UniArts’ Interview with Wang Zhiyi
About Artist
Wang Zhiyi was born in Hubei, China in 1991. In 2014, he graduated from the Mural and Complex Material Painting Department of the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. He now lives and works in Wuhan. His creative practice spans painting, installation, mural, sound, photography and other synthetic media. The artist focuses on symbolism and the implications of color and graphics in perception, exploring the relationships between human psychology and image, sound and text.
Selected solo includes: Meaning, Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai, China (2018); Painting is Pleasure, C5 Art Center, Beijing, China (2016). He has participated in the following group shows: City Unbounded — Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project, Shanghai, China；Refocusing, Fine Arts Literature Art Center, Wuhan, China (2017); Abstract Q&A, Star Gallery, Beijing, China (2016); The Boundaries of Order, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2015); Soft Abstraction as Constellation, UCCA, Beijing, China (2014), etc.
INS：www.instagram.com/wangzhiyiart/
Artist Talk:
Q1. As an artist, how would you describe yourself? How do you usually describe your own work?
Answer: My own work is relatively composite. Usually, I break myself into modules: the first part is as a creator, my interest is rooted in color psychology and graphic dynamics, the profound influence of which can be seen in many of my works on color conjecture and arrangement; the second part is as an experiencer, my fascination and obsession with natural human content has made me interested in some of the world’s source-born phenomena, such as light, gravity, reflection, refraction, fractal order on veins or shells, the smell we feel. Reflections, refractions, the fractal order on veins or shells, the smells we feel, the immersion in the sound and tension of being there are all very tactile; the third part, I think, is the most challenging — I see myself as an observer. In the interval of thinking, I have to often admonish myself to break out of the circle of learning skills.
Q2: What is your working method? What first attracted you to working on the Internet?
Answer: I write, sleep late and get up early, and ruminate on meditation. To be clear, at this stage on the methodology of work I have two iron rules: one is the initiative, which belongs to the full mobilization of their own initiative, interest is often the best teacher, we need enthusiasm; the second is patience, many things must wait, things can not be as desired, but we do not give up lightly. I need to know that contradictions are transformed into each other, if difficulties and resentment can not be avoided, then enjoy it. If we can solve the energy dynamics and the law of entropy increase, it is possible for future human beings to achieve immortality on the internet, to live forever until they do not recognize themselves, this strangeness mixed with the soundtrack of the future era seems quite fascinating.
Q3. Why did you start to enter the NFT field? How long have you been doing NFT artwork?
Answer: Have you been looking at it closely? When things are at a certain point, you find that the moment the dice are cast, everything becomes natural, the gears have been right there, starting to spin, and one really does possess that feeling. I have been intoxicated with this suspension of initiation for some time, the perception of time has its own realization, it is a man-made metric — its essence is to measure the void, therefore, long can also be very short, short can also be very long.
Q4. What is the next step from the perspective of NFT art? What advice would you give to other aspiring NFT artists?
Answer: The next step is often to upgrade and iterate, to survive in order to stay, and I look forward to more new businesses popping up. Sharing my motto: actions speak louder than words.
Q5. Do you have any ambitions in life that are not related to art?
Answer: If life is seen as a collection, art can actually only be considered as a pavilion in the air. A Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty once said: “A pavilion in the air is knotted with a pavilion in the air, and a cloudy haze comes out of the table of meaning.” As I heard, I want to live a little more abundantly so that the foundation is a little more solid. I want to go to a wider and deeper place, to explore the spiritual knowledge and mysteries that await me.
