Fu Wenjun

Misplacement 2017-2018 - Fu Wenjun's creative output can be summed up by his term Digital Pictorial Photography, which he uses to redefine the traditions found at the core of the photographic arts. By blending elements of other artistic media into the process, he creates a brand-new form of aesthetic pleasure. Fu Wenjun embraces a range of art forms, combining them into unique and monumental works that reach beyond the mere act of recording a photographic image. His work brings together the practical aspect of photography with the aesthetic nature of other forms of visual arts. By demonstrating the complementary relationship of photographs and other modes of artistic practice, Fu Wenjun transforms what may seem to be an inaccessible message into a highly approachable concept that can trigger critical thought about history and humanity.[40]

Thoughtful Images 2014-2015 - Fu Wenjun tells us, through idiomatic images, about questions which are as old as human species. Doubts and realities which grip mankind since ancient times, but which are at the same time really actual reality, a reality proved by using arcane signs, violently projected and sounded out, but still preserving integrity. We are talking about signs which are impressed in the general unconscious. That means that, beyond their historical value, they own an absolute and unconscious existence, innately associated to a concept, also in the unspoilt minds.[41]

Pick at Random 2012 – The symbols of various cultures are juxtaposed, in order to create new meanings by making use of different art languages from different times and places.

Totem 2012 – Through the use of the newest multimedia montage, the visual effect of this work is extreme. The multimedia artistic language makes the work's display and its transmission different from the medium itself, so the perceived relationship between the subjective viewer and the objective photography is changed. ---Luo Yiping, Curator of the Guangdong Museum of Art[42]

Story of Expo Park 2013 – In 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance (the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, the United States, Japan, Italy and Austria) invaded China, leading to the tragedy that happened at the Summer Palace. After more than one hundred years, they came again to China and built their national pavilions in Shanghai Expo Park. In this work, the ruins of the Summer Palace are juxtaposed with their national pavilions; the open notebook seems like a history book, recording and telling the great changes in its history. It shows that China has released the heavy cultural burden, has formed a new national and cultural attitude of self-confidence due to the contact with the new world.[43]

Thought Reading 2010–2011 – The radiography technology is used to imitate the human body's skull image, in order to present ideas in the human head. Buddhist sculptures take the place of the contents of the brain tissue, which makes the work present the superposition of the fictional with the authentic.

Echo 2009 – In this work, the Chinese national emblem is added to photos of obsolete buildings and industrial installations, with speckled colors. This refers to the disappearance of the cultural subjectivity under the control of national authoritarianism in the industrial civilization.[44]

A Wind from Yesterday 2016-2017 - In the series A Wind from Yesterday, Fu Wenjun superposes the images of a page made from woodblock printing in Song Dynasty and the euphrates poplar, leading the nature and the civilization to set each other off beautifully. Both of the two objects have gone through the test of a long time, so as symbols of time can evoke people's nostalgia towards the ancient era. The works embody a taste that is very close to the “classic elegance” proposed by the modern Chinese scholar Wang Guowei. This scholar regarded the “classic elegance” as a very special interest in the Chinese aesthetics. A Wind from Yesterday represents one of the few photography works that can give expression to this Chinese aesthetic spirit. (By Peng Feng, Professor at Peking University School of Arts and curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the 54th Biennale di Venezia)[45]

Harmony in Diversity 2016-2017 - Harmony in Diversity can be seen as a variant of A Wind from Yesterday, in which Fu Wenjun replaced the euphrates poplar with the superposition of Western classic sculptures and Chinese ancient paintings. Then the dialogue between nature and civilization has developed into the dialogue between Chinese and Western culture. It is evident that they represent two completely different aesthetic ideals: the Western sculptures pursue a perfect form, while the Chinese paintings adore a light and intangible spirit. But with the superposition processed by Wenjun, they don't appear to be inharmonious. In his own special way, the artist interprets the harmony in diversity, which represents a wisdom contributing to the continuous development of Chinese civilization and can untie the hard knot of culture diversity and clash of civilizations. (By Peng Feng, Professor at Peking University School of Arts and curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the 54th Biennale di Venezia)[46]

His artworks are collected by Museu Europeu d'Art Modern, National Art Museum of China,[47] Today Art Museum, University Museum and Art Gallery The University of Hong Kong， the Old Summer Palace Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Kennedy Family, World Council of Peoples for the United Nations, Dazu Grotto Museum, Chongqing Art Museum, Guangdong Museum of Art, Société Nationale des Beaux Arts of France, Egypt Ahmed Shawki Museum and other significant organizations and collectors.

• Fu Wenjun’s Website
• of Acclaimed Chinese Artist Fu Wenjun with American Writer Stacy Conde
• Voice of the Unseen
• Nordart 2015
• China Daily: When photographs look like paintings
• China Daily: Artist explores abstract concepts to create 3D sculptures