Yangcheng Evening News Art Institute is committed to exploring new models for art to help rural revitalization, and continues to invite artists to Wengcheng for artistic creation. On July 19, a group of artists gathered in Wengcheng, and Mr. Ji Zhou was one of the artists invited this time.
On the morning of July 20, artists came to the scrap station to “seek treasures”. People came and went, and forklifts were shuttled. Teacher Ji walked through it, focusing on finding the treasure in his heart. When asked about what he was looking for, Teacher Ji said he was not sure, but one idea was certain, that is, you must find an item that is closely related to the lives of farmers.
His works should be connected with local people and the local environment.
A excited voice suddenly sounded, and Teacher Ji ran in from outside with a giant white water storage tank lid. This deformed discarded lid is the material selected by Teacher Ji. Two days after that, under the sunshade of the agricultural park, colorful spray paint was placed beside the lid of the white water tank. Teacher Ji squatted on the ground, immersed in the world of artistic processing.
At noon on the 21st, the sun was shining in the sky, and the sun shone on the colorful water storage lid. A yellow plastic translucent straw hat was placed above the lid, flashing with dazzling light. Teacher Ji finally wiped the sweat off her face, took off her gloves dyed in color, and shared with us his views and thoughts on artistic creation in Wengcheng.
Ji Zhou’s creation scene
Dialogue with Ji Zhou
Question: How did you feel when you first came to Wengcheng?
Ji Zhou: Weng City is surrounded by mountains, with beautiful mountains and rivers and beautiful environment. This is my first impression when I first arrived here. In addition, what touched me the most was the peaceful attitude towards life of the locals. I share three small things here. First of all, I came here for the first time. I saw many people singing and dancing, playing colorful game cars in the square at the gate of the town government. It was very lively and the people were full of happiness. This scene of blind dates between officials and the people and the people living and working in peace and contentment made me very moved.
The second thing is that when driving on the village road, I found that the local vehicles here always take the initiative to give way to us foreign vehicles. This made me feel very moved. First, the quality of the locals is very high and very polite. Second, it also reflects the peaceful rhythm of life of the locals. If everyone is busy with work and is nervous, they will not give way at all.Such a peaceful social atmosphere also reflects the high level of local managers.
The third thing is that when I was taking pictures, a big sister who carried water passed by. When I saw me taking pictures, she suddenly stopped and put the bucket on the ground, waiting for me to finish taking pictures. I said, “Sister, you pass first, I’ll take a photo slowly.” She replied, “I’m sorry, I’ll disturb you to take a photo”, and then picked up the water and continued to walk. When she left, she turned around and said, “I’m sorry.”
From these small things, we can see that the locals are very peaceful, and Cinema is so polite, well-educated and qualitative, so I think this time I came to Wengcheng, and I can do a pleasant artistic creation here. The above are some of my general impressions of Wengcheng.
Q: What do you think is the difference between creating here and creating it in daily life?
Ji Zhou: Creating here is completely different from my usual work. Creating here requires quick thinking and quick capture of inspiration, calling urgent talents, and the content should emphasize locality. Before the creation of Komiks City, I was a little confused. I wanted to create something for Wengcheng, but I had no idea. For this reason, I went online to find some references about rural public art. But soon I realized that all worries are unnecessary. In fact, we don’t need to prepare anything. When we come here, we use whatever we see. We use it when we inspire us.
I came here with this idea. This state made my mind more focused, observe, discover, find beautiful things, and turn it into a public work of art.
After coming here, I initially wanted to find some old farm tools with a sense of life and turn these ready-made products into public art installations. But soon I found that the number of representative old farm tools was very small, and most of them were in museums. Modern agricultural tools were very industrialized and less regional, so I could not find representative farm tools at the local level. So I turned my attention to other items closely related to the life and production of local farmers.
Q: What do you think of Earth ArtKomiks?
Ji Zhou: I can answer this question based on the previous question. Earth art should be reflected in the nature of the earth, and the creation materials should be closely related to the local people or the local living environment, at least they should be related, and they should not be completely disconnected.
The most important audience of the works of Cinema’s local art are the local residents. If the artwork cannot resonate with the local people, then this work is a failed work and cannot be integrated into the local area.
Now the country emphasizes great aesthetic education. We should also promote rural cultural revitalization and aesthetic education. Then our creations must resonate with local people. Only when they are interested will they pay attention to art and play a role in aesthetic education.
Q: Can you Komiks share your creative philosophy with us? Ji Zhou: Yesterday I went to the scrap station to look for creative materials, and I found a large plastic round cake-shaped east. At first I didn’t know what it was. After asking the local people, I realized that it was the lid of a large water storage tank. This storage tank lid is very bulky. People who make sculptures pay attention to the sense of mass or volume, so it attracted me at a glance.
