Guan Wei | Interface | 23 June - 16 July by MARTIN BROWNE CONTEMPORARY

GUAN WEI INTERFACE

GUAN WEI

INTERFACE 23 June - 16 July 2022

MARTIN BROWNE CONTEMPORARY 15 HAMPDEN STREET PADDINGTON NSW 2021 TEL: 02 9331 7997 FAX: 02 9331 7050 info@martinbrownecontemporary.com www.martinbrownecontemporary.com GALLERY HOURS: 10:30AM - 6PM GALLERY HOURS:TUESDAY TUESDAY -- SATURDAY SUNDAY 10:30AM - 6PM

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LIST OF WORKS

© Martin Browne Contemporary © All images copyright Guan Wei This catalogue is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. COMPILER: James Edwards PHOTOGRAPHER: Zuo La COLOUR SEPARATIONS: Spitting Image, Sydney Cover Image: Interface No.9 (detail), 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Entanglement No.1, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 306 cm, (12 panels)

Entanglement No.2, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 202 cm, (8 panels)

Interface No.1, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.2, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.3, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.4, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.5, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.6, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface No.7, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

10.

Interface No.8, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

11.

Interface No.9, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

12.

Interface No.10, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 87 cm (diptych)

Interface 《界》 Under the current dark shadows of Covid-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and increased global economic uncertainty, it is my hope that my art can bring some comfort and healing as we contemplate the future of humanity. The rapid development of the Internet, Big Data, virtual reality, blockchain, genetic engineering, Artificial Intelligence and other Internet-related technologies, and the fact that 2022 is being called The Year of the Metaverse, has spurred my artistic interest in the new digital order. Internet technology has torn down the boundaries of the three-dimensional and multi-dimensional realms. The development of the internet is based on a computing speed which has surpassed our limited recognition of three-dimensional time and space, and established a ‘reality’ in the virtual-digital space to which we as human beings cannot hope to evolve in our own physical reality. In the Interface series, the picture plane is folded to form a line along which time and space are compressed. On this line we can see images of people, as well as boats, mountains, flora and fauna etc. But at the next moment, the interface of this line flips and takes us into a new space. Here human bodies are separated and new images emerge. Each painting gains a multi-angle perspective that recognises this new world where the virtual and the real intersect. In dealing with the fundamental changes from ‘natural human’ civilisation to ‘technological human’ civilisation, art needs to be repositioned, reoriented and reperceived according to these new time and space scales, and new realms.

Along with the advancement and application of electronic technologies, there have emerged many possibilities for imaging, including abstract symbol tables relating to meteorology, geography, national charts, transportation, health, fitness, financial management, etc. I was excited to explore these new images from an aesthetic point of view. In these two sets of works, I have used a large number of charts, words and symbols, such as meteorological and geographical images, physics and biology formulas, arrows and characters. These add an extra dimension of rational thinking to the paintings, such that each assumes a mysterious and unquestionable sense of truthfulness. Tables can also reshape reality - sometimes even surpassing reality. For example, Interface No. 9 shows an Artificial Intelligence world where inorganic life has replaced organic life - the neural network taken over by smart software that is not limited by organic chemistry and can freely cross the virtual and real worlds. After four billion years of wandering in the world of organic compounds, life will break down barriers, enter an inorganic realm, leave the Earth, and find itself in an unbounded Universe.

