The exhibition「Spinach is not a flower」
are officially opening in Common Art Center on December 11, 2022, at 16:00

 Curator / Xia Kejun

Painting has been receiving the stimulation of technology and fashion, the casualness of computer screens and their touch screens, the novelty of images and the game, squeezing painting to the point of breathlessness, especially for the choice of silk material brush painting, and this remaining tactile smooth and visually transparent material, but also what kind of fascination is retained for human nature? Perhaps it is the last remaining human childlike touch of the skin, smooth and moist, like Chinese's fascination with jade and porcelain, because painting is ultimately nothing more than a paradox of tactile temptation: touch me, don't touch me!

Opening ceremony site

Or, the painting has actually been secretly commanding: Don't look at me, but I'll look at you! Painting has its own sovereignty, which lies in whether the artist can make new tricks from this ancient trade, but at the same time, it is as unique as the female artist You Wendi said: "Without spinach, there is no world!" But on this painting of the same name, it is clear that it is a spinach, but it seems to be a flower, an incomparably brilliant flower, otherwise, she is not a flower, this "spinach flower" is actually "Mickey", she is not Mickey's anime image, but the artist You Wendi himself invented "Flower Mickey", the artist combines "like a flower but not a flower" with a unique allegory, the wonderful changes after the superposition of classical and contemporary vision, forming the artist's unique syntax, almost making us forget that this comes from the ancient brush painting.

Opening ceremony site

Painting has always been the temptation of fascination, and beauty is only a by-product of this fascination, and the art of painting always carries a perceptual paradox: this fragile silk veil is actually just a soft veil, a self-concealment that everyone wants to uncover, but beauty itself has been refusing. It's just that sometimes it's so elegant, sometimes it's unusually mysterious, sometimes it's the overcoming of violence, or, sometimes there's ironic wit. Being able to see the paradox of these cognitive expressions itself so thoroughly is an extremely rare quality for female artists! You Wendi, a painter from Taiwan, is consciously aware of the possible temptation brought by this fragile silk yarn, in the instinct of female care, in the naivety of the game, both to face the invasion of trends and fashion, but also to affirm the burning anxiety of the times, art must be fashionable, but also must be deformed, find their own wonderful grammar, which has Wendi's syntax in image processing:

Opening ceremony site

The first is the inheritance and upbringing of the classics, and the beauty portrait in Tang Dynasty overlap the ugliness of the witches, but there is no lack of the beauty of the late Ming Chen Hongshou style of wide monsters to counter the violent peeping of beauty. The second is to inherit Japanese cartoons and anime, and the wonderful superposition of various Hanamiki brings a dreamy that looks like flowers instead of flowers, and the funny grimace laughter echoes. Third, the toughness and strength of machinery, the organic inorganic is almost a post-human allegory, and the overlapping of the speeding car on the wave with Pixiu reflects the artistic expression of technological intelligence in our time. Fourth, the changes and passages of the virtual era, the mythical and magical red dragon and brave troops, and Huamiqi and rabbits, and Taiji planet, are mixed with colors, and even have a kind of tail treading banter. Fifth, the appropriation and superposition of images, mythical, classical, fairy tales, machines, different images, inorganic and organic, are superprinted dreamily.

Opening ceremony site

These seemingly mixed temperaments are skillfully combined by Wendi, and what is more interesting is that few female artists express their personal tone and reflective wit in painting, which is Wendi's impact in the face of tide play, when exploring the violence of visual images, she has formed her own reflective syntax, such as "Mahjong Tai Chi", such as "A Goose-breasted Man", with childlike innocence, like "Carido (Image)" allows us to see the other side of mahjong, and "Red Dragon Doesn't Care About Your Empire", In fact, it is full of deep historical irony.

Opening ceremony site

This is the visual philosophy implicit in You Wendi's paintings: spinach is not a flower, flower is not a flower, white horse is not a horse, and a white horse is like a Pegasus, making full use of the principle of Chinese culture "between likeness and dislikeness" to expand into a child-like similarity game, and play as "instant illusion", but also embodies the naming pleasure of "image nominalism", fully reflects the appropriation technique of modern "allegory", the "crossing and superprinting" of images between ancient and modern China and the West, like classical but like trendy play, like meticulous but dreamy, The flipping of grammar also comes from the illusion of painting and the illusion of vision, and this is the unique "journey to the west" of Wendy's generation, everything is frankly ridiculous of daily life, but everything is so classical and mysterious.

