We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Xiangjie Rebecca Wu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Xiangjie Rebecca below.
Xiangjie Rebecca , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I’m making figurative paintings for the momentary mourning of the loss. Painting memories becomes a way to understand the past as well as discover myself in the present. By incorporating Chinese southern Yangtze River traits into paintings, I create an intriguing space that is both part of and separate from the world. I grew up at my grandma’s house with my cousin. Our house was near the water lock where the canal met the Yangtze River. Without parental supervision, my cousin and I freely explored and wandered across home and nature. The major episodes of paintings are the search for selfhood and meditation on objects and space. The ominous and melancholic atmosphere is revealed through a muted and subdued color spectrum.
I think personal history is more a sense of self than a specific story. My selfhood is both anchored in and burdened by memories. I use the glazing approach to combine reality and dreaminess within an immersive blue-green hue that evokes nostalgia. Cropping and superimposing images meet with the ambiguous narrative, triggering audiences’ imaginations to fill in the gap in meaning. In referencing my memory, I tried to understand the strange fear of insecurity that cracks down on the stability of selfhood. The oscillation between reality and mystery in memory compels us to reflect and long for ourselves in loss.
Xiangjie Rebecca , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Painting is very personal to me because it is both the means and the result of my reflection on my private life. The intimacy and privateness of my work makes me uneasy from time to time about the demands art makes on the viewer’s attention. By which authority do I demand that others pay attention to my life and my feelings?But when I see the audience standing in front of my painting with a real feeling, I am amazed at the wonderful resonance.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding moments of being an artist are the moments when I feel at one point that there is a resonance of thought and emotion with the audience that transcends language.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I love reading Louis Gluck’s poetry. Her language always gives me so much emotional vibration and inspiration. My current work centers around memory and time, and her descriptions of memory, time, death, and love keep giving me space to think and experience my own life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: rebeccawuuuu
Image Credits
photos are credited to Federico Savini @1888fsavini