狮語画廊上海空间六月呈现两位艺术家/组合双个展：艺术家冯力仁的个展“多样性”（Multiplicity）以及与艺术家计文于& 朱卫兵的个展“这边都是事”（Affairs Going On!）。

对于观者而言，“通俗”与“荒诞”、 “戏谑”与“玩笑” 是计文于和朱卫兵艺术作品的表象，这些特质不仅贯穿计文于绘画创作中 ，也体现在他与妻子朱卫兵共同合作创作的以“布”为主要材质的软雕塑作品中。

从绘画转向软雕塑创作，计文于用“布”找到对于自我的挑战与突破口：“布有它的缺陷性一面，但也凸显了它的特点。它随意、它随和、它温暖、但又不易被摆布，它有它的性情和个性，它把种种搅合在一起，并发出无穷的可能性。”

“这边都是事”计文于& 朱卫兵个展展览现场
Affairs Going On!  Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing Solo Exhibition View

成群的“人型布偶”是计文于& 朱卫兵软雕塑作品常见的艺术形象，这些或普通日常、或戏剧化的场景式营造，不仅以一种浅显易懂的方式演绎再现了从特殊年代延续至今的记忆图像，狮语画廊上海空间二楼展厅中，这些“人型布偶”所构建出的众生相既带来一种普通人的视角，也是当下社会中群体特性真实反映。

艺术评论家、策展人冯博一曾撰文指出，计文于和朱卫兵的作品让我们在视觉层面能获得整体上的轻松和愉悦，但当我们沉浸于每一个看似荒唐的场景时，又可以非常鲜活生动地感受到某种人性的乖张，生存的悖谬，以及创作主体对社会现实的质疑态度：“这种荒诞方式在于他们以戏剧化的结构、形态设置了作品的语境，表达了中国现实急剧变化的游戏性、虚拟性的生存情境，同时又隐藏着 ‘存在便是一种荒诞’的思想背景。”

艺术家以一种特有的诙谐幽默的方式呈现对当下社会的多维思考，这种近乎感性的创作方式同时带来最为鲜活与真挚的表达，这些作品看似轻松随意的背后，展现的是中国近几十年来现代化过程中社会变迁和文化现象的微观缩影，也是社会进程中人们的失落与狂欢、痴迷与惊醒、进步与后退。

对话计文于

狮語画廊：您最初的架上绘画，转向用布的材质进行创作，这种转变带来挑战是什么？

计文于：当时我在绘画上很困惑，最大的问题是没有了问题，我想怎么做它就会是个什么样的结果，没有新奇、没有期待，也没了新的可能性。危机重重！而布这个材料，它第一是不随我愿，它不像画笔、也不像其它等等的雕塑材料那样容易塑造（一块布包起来塞上棉，它不圆不方，每个之间又很不一样）。它在做的过程中不随我的编排，而随它自己的材料特性，很难把握，从这一点上看它又很倔强。它不随我、很拧巴、有时一个想法、一个概念在做的过程中会跑调，会走样、这样迫使我们学会随机应变，懂得一个想法和概念有时是随着过程渐渐地成长起来的；同样这也要求我们在驾驭它的过程中要保持足够的敏感性——见好就收。这种种的挑战所带来的新鲜感足以克服当时我在绘画上的危机感。

狮語画廊：您太太原先从事服装设计，现在一起合作作品，对布的理解上是否有所不同？

计文于：朱卫兵从小在其母亲踩缝纫机做衣服的周围总有许多小块废布的边角料，她把这些边角料像宝贝一样用来把玩和收藏，叠叠弄弄做一些小玩具等等，她还经常在大布料之间滚来滚去，甚至将她自己包起来，一种柔软、温暖迷一般的吸引力，使她躲藏在里面想着各种心思，各种幻想等等，她对布有着天然的情感和良好的感觉，并伴随着一起成长起来。而我对布开始离得比较远，情感上也是淡淡的，我走近布是因为朱卫兵不断的在我面前展示，而展示的结果就是让我看到布的倔强，难于驾驭的一面和从中看到的各种可能性。这样我们走到一起合作是必然的，其中彼此对布认识上的差异性也是显而易见的了。

“这边都是事”计文于& 朱卫兵个展展览现场
Affairs Going On!  Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing Solo Exhibition View