Opening ceremony site

Such tension comes from the artist's need to resolve the double pressure: on the one hand, to liberate people's ready-made habitual perception of classical beauty and elegance, so when she repaints classical scenes, such as the transformation of "Han Xizai's Night Banquet Picture" in "Filter Eyes, Beautiful Pupil World", she replaces it with a female image, sees the hidden fear in the frightened expression, and changes the physical object, and finds the difference in value in the contrast between digital symbols and nothingness; On the other hand, it is to awaken us from the random combination of current tide play, and let us feel the value of painting again with extremely painterly brushstrokes and subtle changes of color.

Opening ceremony site

Wendi's exploration of painting technology is actually more eye-catching, although it is a silk brush painting, repeated cover dyeing reflects a subtle change in thickness, retaining the halo of the gongbi cover dyeing, and the subtle transition between virtual and real, but also altering the existing image, breaking the harmony of classical beauty, and even making soft materials have the strength texture of glass, such as the charming "Glass Horse", but at the same time the glass texture horse is melting like water droplets ("Transformation"), the artist makes full use of the thickness of the material in the cover dyeing, Obtain an extremely tense touch, between solidification and halo, between red and green, between gorgeous and cold, rich in trance changes, especially the deep cold expression of beauty freezing, both bright red and untouchable. Wendy's work also has a unique expression of a woman becoming a mother, in the series of "Existence by the Moon", we see an inner life space, where the mother and the fetus are growing together, breathing together, experiencing pain together, giving each other energy, because this is the birth of life, in fact, painting is painting, every time, it is also the birth of life.

Opening ceremony site

In the new works of "Butterfly Sea" and "Thousand Miles Constellation Map", the contemporaneity of Gong painting has been expressed to the extreme, which is the artist's illusionary imagination, or the deformation of dreams, from the artist of the sea, the sea has become the palace of her illusion, in the illusion, butterflies are like jellyfish, like corals, and like machines, they can be naturally superimposed, forming a kind of trompe l'oeil and traversal of time and space, the superposition and allegories of the theme (allegories), dazzling and breaking the fascination, This makes Wendy's paintings full of exciting futures, and we are willing to follow the artist into this beautiful adventure and fantasy journey, or into the artist's dream of traveling to the west with painting.

Curator / Xia Kejun

Producer / Brenda

Planner / Hale Andy

Salon site

First of all, thank you for your support and welcome guests. The collaboration between the United Art Center and Teacher You began in her solo exhibition in 2020, and she also valued the ideas contained in her works and the techniques of silk. The theme of this exhibition "spinach is not a flower" is very interesting, I would like to ask the curator Mr. Xia Kejun, can you analyze the meaning of the theme of this exhibition, and in your opinion, what are the characteristics that most impress you in You Wendi?

Curator: Xia Kejun

Thank you all for coming to the scene, the friends who came today are very special, in this special period, so this exhibition is also very special. I'm only meeting Wendy officially for the first time today, but I've always admired her paintings, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to have this conversation. Wendy's work is very influential in today's contemporary art world, and I think her work is unique. The first point is that she is from Taiwan, China, and the temperament of the region has caused her to have good mechanical perception and a kind of freedom from the sea, which are rare characteristics of mainland painters. So, I see that although Wendi's creation chooses the method of gong and three alum and nine dye, it is not at all the feelings of ordinary gong artists, and I have been in contact with a large number of gong artists because of my work, and it can be said that Wendi's style is unique. The second reason is that Wendi is a very thoughtful female doctor, and her supervisor is Professor Lu Shengzhong, so I think Wendi also inherits such a reflection and exploration of artistic diversity, which is rare in other female artists, I have seen many Gong artists stagnate in the past, but I think such a kind of persistence, the exploratory ability that can be seen in the picture, this ability can make her go far on the road of art. 

