On October 10, 2020, the artist, Hongjun Jia’s solo exhibition of ” Amulet for Faith —-Hongjun Jia’s Steadfastness and Faith” was officially inaugurated at the Oriental Poly Time Museum in Beijing, China. It was Hongjun Jia’s second solo exhibition, which was sponsored by Poly Art Museum and Beijing Poly Art Center Co., Ltd., and co-organized by Oriental Poly·Time Museum jointly. In this event, the professor, Shiping Luo, from the Central Academy of Fine Arts served as the academic host, the associate professor, Yun Gu, from the Central Academy of Fine Arts served as the curator, and Ran Xiao served as the chief curator.
A total of 46 works created by the artist were selected for this exhibition, including Hongjun Jia’s latest creation—-the “Faith” series. Affected by the epidemic, the hidden contradictions and new opportunities are intertwined and collided constantly. The artist paid more attention to the discussion on the complex relationship between the individual and society, history, culture, and art with his own creations, which deeply revealed the artist’s reflection during this period. The wandering lines are configurated tightly and orderly on the colorful canvas. The series of work consists of clever brush strokes, mysterious symbols and the “Amulet”.
Group Photo of Guests
Personal reflections about secular life and the value of life are shown in Hongjun Jia’s works. As the congratulatory speech said in “Xiaoyao Amulet” that: “The noblest man has no homeland, lives everywhere. The noblest man has no owner, everywhere is the stage. The noblest man has no selfish desire, takes the exploration of the truth of the universe as his pursuit. There is no difference between right and wrong, good and evil. Not addicted to desires, not indulged in fame and fortune, not bound by rituals and laws, being transcendent and exquisite, without vulgar and being lonely.” It shows a kind of “stand aloof from world affairs” attitude towards life, which is in accordance with the rhetorical question said by Lao Tzu to Confucius that: “Useless may have great use”. Living in the civil life and keep the heart in Taoyuan (the Land of Peach Blossoms). Creation is a very important way for artists to get along with himself, and it is also a habitat for him to “escape” from the complicated life.
Creation refers to a process of continuous thinking and repeated self-reconstruction, even Hongjun Jia’s artistic creation is no exception. “The creative process is actually about display ideas had in mind visually. Most people may believe that abstract painting is much easier. However, the creative process is extremely difficult and the failure rate is extremely high. In fact, it is difficult for abstraction to achieve the unity of “heart” and “painting”, which must be experimented over and over again until a more satisfactory result is obtained. Every painting is the result of the inevitable accident of the whole.” Questioning and reconciling with the self are another “practice” for pursuing a higher spiritual land.
Guidance of the Artist, Hongjun Jia, to the Audience
Taking the work “Jingxin Amulet” as an example, the artist explained the creation process of his work from heart to faith, faith to brush to the audience.
The congratulatory speech of “Jingxin Amulet” is that: “Your heart is pure, away from the civil dust and world affairs. Although only heard about you, it is like have met before. Knowing that you are practicing the heart, the pure of heart lies in the pure of nature.”
The “Jingxin” here is selected from the Buddhist scripture of “Buddha Theory on Discovery of Jingxin Sutra”. Everyone is born with a “pure mind”, the difference is that led by many “goals” during the slow journey of life, when we look back, we may find that many things have gradually deviated from our original intention. Even in the cruel business battlefields, practicing the purity of the heart is also the basis for making rational judgments.
As said by Taoists that, “the great principle is doing nothing”, life requires more knowledge and experience, “understand the real” self-nature, and constant “practice the heart” to gain the purity of heart. When everyone has a pure heart, he/she may can have a different interpretation from the work.
Creation Process
Insights and transformation of traditional culture and contemporary society are shown in Hongjun Jia’s artistic creations, which shows his steadfastness and faith in culture and art. As said by Shipping Luo, the professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts that, “The work extracts abstract elements with symbol characteristics from traditional cultural resources. The ideogram way he uses appears in the origin of Chinese culture. The development of human beings, the continuation of life and the progress of society are displayed in his works.” From the Hongjun Jia’s painting, we can see the rational thinking and regular expression of the artist, displaying an agile atmosphere.
Art, culture, history and personal life are alternately interpreted in the art world created by Hongjun Jia. He focuses on the unpredictable changes of the current world and personal destiny from a keen perspective. He interprets his unique values and outlook on life with his works. And he also hopes that the audience visiting the exhibition hall can resonate and collide with him across time and space through his works.
Exhibition Site
“Amulet” is a complete line running through all Hongjun Jia’s works, which is an unique artistic language created by him, which is beyond the restriction of plane art. Through the deeper cultural connotations, the artist explores the complex cultural, historical and spiritual world together with the audience.
The exhibition will last till the October 16.
(Syndicated press content is neither written, edited or endorsed by ED Times)
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