狮語画廊：如何分工创作？和创作想法上的统一？

计文于：谈起分工其实我们很难说彼此做了什么，我们常常先是互相讨论要做一个什么样的东西，决定后就一起试着做，一个在远处说这里加高一点，那里减去一点，先固定下来，然后我们和助手将其缝合起来，有时大支架我多出力，有时缝纫上朱卫兵多出力。我们也会争论不统一，我们可以搁置争议，现在我们的草稿本里就有很多这样的草图，然而过了一阵觉得又可以发展了，统一了观点，改良后就又一起做了起来。

狮語画廊：布会首先让人联想到服装，尤其是现今的快速消费时代，这是否也带来作品对于消费时代的一种隐喻？

计文于：朱卫兵喜欢布，但她放弃了服装设计，其中的一个重要原因就是她不喜欢时尚，她觉得时尚光鲜、飘浮、流行，像一阵风，她总想一样东西过去了还能留下一点什么更多的意味，这种因素的增长促使她放弃了服装设计。而现今快速的消费时代是强调时尚性的引领的。我们的作品看去比较收敛，可能你站在我们的一堆东西前会想到一些别的，我们躲避着时尚，回到基本的人的问题，生活的问题，周遭的接地气的社会！其中当然也包含着人们在当今消费时代的种种心态上的变化！

计文于& 朱卫兵,谈不拢,布、填充棉
Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing,Compromise failed,Cloth, wadding
227x108x84cm
2018

狮語画廊：这些并不像雕塑的作品被您称为软雕塑/软装置，是否带来雕塑/装置的更多可能性？

计文于：布有它的缺陷性一面，但也凸显了它的特点。在某种意义上它是反雕塑的，它可以通过填充棉把它塑成一个在三维空间中的饱满实体，也可以将填充棉抽去或部分抽去使其软下来，它可以随意的搭放在椅背上、桌子上或任何其它物体上，它披在它物上可以呈现出其它物体的形而又不能忽略它原本形的存在，它甚至可以把别的形整个的包起来而显示出的是它自身的魅力；它还可以被挂起来，在风或者其它外力的作用下漂、浮、卷、曲起来；它随意、它随和、它温暖、但又不易被摆布，它有它的性情和个性，它把种种搅合在一起，并发出无穷的可能性。所以我选择布是因为它还有太多的问题没有解决好或者还根本就没有解决。而我一直坚信当代艺术的活力就在于它在不断的寻找着和产生着新的可能性！

计文于& 朱卫兵,天使的粑粑,木框,铜丝,布,填充棉,泡沫
The Waste of Angel ,Wooden frame, copper wire, cloth, wadding, foam
146x117.5x35cm
2015年

狮語画廊：在这些软雕塑的创作中，您如何考虑到空间？

计文于：传统的雕塑是强调体量感的，它的坚硬和重量让你与它保持一定的距离。而软雕塑和软装置，它是柔性的，它摆放在那里，给人感觉温暖柔软的氛围，更加贴近你，它可以从顶下垂挂下来，让你穿梭于空间之间，让你参与其中，更有一种亲近感，它也可以拉起来分割空间，但又不像一座墙那样强硬，它看去像是临时的，可以随时拉开，观其另一面的世界，或者惊喜，或者…，它和另一边有时还是共享的，总之它是不激烈，不强硬地参与到你空间中，像床单、像枕头、像窗帘等等那样介入进来，让你有种依赖感。

狮語画廊：这次展出的作品有不少创作主体都是人，是如何考虑的？

计文于：50年代保加利亚艺术家万曼在布艺和纤维艺术上做了很多探索，现在影响了中国的美院和许多艺术家，他们强调材料上的特性，强调作品的装饰性，抽象性，以一种完美的势态来展现的作品。这很好。但我们在尽量避开这条路，我们回避装饰性，我们用叙事的方式，在周围的日常生活中时不时地透出一点荒诞的东西，让观众在观看中不经意的思考，回味，偶尔会笑出声来。这和完美的宏大的装饰性是不一样的。所以我们的作品中常常有人，而且观众常常又是居高临下的，审视着的。

计文于& 朱卫兵,水很深(局部),木,布,泡沫,铜丝,线, 纱
The Water Is Very Deep（Detail）,Wood, cloth, foam, copper wire, thread, gauze
210×75×16.2cm
2013

狮語画廊：谈到用布这种软材料，您说“用不激烈的方式来观察，体验和表达日常”，这是否也是您创作与观察的方式？

计文于：是的，材料的运用有时决定了你的观念和方式的表达。

狮語画廊：如您每次给展览定的题目，以及作品中呈现出的喜剧风格化的方式，还有这些让人忍俊不禁的场景，是否也是想让观众用一种轻松愉快的方式解读当代艺术？

计文于：是的，当代艺术应该离大众更近一点，而且我们的本意是尽量让观众看懂、读懂、少阐释或不阐释，我们不想抛给观众一个谜，我们更不想在艺术中充当哲学家。

“这边都是事”计文于& 朱卫兵个展展览现场
Affairs Going On!  Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing Solo Exhibition View

Leo Gallery Shanghai is delighted to present a duo exhibition this June: Kevin Fung Lik-yan’s solo exhibition “Multiplicity” and Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing’s exhibition “Affairs Going On!”

