, symbolizing a certain bond between them and a state of struggle. Under this pile of firewood is an old mirror. Old Mirror In the traditional culture of China, there is a legend that people's souls are sucked in, and there is also the concept of modifying time. So there is a sense of time and space between the two. The works of "carpet" correspond to those of "Longan Wood". As the mirror on the carpet was broken, the past history became pieces. The mirror is very practical. It may be imported. Maybe today in this place, tomorrow in that place, I will stick pieces on the blanket, or discuss the relationship between immigrants.

For example, my hometown is Fujian, now my home is Hangzhou, and now I work in Shanghai. When I was in Shanghai, Shanghai and Beijing were a state. If I haven't paid enough pension insurance for five years, I'm not qualified to buy a house. So, sometimes I feel very strange. Why can't I buy a house when I am from China? And there is a sense of drift, as if it has been unstable. Form another kind of time and space. So, this is what I want to express.

Floating wood, comprehensive material, variable size, light box device: 180× 120cm, 20 16.

Drift wood is a local comprehensive material with variable size, and the light box device is 20 16.

Drift wood "local comprehensive material with variable size, device 20 16.

Drift wood "local comprehensive material with variable size, device 20 16.

Shadow, canvas acrylic composite, 104×243×35cm, 20 16.

Shadow "part"

shadow

Yachang Art Network: The work Shadow seems to be a portrait or a "Buddha statue" composed of "small cones" made of many pigments. How did this work come into being?

Chen Mifan: The creation of the film was that one summer, when I went back to my hometown, there was a cloister in the building in the south, so I just sat and enjoyed the cool. Then, a weak light source shines on the wall and pulls it for a long time. This can be used as my self-portrait or as a spiritual belief. Because I made the frame of the whole work as empty as a temple, there is a work like a Buddha in the middle, but it is not necessarily a Buddha, just a shadow or a spiritual belief.

The way to make this "shadow" is that the paint on my canvas will flow down the border when it is tiled. To a certain extent, it will be cut off and then moved to this work. Just like the "field" over there, slowly watering and cultivating, the works slowly grow into this appearance, forming a natural growth process. Slowly he grew up by himself. The shape of this "shadow" is my own shadow, and the whole is elongated. Because I don't want to make things very specific, I want to have a form in it. As I said just now, it can be said that it is like a spiritual sustenance, or a symbol, which represents a strong sense of quantity, so this work has come into being.

Yachang Art Network: Who is the person in this old photo in the exhibition? When was it taken? What is the significance of this photo in the exhibition?

Chen Mifan: This was taken by my parents and my grandparents at 196 1. Why did you put this photo here? First of all, it is related to Mulan River, not only that part, but also another part. How can I combine this part of myself with the part where my brother and I work together? These projects must be connected in series, not simply by mouth, and this photo is one of the links.

A corner of the artist's studio moved into the ground floor exhibition hall of this space.

Part of the corner of the artist's studio in the ground floor exhibition hall

Live artist Chen Mifan (left) and friends are at the exhibition.

A corner of the artist's studio

Yachang Art Network: Does this exhibition also show the state of your studio?

Chen Mifan: It is to restore the scene in the corner of my studio to the exhibition hall. Some people may be interested in the artist's creative state, which shows that the artist's life is like this. There must be a life side in the work. For example, what are you writing and thinking? What materials are used? There will also be some manuscripts in my exhibition this time.

Yachang Art Network: Show some working methods?

Chen Yifan: You can say that, but this is just a corner. This is a small part of the material.

Huayi "acrylic canvas composite165×165cm× 22015-2016.

Huayi "Fabric Propylene Composite Part"

Huayi, Comprehensive Techniques on Paper, 200× 107cm, 2009.

Huayi

Yachang Art Network: The corner of this studio is like a turning point of the whole exhibition. Walking down from the exhibition hall on the first floor, you can see the corner of the studio. Then there are some past works.

Chen Mifan: Yes, Huayi is a series of works on paper in 2009. Through mechanical punching, the image is slowly digested to form an abstract existence. The earliest work, my first thought is that there is an old saying in China, "burn incense and worship Buddha". I burned many small holes in the paper with incense to form a Buddha statue. From this point on, the Buddha statue I chose is the image of King Kong in Tibetan Buddhism. Of course, the work I want to do has little to do with Buddhism. Slowly, the image is abstracted, dissolved and turned into a pure image. Finally, the graphic works. My method is to hang in the air and punch holes bit by bit, which may not be regular. According to the needs of the picture and my mood, it is an imagination out of nothing, which is related to my own sense of rhythm.

Yachang Art Network: Another series of Huayi works on cloth, which is completely different from punching holes on paper?

Chen Mifan: This is a plane work, but it is also a painting over and over again on the plane. The background of this work is white, and black pigment has been painted dozens of times. The surface is painted white, and it burns black. On the contrary, the inside is white and the surface is black, and this state is different. According to this figure, it is one black and one white. The other is a bit like the relationship between Yin and Yang, a positive relationship and a negative relationship.

Throwing into the air ",the comprehensive technology of acrylic fabric, copper sheet, ceramics and neon lights, with variable size, copper: 90×60cm, fabric: 200×300cm×2, neon lights: 150×20× 14cm, 2015.

Throwing into the Air is based in part on broken porcelain.

Throw it in the air.

Throw it in the air "local metal parts.

Thrown into the air, a partially broken porcelain prototype and a fabric work.

Throw it into the air "part of the canvas frame.

Throw it into the air "local neon tube.

Throw it in the air.

Yachang Art Network: "Throwing into the Air" consists of five single works. What is the relationship between them?