Third, Gong always has some connection with tradition, such as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", Wendi uses this hand-drawn and line-drawing method to connect with our great traditional Chinese context since the Tang and Song Dynasties, which is a unique inheritance of Gong, but if it is just that, it is only part of the tradition. At the same time, she uses many elements of current trendy play and IP to express contemporary parts. Do we often reflect on whether tide play is art? Or that kind of game movie fast-consuming, influential symbol? Wendy, on the other hand, uses many symbols, including the Micky mouse, and the symbols in the game use their language and the brilliant and complex technique of Gong to present a unique tension. The fourth aspect, about the theme "spinach is not a flower", spinach is not a flower is her former picture theme, I think it can reflect the humorous side of art, in her picture, there are many ironies, unique, which is both her reflection on our time and art. It also reflects the conceptual side of contemporary art, just like the "white horse is not a horse" in classical Chinese philosophy. The last point is imagination, I feel that the charm of art is different from photographs, but there is a sense of painting and a unique atmosphere of personal expression of imagination, which I only feel today in the scene. I think art is an expression of ephemeral beauty. Wendy reflects this very well in her work, that's what I want to say today, and finally, I wish this exhibition a smooth future, thank you.

Ms. Wang Shu from 99 Art Network, not long ago happened to have an in-depth interview with Wendi, after the exchange, as an art media person, what do you think of Wendi's art?

I knew and liked Wendy very early on, and it was an honor to interview her before. Our exchange made me feel that Wendy is a very true artist, but also very artist's thinking and wisdom. Our previous interviews have been from Wendy's experience of practicing athletics as a child to her current family and creation, which is very emotional and very in-depth. Wendy's work always gives people a particularly close, light, wind-like feeling. This is because she digests the content of traditional classics very deeply, and has a comprehensive understanding and research on the elements of current trends. I think it's not very appropriate for everyone to position her as a trend artist, because her ideas are very contemporary, including some reflections on reality, as well as some philosophical and traditional Chinese cultural insights. Seeing Wendy's works at the scene today is more profound than the feeling of the pictures, her works are not to say that it looks very shocking to you at a glance, but the moisturizing thing silently sneaks into your heart to touch you, move you, just like she herself will make you slowly feel her charm.

In this exhibition, we present some of Ms. You's works from various periods, including the glass horse series she created in Taipei in her early days, the Huamiqi series she created when she came to the Central Academy of Fine Arts for her doctorate, and the mythical beast series that expresses our own totems and folklore elements. I would like to ask Wendy, how do you see your creative stages, please tell us a little bit?

I have always had a keen interest in the contemporary transformation of traditional artefacts. So at that time, I resolutely came from Taiwan to the doctoral program of Central America to study with teacher Lu Shengzhong. I have been studying very traditional ink painting as an undergraduate, and I often go to the Forbidden City for practical classes, and I feel that the things in the Forbidden City are very beautiful, very historical and very attractive, but I have observed how these such good cultural relics can be so high and low, and there are very few young people who come to visit, and since then I feel that I have a mission to carry forward these traditional cultural relics through my own hand-painted way. So, in today's exhibition hall, I have a lot of works extracted from ancient painting classics, such as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and "Hundred Horse Maps", and the "Glass Horse Series" is where I translate classic ancient paintings into my language. As for why the texture of glass is used, it is actually to express the "collapse of discourse". I think that the cultural relics that remain in the Forbidden City become classics because they are endowed, that is, because the brilliance of history makes it slowly pass down to become "classics". But when we come to the contemporary era, it is replaced by multiculturalism, and "monism" is no longer tolerated, so I think that the right to speak has actually been dismantled at the moment, and contemporary art will not allow only one family to exist. Like these classics I turned him into glass, glass is actually a very interesting texture, it is the outside, but when it is broken, it is impossible to stick it back, what a paradoxical state. So, I want to say that the collapse of the classic cannot be restored, but I also use red to give it a sense of revival, which is what makes my series of classic glass. A lot of things are a "black theory" because it is given, but this endowment is not absolute, so there is no such thing as absolute, which is what I want to express in this series.

The flower micky mouse series was created in 2012, when I didn't really understand what trend art was, but to satirize some Taipei politicians, in order to express the so-called "subjectivity", they deliberately supported an artist who carried forward the Hakka canvas abroad, and couldn't wait to follow the trend to include the "Hakka canvas" in "Taiwan's subjectivity", which I think is ridiculous. So, I combined the Micky mouse with the canvas, and the biggest purpose was to convey that multicultural tolerance is the most current thing. As for the mythical beast series, it is actually a work that I am very entangled in, and the original intention of creating it is derived from Chinese culture. My university teacher once went to foreign countries to do interviews, and she thought that ink culture is very weak in foreign countries. The reason why I chose to use the symbols of sacred beasts is because I hope to carry forward these Chinese symbols through my way, simply and rudely and directly show them to the world. But on the other hand, I will be worried about form over content, so I think of many ways to make his layers richer, such as I will add mechanical feelings, and trendy IP symbols.