For the viewer, “popular” and “absurd”, “ironic” and “delightful” are the characteristics of Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing’s works of art. These characteristics are not only seen in Ji Wenyu’s paintings, but also in the soft sculptures co-created with Ji’s wife Zhu Weibing by cloth.

From painting to soft sculpture, Ji Wenyu used "cloth" to find the challenge and breakthrough: "The cloth has its flawed side, but it also has charming features - casual, easygoing, warm, but not easy to be manipulated. It has its temperament and personality. It mixes all kinds of things together and offers infinite possibilities."

Groups of “humanoid puppets” are the common artistic images of Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing’s soft sculptures. The memory of the special era of China is reproduced through these ordinary or dramatic scenes. The memory images of the special era continue to this day. In the second-floor space of Leo Gallery, the “humanoid puppets” offer the perspective of an ordinary person as well as the reflection of groups of people in the current society.

计文于& 朱卫兵,他们谈得很嗨,布面丙烯
Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing, They had a wonderful talk,Acrylic on canvas
142x55cm
2017年

Art critic and curator Feng Boyi once stated that the works of Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing let us feel direct visual pleasure. However, whenever we are immersed in the absurd scenes, we feel vividly the eccentricity of humanity, the ambiguity of living, and the questioning attitude of social reality: "The absurd way is that they set the context of their work in a dramatic structure and form, expressing The game0like and virtual reality of the rapidly changing Chinese society, while reflecting on the ideological background of 'whatever exists is absurd'."

The artists present a multi-dimensional thinking of the current society in a humorous way. The sensitive approach brings the most vivid and sincere expressions. The works seem to be relaxed and casual, showing China's social transformations and cultural phenomenon during the process of modernization, as well as the loss and carnival, obsession and awakening, progress and regress of people in the past decades.

“这边都是事”计文于& 朱卫兵个展展览现场
Affairs Going On!  Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing Solo Exhibition View
Artist Interview

Leo Gallery: You once worked on easel paintings but later turned to cloth for creation. What is the challenge in this change?

Ji Wenyu: At the time, I was very confused in painting. The biggest problem was that there was no problem at all. I created something that could be foreseen from the very beginning. There was no more freshness, expectation and new possibilities. I was under crisis! For the material of cloth, it cannot be manipulated easily like brushes or other materials in sculpture. (a piece of cloth wrapped in cotton, creating a shape that is neither square nor round, and each one is unique) Also it is very stubborn and hard to control. It does not follow my ideas, and actually quite the opposite my ideas follow it. That in fact makes me flexible and sensitive during the process. This kind of freshness, brought by the challenge of cloth, has overcome my sense of crisis in painting back then.

Leo Gallery: Your wife used to work on fashion design. Now as you are working together, does she have a different understanding of cloth?

Ji Wenyu: When my wife Zhu Weibing was young, her mother had a sewing machine to make clothes. There were always a lot of scraps of waste cloth around her. She collected these pieces of material like treasures, and sometimes make some small toys out of them. She often rolls between the big fabrics and even wraps herself up. Cloth becomes a soft, warm and attractive being which hides her thoughts and fantasies. She has a natural and good feeling towards cloth, and grows up together with it. At first I didn’t feel much about cloth. I approached the cloth only because Zhu Weibing constantly showed it in front of me, which let me witness the reluctance, the hard-to-control side and the various possibilities of cloth. In this way, it became inevitable that we came together to cooperate. It is also obvious that we have different understanding of cloth.

计文于& 朱卫兵,眼力要好(局部),铜丝，填充棉，泡沫，布，线，眼镜架
Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing,Good Eyesight（Detail） ,Wire, wadding, foam, cloth, thread, glasses
107x38x22 cm
2014

Leo Gallery: How did you work together and unite on the creative ideas?