Chen Mifan: The work "Throwing into the Air" is to throw a tile out. After throwing it out, all the results are left to gravity to decide. I got rid of my own way of thinking, of course, to explore the relationship between inevitability and contingency. Inevitably, I can decide to throw it into the air, but I can't decide after it falls. It was accidental, but what I can decide is that I may have smashed it badly, and I can smash it again.

These broken tiles formed different shapes, and I formed the whole work in five ways. I cut the copper plate with laser, and the shape of each porcelain piece corresponds to the same shape on the copper plate, which is combined into a hexagon. Combine these cut copper sheets into a circle. Then draw these different shapes on the canvas and brush the colors dozens of times. After brushing, I use the cut copper to burn red and then burn it out, which has a concave-convex relationship. Then I spread them in more than a dozen colors and filled them up layer by layer, forming a fabric work. This method is a new creation, different from the original form, but the whole idea of creation is the same.

These four parts are all broken porcelain. Explain the source of the artist's creation and the relationship between the works, and why there are such paintings; Such a sculpture; This device; The whole system is presented in this way.

Yachang Art Network: Because of the shape or behavior of these tiles, there are many possibilities?

Chen Yifan: As long as you open your mind to creative thinking, there will be more possibilities.

Inaccurate scenery, acrylic composite canvas, 250×200cm×5 5,2015-2016.

Uncertain scenery "

Yachang Art Network: There is a large canvas work "Inaccurate Landscape" in the exhibition, which looks like an abstract painting. What does it have to do with other works?

Chen Mifan: Because the space of the Golden Pavilion Gallery is particularly large, this work is customized for this space 10 m× 2.5 m, and it discusses a kind of inevitability and contingency like other works in this exhibition. When I create this kind of plane painting, I basically don't need a brush now. It is a process of letting the pigment flow naturally, allowing the pigment to flow down naturally over and over again and out of many layers, and the flowing pigment will be received and re-flowed, and this process will be repeated all the time.

I choose these pigments as some colors of the green landscape of Chinese painting. It has flowed many times, and there are many concave-convex relations on the edge, some protruding and some sinking. I will fill the concave part again with the collected color, and keep circulating. This method still corresponds to the whole creative system.

Exhibition hall works on the first floor: uncertain scenery and derivatives.

Acrylic composites derived from cloth, 165× 165×39cm, 20 15-20 16.

Derived (pink) acrylic composite canvas,163x163x30cm 2015-2016.

Derivatives (pink) and derivatives (pink and blue)

derivative

Yachang Art Network: There is a group of works that have changed people's experience of fabric, and now they are installation works.

Chen Mifan: This work is a series of works called derivatives.

Yachang Art Network: It is a work composed of three parts.

Chen Mifan: In this exhibition, it becomes a group, and derivation is the "derivative of things" of past objects. Another derivative is how graphic works form a two-dimensional space, which has come to an end anyway. Now I have directly changed the way I look at it. Through the whole twisted state of the object, I have a process of changing the object, which is between the shelf and the device. I regard it as an object, not a pure concept of a painting.

1, 2, 1, 1, 3 ... ",comprehensive technique of cloth covering, mechanical device, 250x120cm2, 39x39xkloc-0/00cm, 20/kloc-0.

1, 2, 1, 1, 3 ...

1、2、 1、 1、3......》

Yachang Art Network: The sense of ceremony can be seen from the scene works and "uncertain scenery" that enter the door. Then there is the arch and bottom-up lighting in the last installation work "1, 2, 1, 1, 3 ...". Have formed a solemn ceremony. What is the picture in this work?

Chen Mifan: This work should be about 20 10. There is an exhibition in Germany. The exhibition hall of this exhibition is in a basement, so I want to create works related to this space. So I chose to use an old typewriter made in Germany. I think if I leave, this job can represent my idea and continue to work there, just as I still work there, so I have this idea. I set up a program in this typewriter to make it work at a certain rhythm, including controlling the lights to turn off to some extent. When the typewriter doesn't work, the light goes out, just like I'm resting, so there is such an interactive feeling. I have a stronger sense of ceremony in this exhibition. There is a strong sense of ceremony. When I go to Europe, they will also ask, "Why did you use this arch?" They think this kind of arch is very European. In fact, there are many arches in the buildings in the south. There are also many arches in the old house.

Yachang Art Network: Have you designed the clues of the whole exhibition from upstairs to downstairs?

Chen Mifan: We don't choose too many works in this exhibition, because his space is relatively large, so I don't want to fill the whole space by filling. I choose how to connect different series of works organically through various ties to form more interesting effects.

At first, it showed the blood relationship or immigration relationship with the original Mulan River, which is a big relationship. In addition, I think about life in my daily life and want to explore some simple problems in life. So, I didn't deliberately make some things so clear, but the relationship between them is mutual infiltration.

Yachang art network: from the big time and space background to the relationship with individuals, and extends a variety of possibilities.

Chen Mifan: Yes, some of these works are from the past, including those on paper, but they are all related. There are other forms of works that are not particularly related to this exhibition, so I won't show them. The works I choose are all representatives of the problems I am thinking at this stage.

At this stage, I mainly focus on two clues. One clue is the problem of immigration, and the other clue is that I am discussing the so-called abstract painting in the field of graphic research. I want to re-present the old way of watching in my own way.

label

The overall visual impression of the exhibition is rich and fresh. In the words of curator Cui Cancan, it is "opened and closed in a circuitous and rotating relationship, just to show the richness of an artist." What impresses people in Chen Mifan's works is his expansion of the relationship between matter and form. He said that many critics classify their works as abstract, but he doesn't consider himself an abstract artist. He thinks that abstraction and concreteness don't matter. The key is to express ideas and in what form.