Entanglement 《万有引力》 In Entanglement No. 1, I have tried to express a novel experience. According to Chinese philosophy, the world is held together by two opposing but interdependent forces, Yin and Yang, which may not be the case in the actual physical world, but is applicable to the modern world created by science and humanism. A scientific Yang contains a humanistic Yin, and vice versa. Yang gives us strength, while Yin provides us with meaning and moral judgment. The goddess at the centre of the work wears two images on her chest. The one on the top is a Yin and Yang diagram, representing the power of balance in the Universe. The clock-like image below is a combination of space and time. A medieval man on the upper left is pulling a rope that is tied around another goddess’s waist and extended on to a ladder. On the rope there are a monkey and a cat, as well as a man trying to get his balance with an umbrella. The rope goes through the butterfly and the other end is held by the hand of “God”. This rope runs through the entire picture, maintaining a very delicate balance. The exotically plumed bird at the bottom left of the picture represents a positive Yang force. It focuses its gaze on the snake, and the snake stares at the ant on the pyramid. The knights on the right who wear masks and black robes represent a dark Yin force. On the top of the mountain is the scene in Greek mythology where Sisyphus keeps pushing the boulder up the mountain. Here, Yin and Yang maintain a balance. The goddess at the centre seems to be looking after this strange world. She holds a fan in her right hand and a butterfly in her left hand and a galaxy magically appears under her skirt. From the balance maintained by a single thread to the illusion of a galaxy, this set of works expresses human emotions, desires and a series of experiences in the same picture. Everything is interconnected and in an entanglement.

The top part of Entanglement No. 2 shows a large whale. Whales like humans use the brain’s limbic system to process emotions, but the whale’s limbic system has an extra piece of tissue that humans don’t have. Perhaps this additional tissue enables whales to experience some very different and extremely complex emotions that humans cannot? Whales have an amazing musical talent that even Bach and Mozart couldn’t match. Each whale has its own unique “song” that can last for hours and is exquisite and complex. In this set of works, the big whale is singing cheerfully, and the angel is applauding. A goddess has the whale on the leash and they are moving forward happily. Its song traverses the heavens and the earth. The red line represents its singing voice, and the angel falls madly in love with the voice. Spiral symbols and extension symbols express the power of music. A wheel attached to one of the whale’s fins is sliding over the boy’s head, which inspires the boy and creates a cavity in the brain showing a new life being born (indicating the brain-computer interface in genetic engineering). A butterfly and an insect represent new areas and passages that are brought about by this transformation. Just as Columbus and Magellan sailed to the other side of the sea, exploring new islands and unknown continents, maybe one day we too can travel to a mysterious and blissful place of reflection. I really like Anselm Kiefer’s views on resistance. Resistance is everywhere and resistance is needed everywhere in life. We resist meaninglessness, nothingness, temptation, power, oppression, virus, and we also resist homogeneity and the homogenisation of life. The meaning of art lies in creation and resistance against homogeneity and mediocrity, because art is a heterogeneous force.

《界》interface 处在当下新冠疫情的阴霾之下，俄乌战争，全球通胀加剧的困境之中，在对于人类未来的思考上，我希望我的艺术可能会带来些许的安慰与疗愈。随着大数据，互联网、虚拟现实、区块链、基因工程、人工智能等互联网科技的日新月异，2022年又被称为“元宇宙元年”，基于此，开启了我在数字秩序与元宇宙在艺术上的认知和表达。实际上我们现在的互联网技术已经撕开了三维和多维的界限。互联网发展是基于我们电脑的运算速度，运算速度超越了我们在三维空间的有限时空认知，在电脑里虚拟的数字空间中，实现了我们在现实中无法演化升级的现实。在《界》的作品中，面的空间通过折叠，形成了一条线，时空都压缩在这条线上。在这条线上我们可以看到人的影像，还有如船、山、动植物等等，但在下一刻此线的界面翻转变化，来到了一个新的空间。这里使人身分离，在新的空间中又有新的形象，使画面形成了一个多维的多角度的视角，以此来认知这个新的虚实相交，亦真亦幻的世界。在自然人类文明向技术人类文明根本变局中，艺术需要基于新的时空尺度和新世界境域的重新定位、定向和感知。由于电子技术的进步和应用使成象有着多种可能，如气象、地理、国家图表、交通、医疗、健身、理财等等各种抽象的符号表格。这些新的图像我想以审美的角度加以挖掘利用。在这两组作品中，观者能看到大量的图表、文字、符号在作品中的运用，如气象、地理图象，物理、生物公式、箭头和字符等等，而使作品多了一个理性思维的维度，使作品更具有一种神秘，和令人无庸质疑的表达。表格还有一种重塑现实的力量，至有时能胜过现实。如作品《界》九号，表现的是一个人工智能世界，一种无机的生命代替了有机的生命，神经网络将由智能软件取代，不受有机化学的限制，同时可以畅游虚拟与真实的世界。经过40亿年徘徊在有机化合物的世界，生命将打破藩篱，进入一片无机领域，离开地球，进入浩渺无垠的宇宙星空。

