PRINTPROVENANCE:
Aura Gallery, Shanghai
Aura Gallery, Shanghai
|
Nicotine and Calories
|
|
2004 Acrylic on canvas 160 x 200 cm Signed lower center Wei Jia in Chinese and dated 04 |
|
Estimate
750,000 - 1,100,000 185,000 - 272,000 23,900 - 35,000
|
|
|
Catalogue Note:
NICOTINE AND CALORIES
WEI JIA
Wei Jia's artistic language evolved from the agonizingly slow and exacting process of lithography, the medium that he was professionally trained in, to the relatively quick medium of acrylics on canvas. Working on his lithographs as a student, each day in the studio saw a rational and calculated approach; completing each time-consuming phase, he patiently watched his lithographs evolve over weeks. In this way Wei Jia cultivated work habits that would follow him through his career, but each day, as he lugged the heavy plates around campus, he longed for the expressive freedom of the canvas. Ultimately, lithography's limits compelled him to make the transition to the expressive colors and creative freedom that the canvas afforded, the liberation of an entirely different creative process. Here, we meet a young boy featured in intimate, symbolic scenes and rendered in muted colors. The mood on his canvases seems suspicious, almost an atmosphere of espionage, and each canvas seems like a puzzle to unravel, with clues conspicuously placed: a knife, a raised curtain, or shadowy figures. However, according to Wei Jia, the boy is not a representation of the artist; his identity is insignificant, perhaps he is symbolic of all people .
Although Wei Jia paints with acrylics, he treats them like oils, layering the colors for a unique effect on canvas. His unique language of acrylics born by combining these layers of paint with the shallow, two - dimensional sense of depth he inherited from lithography. He experiments with themes and sentiments, such as the sense of security, and says that that he has an insatiable personality, that he could never rest on one topic or theme for too long. Despite positive public or market's reaction, he would never forsake his own creative judgment. Using that infamous Wei Jia determination, he continues to seek his personal limits for satisfaction and joy. Wei Jia’s works in oil have inherited the style of lithography, full of strength and force. In 2000, he began to develop a more individualistic personal style where the characters appear two-dimensional and the relationship between characters and objects are in linear structures, while the background and characters have a relationship on a different plane. This depiction technique originates from Cubist influences but not as a pure duplication; immersed within is also the unique style of the artist. Wei Jia does not seek after pure forms. In his simplified depiction of objects, he also gifts them with the energy of life. The portrayal therefore gives off a sense of solitude and loneliness. For artists born after 1975, the vicissitudes and scars of history no longer appear in their works; these are instead replaced by the minuscule details of everyday life. Such thought-provoking details can always be found in the works of Wei Jia, depicting the formless content created by the artist that cannot be described by wor ds.
Nicotine and Calories portrays the moment in which a person is about to stuff a hamburger inside the mouth. The face and hands of the character have been simplified to only the outline; there is no way to discern the person's gender or emotion. It is only through the use of shading that the several blocks forming the picture are able to create an almost sculpture-like solidity. The background and the character are depicted in flat colors with a powerful sense of ornamentation, as well as the finesse of lithographs. As critique d by Professor Yi Ying of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wei Jia's works require no explanations, but we always try to see past the images in order to understand his inner world; because his for ms are distinctively real, we can believe that beneath the real exterior, the spirit is also real. It is because Wei Jia's works are supported by such gentle but determined strength that people find them especially compelling.
WEI JIA
Wei Jia's artistic language evolved from the agonizingly slow and exacting process of lithography, the medium that he was professionally trained in, to the relatively quick medium of acrylics on canvas. Working on his lithographs as a student, each day in the studio saw a rational and calculated approach; completing each time-consuming phase, he patiently watched his lithographs evolve over weeks. In this way Wei Jia cultivated work habits that would follow him through his career, but each day, as he lugged the heavy plates around campus, he longed for the expressive freedom of the canvas. Ultimately, lithography's limits compelled him to make the transition to the expressive colors and creative freedom that the canvas afforded, the liberation of an entirely different creative process. Here, we meet a young boy featured in intimate, symbolic scenes and rendered in muted colors. The mood on his canvases seems suspicious, almost an atmosphere of espionage, and each canvas seems like a puzzle to unravel, with clues conspicuously placed: a knife, a raised curtain, or shadowy figures. However, according to Wei Jia, the boy is not a representation of the artist; his identity is insignificant, perhaps he is symbolic of all people .
Although Wei Jia paints with acrylics, he treats them like oils, layering the colors for a unique effect on canvas. His unique language of acrylics born by combining these layers of paint with the shallow, two - dimensional sense of depth he inherited from lithography. He experiments with themes and sentiments, such as the sense of security, and says that that he has an insatiable personality, that he could never rest on one topic or theme for too long. Despite positive public or market's reaction, he would never forsake his own creative judgment. Using that infamous Wei Jia determination, he continues to seek his personal limits for satisfaction and joy. Wei Jia’s works in oil have inherited the style of lithography, full of strength and force. In 2000, he began to develop a more individualistic personal style where the characters appear two-dimensional and the relationship between characters and objects are in linear structures, while the background and characters have a relationship on a different plane. This depiction technique originates from Cubist influences but not as a pure duplication; immersed within is also the unique style of the artist. Wei Jia does not seek after pure forms. In his simplified depiction of objects, he also gifts them with the energy of life. The portrayal therefore gives off a sense of solitude and loneliness. For artists born after 1975, the vicissitudes and scars of history no longer appear in their works; these are instead replaced by the minuscule details of everyday life. Such thought-provoking details can always be found in the works of Wei Jia, depicting the formless content created by the artist that cannot be described by wor ds.
Nicotine and Calories portrays the moment in which a person is about to stuff a hamburger inside the mouth. The face and hands of the character have been simplified to only the outline; there is no way to discern the person's gender or emotion. It is only through the use of shading that the several blocks forming the picture are able to create an almost sculpture-like solidity. The background and the character are depicted in flat colors with a powerful sense of ornamentation, as well as the finesse of lithographs. As critique d by Professor Yi Ying of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wei Jia's works require no explanations, but we always try to see past the images in order to understand his inner world; because his for ms are distinctively real, we can believe that beneath the real exterior, the spirit is also real. It is because Wei Jia's works are supported by such gentle but determined strength that people find them especially compelling.