I think the zing, vitality, and hope in Wendy's work are most needed in this era, and this comes from Wendy's concept that she is always willing to try new challenges. So this time we also used Microsoft's latest MR virtual reality obfuscation technology, which is related to the recent "metaverse concept". I think you can experience it together and feel the fun of this fusion of reality and virtuality, and I think it will make us reflect, and bring us new ideas and new hopes. At the same time, I am also curious about Wendy's views on this kind of artistic creation using digital media, and I hope that Wendy can explain to us how to use these new media from her point of view.

Any artistic expression is what we want to say, not limited to the medium, the medium is only the medium we want to convey ideas, although I insist on brush silk painting, maybe this is a mission in my bones, but I do not exclude any scientific and technological media to intervene in my traditional media. Because I think the collision of these two elements is a kind of inheritance of tradition, it is a continuity to bring tradition into the future world. The trending art before the epidemic made people's hearts more impetuous at that time, and they would listen to many market voices, but I think it is difficult to move forward when you listen to many market voices because art still needs to stay away from the market voice in time before it is possible to do "future aesthetic" things. Art is futuristic and has the state of leading the vanguard. I will always feel anxious about the brushwork that is very easy to draw, and the new style must be brave and trial and error, and I hope that I can always present it to everyone with a new style.

The artist communicates with the live audience

This exhibition integrates trends, traditional heritage, and cultural content to convey new voices and the power of change in the Internet age and IP economy.

Opening ceremony site

In this exhibition, the iconic elements of You Wendi have changed from the past, silk, ink, trend elements...

Opening ceremony site

Although it is a fine brush painting on silk, You Wendi still reflects the subtle changes in shades in the repeated dyeing, retaining the halo of the fine brush dyeing and the subtle transition between virtual and real, but also altering the existing images to break the classical beauty. Harmony, giving even soft materials the strength and texture of glass.

Opening ceremony site

She is not satisfied with compromising the classic texts, but thinking about how to give new ink and wash a unique life and charm. In terms of color, You Wendi embraced the trendy elements, and the use of ink conveyed new charm.

Curators experience VR interactive works live

Cross-border, trendy... You Wendi exhibited multimedia and digital media works for the first time in this exhibition. 

Opening ceremony site

If the true meaning of art lies in dialogue with the self, in grasping the subtle relationship between theme, content and form, then Wendi's talent is very remarkable here. And here, time melts in her work, transforming into a new and philosophical context.

Opening ceremony site

Thank you to Jiesie International and FILLMED which is a French brand for their support and sponsorship of this solo exhibition

The work "A Thousand Miles of Constellations" has great relevance to the theme of this exhibition, "Flooded IP". First of all, this work is an appropriation of the structure from the legendary work "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". The artist combines images of the twelve zodiac signs, including Scorpio, Aquarius... Each appearance and related IP image are drawn into a single work. There are a total of 12 joint products, each of which has a constellation as the theme, and finally runs through into a "thousand miles of rivers and mountains". The intention of this work is to illustrate the starry sky composed of "IP". There are many images of IP, like the sea of stars, and they will eventually form a different cosmology.

Dreamer, Color on Silk, 30x95cm, 2022

"Dreamer" contains everyone's childhood dreams, about the imagination of growing up, what kind of adult will I become? The mickey mouse in the picture is one of the most successful IP images in the world and the most profitable symbol. But at the same time, it is full of ideals, and can realize its ideals, that is, to bring joy to all people. The best way to make your dreams come true is to turn them into reality while still being happy and hoping that everyone can be such a dreamer.

Crane Dance, Color on Silk, 180x85x9cm, 2022

"Crane Dance" is a graduation gift from the artist, which represents "no matter how far the road is, we will always have to work hard and bravely to move forward". The soaring crane represents itself, and the sun in the center of the picture represents everyone's state of mind. It can be seen as a hopeful sunrise, a warm rising sun, or a faint sunset, depending on the state of mind of the viewer.

