Sun Wenjia: Creations are the evidence that we have existed
Special Zone News Plaza 2021-09-19 21:45 Fujian
The following article is from Langhua Amoy, author Langhua Amoy
Reporter's notebook
Creation is the evidence of our existence
Text | Chen Jiadian
Lacquer is an ancient yet contemporary material. The lacquered bow unearthed from the Kuahuqiao site in Hangzhou is over 8,000 years old. Lacquer art in Fuzhou is very famous and has developed since the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, with a history of more than two hundred years.
The innovations in lacquer materials, techniques, and design today have been sustaining the life of lacquer art. Sun Wenjia, a lacquer installation artist, is one of its practitioners.
Sun Wenjia studied oil painting during his undergraduate years, and after graduation he worked for several years in spatial design and commercial art installations. He has always maintained a passion for fine art creation.
The first time I met Sun Wenjia was in a villa area in Fuzhou; it was one of his studios, dedicated to lacquer installation creations.
At first glance, Sun Wenjia seems like a freshly graduated young man, with a sunny personality, talkative, quick-witted, and with his own unique viewpoints. After spending two days with him, I realised that within his open personality lies a stubborn side: he never compromises on his art. There are no artworks that imitate or follow trends. Even if there is only a one-in-a-thousand chance, he finds a way to pursue the creative ideas he loves, thinking, what if it actually works?
On the second day of our stay in Fuzhou, the weather turned foul with heavy rain, disrupting our original filming plan. During those days, Sun Wenjia was busy preparing his exhibition piece for Vientiane City: Deep Time Space. It was a combination of lacquer and stainless steel, abstract, with a slight sci-fi feel.
Sun Wenjia enjoys drinking tea, which aligns with the preference of most people from Fujian. But often, Sun Wenjia drinks tea alone. Driving to an unfamiliar place, by the sea or camping in the mountains, enjoying that brief, undisturbed time, drinking tea while conversing with nature.
The pandemic over the past two years has led Sun Wenjia to a deeper reflection on nature and individual life, ultimately resulting in his 'Evolution of Objects' series. He also gave these works the concept of a 'time capsule'. In Sun Wenjia's view, creation is evidence that we have existed.
He placed the lacquer installation into nature and communicated with it: The Minjiang River Drift. His 'Object Performance' m02 work floated downstream from the source of the Minjiang River in Jianning County, Sanming, Fujian, finally reaching the Mawei estuary in Fuzhou. This lacquer installation artwork took 45 days and drifted for 577 kilometres.
Sun Wenjia tries to explore the relationship between Fuzhou, Minjiang, and lacquer. In the midst of the pandemic, many things are beyond people's control. However, allowing one's artworks to drift is something an artist can freely control.
After several days of staying up late working overtime, the exhibits at Vientiane City: Deep Time Space are nearly completed. Sun Wenjia said that to display a good visual effect, it needs to be placed in nature. It is a 160-jin masterpiece, and moving it alone requires a van for transport. We first went to a wetland forest, and because it had just rained, mosquitoes were breeding. I asked photographer Hao Ge for a lot of cigarettes. Not to smoke, but to use the faint smoke to drive away the mosquitoes. Later, Hao Ge even complained to me about wasting so many of his cigarettes…
The next day, we followed Sun Wenjia on a long trek and arrived at the coast of Changle, and Hao's mood was exceptionally cheerful. Later, I found out that the place was actually just a few kilometres from Hao's hometown. In that case, Hao and Sun Wenjia could be considered fellow townsmen.
These time-consuming and labour-intensive projects are one of Sun Wenjia's inherent stubborn traits, and in the end, Sun Wenjia successfully placed it in the ideal setting. We also captured this somewhat sci-fi artwork, in the form it ideally envisioned.