In addition, although this lid is large in size, it has a very simple shape, with a hollow structure in the center of the circle, which is very design-like. The Cinema features of this lid fit the theme of my ideal work—to interact with the sun.
Sunlight is very important to farmers. Although modern agriculture has become technological, it often depends on the weather. From planting and sowing to harvesting and drying grain, it is closely related to sunlight.
My work needs to be connected with sunlight. There is a hole in the middle of this large lid, and sunlight can enter the interior of the work through the hole. But these are not enough. This hole cannot be empty. It also needs to be combined with some other things to give this work a certain sense of light and add some connotation.
I first thought of the local specialty dustpan. The decorative patterns of this type of braided products are very interesting, but we didn’t find them. Later, when I went to the hardware store to buy materials, I suddenly found a yellow plastic semi-transparent straw hat. I think this straw hat is perfect, it is a real farmerUsing production tools is closely related to the production and life of all farmers. And the size of this straw hat and the size of the lid just fit, I immediately thought of combining these two things.
From the lives of locals, I use the ready-made products around them to build a land art or public art work, which arouses emotional resonance among locals. This is my original intention of creation.
Q: What impact do you think will be brought to you by artistic creation in Wengcheng?
Ji Zhou: We talked about art education earlier. We cannot talk to local villagers about Michelangelo, Leonardo, Venus, Mona Lisa, and Song Huizong’s thin gold body and Ruihe Picture. These locals have no idea and cannot understand them immediately. As an enlightened aesthetic education, Komiks, our initial goal was to make the locals interested. The raw materials used for creation were farmed utensils and daily necessities, which would quickly arouse their empathy. They might sigh, “I know this thing” and “This is our straw hat”, which will make them realize that ordinary things can also become works of art, and thus become interested in art. Maybe from then on, art will become one of his goals – “I want to take the Academy of Fine Arts”, “I want to be an artist”, “I want to be a painter”, such as Babaylan, if this impact can have this effect, it would be amazing.
Even if it is just a chance to meet with everyone, letting everyone smile and touch, it has achieved my original intention. Therefore, art must resonate, arouse discussion, and arouse their interest.
In fact, art also serves the public. No matter how good the art work is, if there is no audience discussion or appreciation, the work will fail. Some people discuss, whether it is praise or criticism, at least there are people paying attention to it. Even if this work is a successful work, it can achieve the purpose of the author communicating with the audience through the work. Of course, it would be better if more people like this work.
We are conducting local creations in WengCinema City. Related media and online publicity can allow more people to pay attention to this, and then see the beauty of Weng City’s mountains and rivers and human feelings, and at the same time understand more of Weng City’s history, and even devote ourselves to the construction of Weng City with us. If this role can be played, it will be immeasurable merit.
Ji Zhou’s work
“Auto-Bulfighting” 147cm x 147cm x 7cm weather-resistant steel paint 2023
“Pregnancy” 230cm x 50cm x50cm Resin gold plating 2022
“Pregnancy” 230cm x 50cm x50cm Resin gold plating 2022
“Pregnancy” 230cm x 50cm x50cm Resin gold plating 2022
“Tianjiang Dance” 230cm x 120cm x 90cm x 2 Resin baked car paint 2017
“Tianjiang Dance” 230cm x 120cm x 90cm x 2 Resin baked car paint 2017
“Heavenly Dance” 230cm x 120cm x 90cm x 2
Resin baked car paint 2017
“Walking Cat-1” 90cm x 40cm x 45cm Stainless steel
“Walking Cat-2” 90cm x 40cm x 45cm stainless steel
“Victory” 70cm x 70cm x 10cm Casted copper 2006
“Summer” 70cm x 50cm x 8cm FRP paint Komiks2004
“Door God” 18Babaylan0cm x 150cm x85cm x2 FRP paint 2004
“Door God” 180cm x150cm x85cm x2glassBabaylanFiberglass paint 2004
“Male” 80cm x 50cm x10cm cast copper 2003
“Female” 80cm x12cm x8cmcast copper 2003
“We” 120cm x 70cm x60cm Fiberglass Imitation Copper Babaylan 2000
Artist Profile
Ji Zhou: Guangzhou Academy of Fine ArtsKomiksDirector of the Furniture Art Teaching and Research Department of the School of Architecture and Art Design, member of the Guangdong Artists Association, member of the Sculpture Art Committee of the Guangzhou Artists Association, vice president of the Guangzhou Sculpture Society, member of the China Decoration Association, and director of the Public Art Branch of the Guangdong Furniture Art Committee.
Ask questions, editors/Wang Qitong, Wu Fengping (intern)
Photography, video/Cheng Sheng, Xiao Xingbang (intern), Lin Xinlong (intern), Luo JianyiBabaylan (intern)
Pictures/Provided by Ji Zhou
Reviewed/Zhao Xuhong
Issued/Zhang Yanqin
Source | Editor-in-chief of Jinyang.com | Wang Qitong