Crane Dance, effect of The VR interactive work HoloLens 2 shows

Time and space superimposed, how to find the diverse expansion and extension of art in the world of different dimensions? In this exhibition, the work "Crane Dance" uses MR technology to travel in the real and virtual worlds, wearing virtual reality interactive HoloLens 2 in front of the work, you can feel the floating feeling of cranes flying freely, didi's cartoon image holding gemstones, red ribbons also become three-dimensional effect around the side, viewers can expand and shrink them at will according to their wishes, place them in various positions, and let the viewers will participate in the work. Give new meaning to your work for a unique experience of interacting with reality and unreality.

Phoenix Great Wall, Color on Silk, 150x100cm, 2022

The Great Wall in the work of the Phoenix Great Wall is composed of many scientific symbols, which is the precise calculation of the architecture of the Great Wall containing scientific basis and formulas. In this way, it can become a thousand-year-old relic with a phoenix soaring on it, which also represents a symbol of Chinese culture.

Good things naturally look forward to becoming the trend. It's just that the wind here turns into a phoenix, walking through the sea of peony flowers, with the Great Wall looming in the background. This is the most majestic Great Wall, so it is full of life and love. I hope that all the beauty of the world, spring breeze and rain, water will come to fruition, and become a phoenix.

Yimi Flower, Color on Silk, 85x75cm, 2022

"Yimi Flower" is a flower from the water world of the dragon family, which is inspired by NetEase Games' top game IP "Journey to the West". It represents fleeting love, instant brilliance, instant beauty.

When all things in this world have a brilliant time, this is the power that God has given to all things. Only when there is love in the heart will the world become peaceful and happy. At the same time, the artist chose a variety of expressions for this work, which not only expresses the feeling of "Yimi flower", but also is influenced by the color of the clothes of young babies in life. When I was a child, my baby's clothes were always particularly colorful and loved. Why is it that as we age, we become more and more monotonous dark colors? Like the characters in the game, we who hope to grow up can also not forget our original intention, forever childlike.

Butterfly Sea, Color on Silk, 100x50cm, 2022

"Butterfly Sea", inspired by the co-branding with trendy dolls, the color smudge gradient in the picture is the artist's latest expression method, which belongs to the creation of small categories. The reason for this technique is that the artist sees many colorful and colorful costumes on the children's clothing, and the children's costumes are interesting, flamboyant, and respect me, but this "arrogant temperament" makes people feel particularly cute. The artist hopes to transform this temperament and the childlike fun of the past into his works, so there is the current way of using color.

Butterfly Sea - Snow Flowers, Handpainted Color on FRP, 67.7x115.2x150.6cm, 2022

A bouquet of flowers on the top of a cliff, never seen in any other landscape, it always wakes up day after day, facing the rising sun and sleeping in the stars and moon. Looking at the scenery below the mountain again, the feeling of longing for freedom became strong, it struggled to crawl out of the soil, slowly fell into the valley with the wind, the familiar cliff gradually drifted away, its heart was faintly uneasy, and soon swept away by the scenery it had never seen before, the blue sky, the snow-white clouds, the green trees, the tender green grass, everything was so beautiful.

The howling wind tore its body apart, and the petals fell piece by piece, which was that it scattered its romance to the world.

It didn't know where it was going to land or where it was going, but it heard its heartbeat for the first time amid the loud wind.

Huddle, Color on Silk, 150x85cm, 2022

Inspired by the Beijing Winter Olympic games, this painting looks at first glance like two "tuan tuan" grouped together. But in fact, it is made up of many red pandas. It is like a cute little white snowball, but also like many people hugging together, they hug tightly, regardless of each other, and eventually form a flower.

Scan the QR code to learn more
For more information, Please follow us

Founded in 2015, Common Art Center is the first contemporary art gallery with a crowdfunding membership system in China. The Common Art Center is jointly initiated by experienced curators, art dealers, collectors and other professionals in the field. It is committed to providing professional collection solutions for contemporary art collectors with a new business model. The gallery takes "paper" as the medium and works of media as its main research and management direction, because of the importance of such works in the Chinese art system and the broad development prospect in the future. Using paper and folk art as the medium, the excellent artists make paper as a tool to resist its fate, allowing it to get rid of the veil of function and reveal its own artistic value.