A Study On Wu Shanzhuan's Artistic Practices And Concepts ——Building A “Daily Exercise Study” Free From The Rules

Wu Shanzhuan is one of the artists form “The '85 Movement” who are most important and most difficult to “decode”.Among the practice of Chinese Contemporary Art,the “outcome” of his work is the most fertile one with most irregular ways of display and widest range of thinking and problematic.Meanwhile,Wu is also one of the practitioners who open up their own paths.This thesis is a comprehensive research on Wu Shan Zhuan's artistic practice in more than 30 years.It focuses on the forming,thriving,main concerns of Wu's art and the emergence,making and extending system of each concept he discovers.Through putting a huge amount of Wu ' s things into systematic inference and discourse,integration and explanation to these complex things are formed;analysis toward the essence is initiated.At the same time,a “flow of Wu 's things” comes into existence with the integration of these art works,and it further reveals,from more concrete perspectives,Wu's insistence to build daily work routines,his belief in constructing our body perception,and the reason why he considers art as a “void” space.Hence,in the choice of research method,this thesis treats Wu's concepts,methods,ways of making,works and objects as main targets,borrowing logic and mathematic methods to create three basic formulas which reify the core of his work.The using of formulas also echos Wu ' s frequent adoption of mathematic methods The first chapter focuses on the definition and application of the three formulas,and along with the derivatives of the formulas,explains their relation with Wu's counter concepts.The second to the forth chapter further illustrate the three main concerns(humor,at large,constitution)that correspond to the three formulas,providing more detailed reading beyond conceptual statement and aspect of making.By discussing Wu's work and objects systematically,this thesis reveals the main concern of his work and the “outline” of the artistic “concepts” that make his work possible.In this condition,the definition of “ Daily Exercise Study ” becomes clear,which is to establish and maintain the sensibility of one's body with their own ways in daily life.Wu's work is right an example of this study.Meanwhile,making represents a way chosen to express one ' s work and each object of making exists as a piece of proof whose characteristics vary according to different artists 'work.Therefore,whoever builds their own work will necessarily and inevitably “refuse to become Wu Shan Zhuan”.