Vena Gu - An Alternative Still Life 

And if that later age is itself concerned precisely with the remembrance of earlier ages--looking to “things that survive,” yi-wu , and “traces of what was,” ku-chi --then strange doublings may

occur. Researchers of that later age, reflecting on texts and artifacts from the past, may discover there the mirror of their own interests, someone in the past reflecting on a still more distant past.

There are chains of remembrance, linking one past to pasts still more remote, and sometimes also reaching into a speculative future that will remember our remembering. And as we discover

and commemorate the rememberers of the past, it is easy to conclude that in remembering we ourselves will be remembered and will be worthy of memory. --Stephen Owen

Vena’s new seris features a series of paintings of books, picture albums, and everyday objects. These vintage books and picture albums render beautiful and poetic still lifes on the canvas:

some books are closed and piled together, while others are opened, showing the illustrations and texts of the books. Subtle and harmonious colors and a hint of delicate atmosphere unites

objects of similar yet different shapes. Taken as an entirety, they appear as both spatial objects and temporal media. The images in the picture albums illustrate mostly natural objects, captured

via either photography or painting. They are like thin slices of time, not only reflecting the moment that the original picture depicts but also connecting the viewer to the moments before

and after. A part leads to the envisioning of the whole, and the present leads to the imagination of the absent. This represents a world beyond the one we live in; a remote world. The artist

treats the books as an embodiment of nature, memory, and experience, transcending time, space, and cultures. The natural objects, initially depicted as images in the picture albums and

books, are reinterpreted and represented as paintings by the artist. Essentially, these paintings become representations of representations, a particularly delicate way of remembrance.

These paintings remind the viewer of the still life paintings of the Italian painter Morandi or the Chinese classical Shanshui paintings. Through observation, reproduction, and representation of

these already depicted objects, the artist explores a personal, introspective, and simple yet genuine artistic language, connecting the viewer to the cultural and artistic traditions preserved

in the books and picture albums while extending them. In a way, the artist is constructing spiral resembling the way the universe evolves: The present becomes the past, the past becomes a

memory, and the memory sometimes reappears in the present moment. The paintings make us wonder -- how do we perceive existence and time; how do we keep things that are unkeepable?

Art endows us with a possibility to record and represent these transient and delicate things. The painting, although static, implies the passing of time. The destiny of things, in a sense, reflects

the destiny of humanity. As Stephen Owen puts it, “in remembering we ourselves will be remembered and will be worthy of memory.”

Jiehao Su

2018

追忆（关于再现的再现）

『正在对来自过去的典籍和遗物进行反思的、后起时代的回忆者，会在其中发现自己的影子，发现过去的某些人也正在对更远的过去做反思。这里有一条回忆的链索，把此时的过去同彼时的、

更遥远的过去连接在一起，有时链条也向臆想的将来伸展，那时将有回忆者记起我们此时正在回忆过去。当我们发现和纪念生活在过去的回忆者时，不难得出这样的结论：通过回忆我们自己也

成为了回忆的对象，成了值得为后人记起的对象。』-- Stephen Owen

Vena 的新系列包含了一系列关于画册和日常静物的绘画。这些早期的画册作为静物呈现在画面上，有的合上且堆叠在一起，有的打开且呈现出书中的图像和文字，若干相似而又不同的形体被一

种微妙和谐的颜色和氛围统一起来，作为一个整体它们即是空间性的物体也是时间性的媒介。画册中的图像大多来自于自然中的事物，被摄影或者绘画所捕捉，如同一个来自于时间长河中的纤

薄切片，它所呈现的不仅是关于自身这个片刻，透过它观众能联想到之前以及之后：部分使人想到整体，在场的使人想到缺席的。它们所呈现的是另一个世界，一个更遥远的世界。书籍被艺术

家视为一种混合了自然、记忆、和经验的器皿而存在于时空之中，自然的事物首先被记录为文化性的图像，经过画家的转译呈现于画布之上，成为关于再现的再现。

这些绘画让人想起意大利画家莫兰迪的静物画以及中国古代的文人画（山水和静物）。透过观看、临摹、再现这些被描绘的事物和图像，艺术家在承接并延续着前人传统的基础上探索一种个

人化的、内敛的，朴实的艺术语言。在某种意义上，艺术家试图在绘画中构建一条循环往复的链索。当下成为过去，过去变成记忆，记忆以模糊的方式再现。我们究竟是如何感知时间和存在

呢？如何留存不能存留的事物呢？艺术赋予了我们一种可能性，以绘画的方式来记录/再现这些易逝的、脆弱的事物，静止的图像暗示了时间的流逝，物的命运某种程度上映射着人的命运。如同

宇文所安讲述的，通过回忆我们自己也成为了回忆的对象，成了值得为后人记起的对象。

苏杰浩

2018