Ji Wenyu: In fact it is hard to say she and I have done anything individually. We often discuss each other with what we want to have, and try to work on it together with consensus. One of us would probably have the idea of adding something or lifting something up, after the idea is fixed, we work on it together with the assistant. Sometimes I put more efforts in the big stand, sometimes Zhu Weibing puts more efforts in sewing. Sometimes we cannot agree on what we want to work on, so we just put aside the controversy. Now we have a lot of such sketches in our drafts. However, aybe after a while, whenever we have the consensus, we continue to work on the ideas together.

Leo Gallery: Cloth is reminiscent of clothing, especially in today’s age of consumption. Do you think your works are also metaphors of this age of consumption?

Ji Wenyu: Zhu Weibing likes cloth, but she gave up fashion design. One of the important reasons is that she doesn't like fashion. She thinks that fashion is glamorous, floating, popular, like a gust of wind. She always wants something that stays, which made up her mind to give up fashion design. Today's age of consumption is all about fashion, however, our work keeps a low profile. We avoid becoming part of fashion, focus on the basic human problems, the problems of life, and the society around us! Of course, the work also contains changes in people's minds in today's age of consumption!

计文于& 朱卫兵,他放了个屁,玻璃, 瓷盘，布，泡沫，铜丝 ，线，
Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing,He Is Breaking Wind ,Glass, porcelain dish, cloth, foam, copper wire, thread

26x26x30cm
2013

Leo Gallery: You call these works, which don’t look like sculptures, soft sculptures / soft installation. Does it bring more possibilities for sculptures / installation?

Ji Wenyu: Cloth has its flawed side, but that also highlights its characteristics. In a sense, it is anti-sculpture. The cloth can be molded into a full body in three-dimensional space by filling cotton. The cotton can also be pulled out or partially removed to soften the cloth. It can be used in a casual way, placed on the back of a chair, on a table or on any other object. It can be placed on any other object to present the shape of the object, as well as the original shape of the cloth. It has own charm; it can also be hung up, floated, rolled, and bent under the influence of wind or other external forces; it is free, it is easy-going, it is warm, but it is not easy to be manipulated, it has its own temperament and personality, it mixes all kinds of things together and offers infinite possibilities. So I choose cloth because it still has too many problems that have not been well solved or that have not been solved at all. And I have always believed that the vitality of contemporary art lies in its constant search for new possibilities!

Leo Gallery: How do you think about space in the creation of these soft sculptures?

Ji Wenyu: Traditional sculpture emphasizes volume, as its hardness and weight keep you at a certain distance. But for soft sculpture or soft installation, it is flexible. It offers a feeling of warmth and softness. It can be hung from the top, which let the viewers wander between space with a sense of intimacy. It can also be pulled up to divide spaces, but it is not as tough as a wall. It looks temporary. It can be opened up at any time which let the viewers see the other side of the world, or surprise, or...In short, it is not intense, not hard and harsh in spaces, just like sheets, pillows, curtains, etc., so that you actually have a sense of dependence.

计文于& 朱卫兵,天使的粑粑(局部),木框,铜丝,布,填充棉,泡沫
The Waste of Angel (Detail),Wooden frame, copper wire, cloth, wadding, foam
146x117.5x35cm
2015年

Leo Gallery: In many exhibited works, the main characters are human beings. Could you elaborate on this?

Ji Wenyu: Bulgarian artist Maryn Varbanov, who made a lot of explorations in fabric and fiber art in the 1950s, has great influences on Chinese artists. He emphasizes the characteristics of the material, focus on the decorative and abstract nature of the works and create a work that is presented in a perfect state. This is good. But we are trying to avoid this way of creation. We avoid decoration. We use narrative methods to reveal some absurd things from time to time in the daily life around us, let the viewers inadvertently think, reflect, and occasionally laugh about. This is not the same as decoration. Therefore, there are human beings in our works, and the viewers can look at and examine them from above.

Leo Gallery: When it comes to the soft material of cloth, you once said "just like our use of the soft material of cloth / we observe in a less intense way / to express everyday experience". Is this also the way you create and observe?

Ji Wenyu: Yes, the use of materials sometimes determines the expression of your ideas and methods.

Leo Gallery: Just like your exhibition themes, the humour works and scenes, is it your intention to let the viewers interpret contemporary art in a relaxed and enjoyable way?

Ji Wenyu: Yes, contemporary art should be closer to the public, and our intention is to let the viewers understand. With or without explanation, we just don’t want to throw a mystery to the viewers. We don’t want to be philosophers in art as well.