Xue Feng & Chen Qi: everything grows

Everything · growth Xue Feng takes Mr. Chen Qi's representative vector painting strokes as the beginning of time, and gradually leads the viewer's thinking to a broader and magnificent in-depth world through the subdivision and reproduction of images. Inspired by Mr. Chen Qi, Xue Feng handles this process in a multi-directional way - the image starts from the generation of a line, and presents a picture with both micro and macro world characteristics through continuous symbolic deduction and order reorganization.

《creation》Author: Chen Qi, Xue Feng

Through digital image processing technology, Chen Qi's famous image symbols - "water" and "time spectrum" have been expanded, alienated, reconstructed and regenerated, thus completing the context transfer from the traditional shelf system to digital art. In the image works, the vector painting creation 2021 generation and dispersion completed by Chen Qi for one year was transformed into a vast digital water body by Xue Feng; Meanwhile, the meaning of "dispersion" in the original work is fully taken into account, and a new spiritual experience space is created with ambiguity, ethereal and harmony.

The work uses continuous and dynamic technology processing to show the line draft and gradual color filling process of vector graphics, as well as the rippling and surging waves of water. Through the interaction of the combination of abstract and concrete visual images, the temporal space of the integration of heaven and earth is generated.

It is worth mentioning that with the deduction of the creative process of everything, the two cooperative artists gradually feel that even in the decisive system of digital technology, image generation also has unlimited possibilities; The constant disorder and reconstruction of the constituent symbols are permeated with the sensitivity to the initial elements all the time. This is a journey of chaotic aesthetic exploration - following the hidden law, the image turns into an image landscape similar to Datura and caisson, and gives the work a layer of mysticism, This random echo in contemporary and traditional means is also a response to the current era of information implosion.

The reason why everything is called a cross-border work - first of all, it comes from Chen Qi's expansive conception of his famous printmaking work generation and dispersion in 2012. This work is a masterpiece with a length of 42 meters and was once considered to be the largest watermark printmaking work in the world. This work consists of three units, each 14 meters. The units in the middle are water lines with the same depth. The units on the left and right are from nothing to something and from something to nothing respectively from left to right.

First of all, this work should be sketched in digital way. After drawing, it should be divided into plates. The work has a total of 240 printing plates, which are overprinted in seven colors. The technology is very complex. This may be the largest watermark printing work in the world. And the works are completed by digital technology from early sketch drawing, to sub plate design, and then to carving. After the engraving of the printing plate is completed, the overprint printing is carried out by pure manual method, which can be said to be the combination of typical traditional handicrafts and modern digital technology. The creation took a total of two years, and the preliminary sketch alone took 14 months.

Standing in front of the painting, the audience is like being in a vast expanse of waves. The middle of the picture is dark to black, and the two sides are gradually dispersed from thick to light. The water is bright, but the waves are turbulent but extremely quiet. Let people feel beyond the barrier of time and space, and have a dialogue and game with their hearts in the huge natural landscape.

However, Chen Qi has more imagination and appeal to the expression of his works.

In 2018, Nanjing Deji Art Museum invited Xue Feng, who has been active in the field of cross media animation art creation, to jointly create a digital image work entitled "generation and diffusion in 2012" during the exhibition of Chen Qi Ge Zhi: an experiment of display and understanding organized by Qiu Zhijie. As Chen Qi explained, "generation and diffusion are the process of life change. Whether from left to right or from right to left, this work tells the process of things growing and dying.

Water is flowing. Moving the works by animation can strengthen the interactive performance with the audience. " It can be seen that transforming image language into circulation symbols in the current media information matrix, further expanding the integration of artistic language and real space through the intervention of current digital technology, and strengthening the resonance of artistic space, personal experience and information exchange are his important concerns in recent years.

By 2021, the "plane dimension - visual art from paper to virtual" project of Zhejiang Art Museum provided resources and conditions with special significance for the realization of this concept, so Chen Qi and Xue Feng began the second cooperation based on digital image space devices.

Similar to three years ago, this digital image work also sets "generation and diffusion" as the motif of creation and interpretation. In this regard, Xue Feng chose a completely different creative idea from the previous work. In his opinion, the joint creation with Mr. Chen Qi is not only a kind of cooperation, but also a dialogue that requires extreme tacit understanding. Facing the powerful symbol system of Mr. Chen Qi's works, Xue Feng first defined the boundary between the creation of image works and the original and the previous image works.

《creation》Optical design interface in hecoos server

In the digital image creation of 2012 generation and diffusion in 2018, Xue Feng chose a completely rational way of introduction - deconstructing the fine and soft hydrological texture of the original work with an evenly divided grid pattern. In the original work, "water" is replaced by large geometric figures and lines, and its concrete meaning is extremely simplified and dispersed in the abstract composition space and image flow timeline.

In his work all things, Xue Feng jumps away from the concrete and abstract thinking and interprets the work from the perspective of spatial observation. By virtue of the on-site immersive circular device design, Xue Feng uses the comprehensive processing technology of digital three-dimensional and later images to introduce the audience into the cross-section of "water" and "time", organically organize and reconstruct Chen Qi's "water" and "time spectrum" with rules similar to cell division, so as to create a magnificent vision full of oppression.

In order to better enhance the audience's experience of the works in the space of the art museum, the sound part of the works specially invited sound artists to design the sound field environment. Using the ring device structure, 5.1-channel surround equipment and images build a fully immersive text narrative context.

At the exhibition site, many audiences gathered or sat in the arms of the whole imaging device, meditating or recording - this scene is what the two artists sincerely expected.

Group photo of two authors

The creation of everything lasted four months. In the whole process, Mr. Chen Qi always gave full play to the space and dialogue power of young artist Xue Feng. On the one hand, he integrated his ideas into the creation, and on the other hand, he accepted the dissent and opinions of collaborators - which made everything full of collision from multiple ideas and showed rich language tension.

In a few months, the work will be invited to appear in many famous art galleries. For future exhibitions in different regions, Chen Qi and Xue Feng will also put forward different installation schemes and display forms.