在《万有引力》一号这张作品中，我试图表现一种新奇的体验。根据中国哲学，世界是由阴阳两种相对但又相依的力量维系的，实际的物理世界可能并不是这样，但对于由科学和人文主义创造的现代世界来说确实如此。每股科学的阳，都包含着一股人文主义的阴，反之已然。阳给我们力量，而阴给我们提供了意义和道德判断。作品中央的女神胸前两块表，上面是阴阳图，代表着宇宙平衡之力。下面的表是空间与时间的集合。左上一位中世纪的男士正拉着一根系在女士腰间的绳，这条绳又接到在一个梯子上，在绳上有一只猴和一只猫，还有一个用伞保持平衡的男士，绳通过蝴蝶最后系在“上帝”之手上。这一根绳贯穿整个画面，维系着非常微妙的平衡。画面左下的大鸟代表着一种积极的阳性力量。它看着蛇，蛇又看着金字塔上的蚂蚁。右面戴面具穿黑袍的骑士，代表着一种黑暗阴性的力量。上面的山上是希腊神话故事中，弗弗西斯永不停止地推动大石头上山的情景。在这里，阴阳保持着一种平衡。中间女神好像正在关照这个奇异的世界。她右手举扇，左手持着蝴蝶，幻化出她裙下的另一个宇宙星空的世界。本作品从千钧一线的平衡到幻化出另一个宇宙星空，它是将人类的感受、欲望和一连串的体验表现在同一个画面之中。万物互联，万有引力。《万有引力》二号画中的上方是一条大的鲸鱼。鲸鱼和人类同样使用大脑的边缘系统来处理情绪，但鲸鱼的边缘系统却多了一块人类没有的组织。或许因为多了这块组织，就让鲸鱼体验到与人类非常不同的，而且极度深刻复杂的情绪。特别是它有着惊人的音乐天赋，连巴赫和莫扎特都望尘莫及。每头鲸鱼都有属于自己的独特的“歌曲”，曲长能达数小时，而且非常的精致复杂。作品中，大鲸鱼在欢快地唱歌，天使为之鼓掌。一位女神牵引着它向前欢快地走去。它的歌声穿越天地。红线代表着它的声音，一位天使为之癫狂坠落。螺旋符号、引伸符号表现着它音乐的力量。鲸鱼下摆的轮子滑过男孩儿的头顶。使男孩儿脑洞大开（基因工程中的脑机接口）新的生命诞生。蝴蝶昆虫代表着变化后新的领域和通道。就像当年哥伦布、麦哲伦驶向海平面的彼方，探索新的岛屿和未知大陆。或许某一天，我们也能前往这神秘欢乐的映照之地。我很欣赏安塞尔姆·基弗 (Anselm Kiefer) 关于抵抗的想法。抵抗无处不在，人生时时处处需要抵抗。我们抵抗无意义、抵抗虚无、抵抗诱惑、抵抗强权、抵抗压制、抵抗病毒，同时抵抗同一性制度和同质化的生活。艺术的意义就在于创造，抵制同质和平庸。因为艺术是一种异质化的力量。关伟 2022年5月

Entanglement No.1, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 306 cm (12 panels)

Entanglement No.2, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 202 cm (8 panels)