Jia: I’d say that there has been no such thing like art since long before.

Feng: Then how do you define art? If you believe it is non-existent, then how do you explain the concept of art, your identity, and the career you devote yourself to?

Jia: If we take a look at it from the pure perspective of pan-humanities, art is always relative to other subjects such as political science and the like. It never plays solo. It is easy to explain art theologically as a radiant concept. Yet, if we’re stuck in the middle of status quo, it’s hard for us to see it clearly.

Feng: Art, in my opinion, lies in the layer of our spirit, which presents our human beings’ mental imagination or pursuit. We use visual languages and media to communicate our personal cognitions of ourselves and the world at large in the presentation of our memories of the past and illusions about the future. Well, admittedly, I have to say the relativity of art as you just mentioned is somehow indispensible, which might be used to explain the functions and influences of aesthetics and history of fine art in the evolution of humans.

Jia: Art might be viewed as a kind of cognition of our spirits. Yet I still think that should be called as artwork. It’s in fact a different concept from art.

Feng: But artwork is a kind of visual presentation of art.

Jia: Based on my personal experiences, this is somewhat self-contradictory. The existence of art in my opinion shall be built on the materialization via artworks which makes it visible to the viewers. Of course, spiritual beings can sometimes involve kind of materialization. However, more often than not, the artworks in essence could not provide an effective proof for the existence of art if we look into the matter upside down.

Feng: Sorry to interrupt. But what do you think can serve as an effective proof?

Jia: Here we’re hitting on a tricky question of the modern society. It’s safe to say that in today’s world, the modern technology industries as well as the so-called contemporary or modern civilization have been cornered into a contradictory situation. In fact, most people wouldn’t bother themselves even thinking about these issues. It’s evident that one’s spirit is in nature directing its behavior. Then it seems that our modern behaviors nowadays are struggling to escape from the reliance on our spirits by way of finding sorts of scientific evidence. I think what people are doing now shows their disbelief in their own spirits. They’d rather resort to science. And that’s just why we are stuck in the middle of this conflict.
Feng: I agree that we live in conflicts all the time. Yet it might also be possible that it is such kind of conflict that drives us to quest and question. Art is in nature the expression of your cognition, thinking, judgment and exploration. Otherwise how will you possibly define the career you’re dedicated to?

Jia: It’s never an easy job for me to define the work I’m doing. But I still can give you some description about it. Just take this We Are from the Century as an example. I make it in a larger scale and add more contents into it including some uncertainties. And I just keep revising it time after time, overlaying and covering. I have made a documentary to record the whole process. There are hundreds of layers of images under the piece art you’re staring at.

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