III.Space（Nature of things/Nature of mind）
Lacquer art is the media material with biggest ability to create space.From the Warring States Period to Qin and Han Dynasties in China,the ancient philosophers,Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han all lived in the prosperous period of lacquer wares which lasted for nearly five hundred years.Tens of thousands of lacquer wares can be named and described.It is imaginable that people,living in the living space with lacquer furniture,cultivated the most creative thoughts of hundreds of schools in ancient China.Will the engaged people in modern times still have the interests to look back on China in ancient times: a splendid era of lacquer wares? From food container painted with flow ink and lacquer mentioned in Ten Faults by Han Feizi to Tao Yuanming's no-stringed lyre,from the idiom “keep the glittering casket and give back the pearls to the seller”and“a wife lifts the tray to a level with her eyebrows to show great respect for her husband”to“flow winding and wineglasses drifting” in Preface of Lanting and etc.，lacquer wares bear the national etiquette,stories,thoughts and feelings.With the disappearance of classical lacquer wares in daily life,the accompanying classical situations have crashed into cultural fragments that cannot be restored completely.It is the special shapes,colors and texture created by traditional materials that cultivate unique feelings,emotions and realm of Chinese people.Therefore,we should stick to the traditional material techniques and relive the rich and delicate feelings of lacquer art that has been lost by the present Chinese.Through handcraft,we connect and integrate the soul and media material of lacquer,and pay attention to the presentation and recreation of oriental culture.Besides,we should be devoted to using uniqueness of lacquer to create spiritual space and make it a direction of contemporary molding of lacquer art.The space created by lacquer is multidimensional,and it can be an area for ceremony,a deduction of concept and a space for spiritual production.
From the perspective of contemporary lacquer art,utilization of ready-made can be classified into non-lacquer ware ready-made and lacquer ware ready-made.The application of non-lacquer ware ready-made in the contemporary lacquer art is different from that of the installation art.The former has intensified certain contexts after lacquer-painted decoration,but the latter directly came on stage.The lacquer ware ready-made refers to ancient lacquer wares and a large number of lacquer wares preserved by civilians in general,which has accumulated a great deal of information of culturology and sociology.The artist carried out creation by taking advantage of these lacquer ware ready-made which have accumulated vicissitudes of history,and whether it is lacquer art is not important any more at this time.Chen Zhen,a deceased contemporary artist,largely utilized ready-made ancient lacquer ware device to create works.Day Curse,Night Curse,Hollow,Music Bookshelf,Static Energy etc.are the masterpieces using lacquer ware device.
This exhibition pays more attention to the cross-material and cross-border attempts,and it focuses on the spiritual space of works and the breadth and depth of topics.There are few ready-made lacquer wares in this exhibition.The biggest confusion of lacquer in the old wares is to erase the wrapped slurry of time,while the beautiful new wares usually become a part of landscape or props.Therefore,even from the perspective of design,the lacquer space should also transcend design or be a paradox.It should be able to provide space for thinking and imagination; otherwise it will be degraded to an exhibition of lacquer furniture.
Space is an experimental display.It may contain extremely intelligent devices with visual tension,or maybe a self-talking exploration,and even a brave attempt like wearing the Emperor's new clothes.The form,in its initial stage of exploration,will definitely get great achievement in time.