□ Article/Journalist Yang Yan Tr. by He Yufang

A Group of “Aliens” from Chongqing Going Abroad and Shining in Italy

□ Article/Journalist Yang Yan Tr. by He Yufang

“Aliens” from Chongqing Shining at the Venice Biennale 2017

The 57th Venice Biennale was held in Venice on May 11, 2017 (local time). The art show featured 120 invited artists from 51 countries and built a platform bringing best artworks together for art fans from all over the world.

Among these artworks, a group of “aliens” with big eyes was in eye-catching design. In the National Pavilion of San Marino at the Venice Biennale 2017,these “aliens” were in the exhibition space together with visitors. The collection of large sculptures, named as Immigrant Aliens, comes from China and is created by Fu Yuxiang, an artist who was born in Chongqing,China. Fu Yuxiang participated in the Venice Biennale 2017 as a Chinese independent artist at the invitation of Mr. Vincenzo Sanfo, the curator of the National Pavilion of the Republic of San Marino.

It was said that Fu Yuxiang participated in the show with 31 sculptures and 28 experimental ink works. Immigrant Aliens was his latest work, which gained widespread acceptance from the organizing committee, the media and artists and made headlines of the foreign media and was praised as “One of Top Ten Important Works at the Venice Biennale 2017”. In addition, Fu Yuxiang has been recognized as “One of the Most Interesting Chinese Artists” and “One of the Most Creative and Thoughtful Chinese Artists”.

Art Beyond Boundaries

After the Venice Biennale 2017, Fu Yuxiang attended the opening ceremony of the 74th Venice Film Festival as the only invited Chinese guest with his work Immigrant Aliens on September 2, 2017 (local time)and won the Excellence Art Award of the 74th Venice Film Festival, which has turned the world’s attention to Chinese contemporary art once again. A seminar of the 40th Film Conference and Seminar was held at Lido Isle in memory of Sorrento. Exhibitors, producers,artists, media professionals and operators from all over the world came there to participate in the conferences of fi lms which will be released next year.

Immigrant Aliens inspires re fl ections on the relationship between the self and “the other” with its unique and innovative artistic form and leads more foreign people to gain better knowledge and understanding of Chinese contemporary art, so it is of enlightening significance to the international contemporary art. Fu Yuxiang was once impressed by Mr. Vincenzo Sanfo’s statement, “the National Pavilion of San Marino has always been considered as a center for international cultural exchanges, especially for cultural exchanges between China and Italy. Here we can promote liaison and communication of various forms of art and turn the pavilion into a carrier of comparisons, just like the comparison between our civilization and other civilizations, or extraterrestrial life, even all unknown and in fi nite possibilities.

“I met Mr. Vincenzo Sanfo at an art exchange activity.He likes the oriental art very much and mentioned that he would like to have a look at my ink paintings. After returning to Chongqing, I painted several experimental ink works and sent the pictures of these works to him with my mobile phone. He was struck by these ink works and officially invited me to attend the Venice Biennale 2017.” Fu Yuxiang said.

Works Sparked by the Collision Between Chinese and Western Artistic Ideas

The collection had its beginnings in 2015 and had been revised for several times before its seventh draft showed the image that we can see now—eyes of frog, head of lizard, fi gure of stick insect and back with knotted backbone. Among the themed collection of sculptures, a gorilla-like astronaut in special design is prominent. The astronaut is carrying a baby on his left shoulder, and the baby bears a resemblance to Fu Yuxiang. Fu said that the baby symbolized “new birth”,and the conception of the collection aligned well with the theme of the 57th Venice Biennale—“viva arte viva(long live art)”. The idea of integrating Fu’s semblance into the work is a proposal put forward by Mr. Vincenzo Sanfo to imply that Fu Yuxiang is like a seeker who is having a wonderful artistic exploration into the future.

The prototype of the collection is an astronaut. A gorilla mimics human being wears a space suit and lives with aliens who have exceptional wisdom. There is no divergence and distrust between species, and they work together to share a fear-free environment and create a new harmonious scene on the Earth.

“Nowadays, immigration is becoming a global issue,which is testing our inclusiveness.” During the creation,Fu Yuxiang chose to study on cultural differences between nations, and he thought such creation was the value and duty of artists. In a form of art, Immigrant Aliens appears on an international platform, inspiring a lot of re fl ections among people of all countries in the world on contemporary society, history, survival, culture,and especially on many global problems caused by immigration, such as the relationship between different races and the living environment.

Never-Ending Artistic Exchange

Immigrant Aliens Sculpture Exhibition was unveiled at the University of Turin, Italy on October 25, 2017.The purpose of the exhibition was not only to promote Chinese culture, but also to provide an opportunity for western people to have a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese contemporary culture and art.During the exhibition, Fu Yuxiang delivered a lecture on the realistic meanings of his works in the contemporary time and talked about a series of questions on the intentions of creation with art fans on the scene,opening another door to the exchange of Sino-West culture and art. A student from the Confucius Institute in Turin, Italy, who had been China, held that these “aliens”sculptures showed the confusion of “immigrants” and implies the current situation of human being. When he came to China, at first he had experienced such feelings of being lost and like a strange too.

When he talked about cultural exchanges between China and the West, Fu Yuxiang said, “In the age of globalization and localization, in addition to knowing differences between China and foreign countries, we should pay more attention to our similarities and things in common. The exchange of culture and art is active because such exchange is composed of endless diverse cultural elements.” Therefore, such activities of artworks going abroad to tour around the world are bene fi cial to the exchange of Sino-West culture and art.

(Images supplied by the interviewee)