Wenjie Yu (b.1997, Shanghai) lives and works in London and Shanghai. He holds MA degree at Royal College of Art and a BFA degree at China Academy of Art. He is an artist who experiences the world with insecurities. He regards absolute honesty and courage in art as his priority. His artworks originate from the expression of inner experiences generated by the body and spirit in the process of experiencing and exploring the world. These inner experiences give rise to illusions, memories, associations, fantasies and feelings, while these elements are constantly broken and reorganized into visual fragments. Therefore, grand and micro narratives that are both delicate and sensitive always coexist in his works.
As above, so below #3, 2024
Cotton cloth, linen, elastic fabric, cotton sewing thread,
sand, soft pastel, resin and wood paint
70h x 60w cm
© Courtesy of the artist
Wenjie Yu's “As Above, So Below” series reveals the holographic correspondence between the micro and the macro - that is, the local contains the whole, and the individual mirrors the structure of the universe. The gesture of the tree is endowed with ancestor-like symbolism, a metaphor for the harmony of the natural order of “up and down, inside and outside”.
Wenjie Yu
As above, so below #5, 2024
Cotton cloth, linen, elastic fabric, cotton sewing thread,
sand, soft pastel, resin and wood paint
40h x 50w cm
© Courtesy of the artist
The one above or outside refers to the big universe, including God, nature and the whole earth; the one below or inside refers to the small universe, the human soul or mind. Whether it is God, nature, human beings or the mind, the correspondence between the inner and outer and the upper and lower manifests a unified and harmonious universe. The unity and interdependence of opposites in the universe is presented through the visualization of dualistic structures such as up and down, inside and outside, micro and macro, in an attempt to reveal a deep harmony that goes beyond appearances. The transformation of materials, the form of the composition, and the non-linear narrative of the content draw on the symbolic tradition of alchemy, especially the transformational relationship between the material and the spiritual, and the heaven and the earth. It tries to imply a holographic correspondence between the micro and the macro - that is, the local contains the information of the whole, and the individual mirrors the structure of the universe.
Installation view of The Rite of Spring, March 8, 2025 - April 20, 2025, Nan Ke Gallery, Shanghai © Courtesy of Nan Ke Gallery, Photographed by Runxin.
Wenjie Yu uses fragmentation to creates a large number of different woven pieces (including paintings, dyed fabrics, embroidery, etc.), which are secondarily stitched (stitching is a type of bonding with a puncture back) using a perceptual logic. Some of these fabrics are three-dimensionally quilted, where the three-dimensional sculptural image is not apparent in even light angles, but once in uneven light or at side angles the image is visible. The intangible images are hidden within the tangible images and are strung together in different frames to form a new narrative.
April 8, 2025
