Author:

Reviewing this exhibition, we invited Mr. Duan Shaofeng, Mr. Zhang Wei, Mr. Tang Yao, Mr. 
Zhi Min, and Mr. Zhang Tao, the founder of Art Granary, to have a dialogue and discussion 
about the exhibition and the works of artist Shen Yongzhi in this solo exhibition. Shen Yongzhi 
once again discussed the contradictions and barriers that he walked through during the 
creation of the works in this exhibition, and during the discussion, he experienced the interplay 
of Shen's thoughts with contemporary art, gaining insight into the physicality of the works 
and the contemporary art context, dismembering the perversity in them, and retracing the 
inspiration at the time of creation.

Duan：
The early works ofYong Ji have some architectural attributes. It is like an architect's work, 
which can make people feel his different spirituality from others. Now this exhibition, 
invariably, also shows some new faces, some of them with new material properties, and some 
of them with traditional gold and silver inlaying works. It is not easy to use gold and silver 
inlaying works and present them. However, he has found and cleverly used two completely 
different languages to convey his soul world to the public through his artworks in a visual and 
simple way.
At first I thought this work was a collage of materials, but it is not. In fact, he spent a lot of energy and time on polishing the materials, which is only a state of egolessness for him. Some 
of his earlier works span quite a long way from this batch. This comes from some personal 
experiences, the relationship between life and space in his 2020s. The creation of art is tied to 
the artist's personal experience and life experience at this stage, as is Yong Ji.
During the COVID-19, artists were able to create and work without being affected, so there 
was no need to return to work and production. He has not done a solo exhibition like this in 
the past few years, and has been in a more sedate state. He is an artist who is not active in 
the public eye, so I think it is because of this particular situation and the past three years that 
he has been in such a state of dissipation and creation.
Shen：
The materials used this time are more contemporary, or different from the previous materials 
- acrylic and resin. In addition to these materials, which are slightly uncommon for the early 
society. Besides, I also used the technique of gold and silver inlaying works to physically 
inlaying. Because it is included in the whole, the artistic presentation of this part of the work 
is more subtle under the visual impact of the work as a whole. The visual presentation of the 
work as a whole is rather colorful, but not without a clash of warm and cold tones. From a 
bird’s eye view may be visually appealing, but we will reveal a lot of subdivided content and 
emotions be attentive to detail.
In terms of the direction of my undergraduate work and my research during my graduate 
studies, the readability of my works is one of the things I have been looking for in my artistic 
creation. When I was studying at Studio 6 of CAFA, I saw a lot of sutra transformation paintings 
and Grotto Temples during my visits to the countryside, and the process of viewing them 
made me appreciate how to bring my own spiritual world into the works themselves. Whether 
I look at the works from the point of view of shape, content, form, or material, each time I look at them, the effect is a different visual impact. However, in contemporary times, many 
creations seem to be just playing with concepts and materials, or simply expressing formal 
language. As far as my personal creation is concerned, I actually do not deliberately chase 
after those things, so some of the small and subtle things in this batch of works may not be 
noticed by people at first, and it is more important for people to taste them carefully. At the 
same time, I am also considering the relationship between the works and the space, because 
the color of the materials, the lighting of the exhibition venue and the environment are 
different, so the presentation effect is also different, which will invariably bring a lot of 
unknown effects to the audience.
zhang：
Yong Ji is a person who can use materials flexibly. In his hands, the use of materials is not a 
matter of chemical variables, but a matter of tracing the roots. He will always think about the 
feeling that the material brings to him, and experience it from the fundamental perception of 
human being. The light is what he likes instinctively, or maybe it is the artistic inspiration 
brought by this era, which becomes his unique breakthrough point.
This has to mention "reverse thinking", which is a kind of orientation with purpose, and this 
phenomenon will bring a non-perspective imagination and interpretation to the "tradition". 
But reverse thinking is necessary, for example, the study of art history must have reverse 
thinking, in the work of historical theory requires the collation of phenomena. All those things 
done in the early primitive societies have been copied. Don’t kill the results of your positive 
thinking if you are afraid that the final presentation effect will collide with anyone. I'm against 
pushing backwards, I support them to do the things what they like, even if they study or use for reference.
Nowadays, when we look at such traditional things as gold and silver inlaying works, 
Sanxingdui Ruins, which is ignore its "contemporaneity". All good works are created by 
authors who start with the material and form their own language before ignoring the material 
itself. However the formation of commerciality is a direct copy of the language, and then the 
process is streamlined to form something common and easy to accept, so it becomes 
commonplace.
Fifteen years may not seem like a long time to him. Regardless of where the influence and 
creativity of his artistic creation has stopped today, it is only a small step for his entire artistic 
life. I believe that he will eventually take a big step forward at some point in time, which is a 
confirmation of my teaching in effect. The type of our students will own richest faces definitely, 
use the most type of materials, and have strong willpower in the art field in the future.
Tang：
From its form and material, we can see that his work conveys a non-traditional outlook of 
thought. Among the materials, acrylic is full of bright, crystal clear and visually striking 
materiality, possessing a fashionable and avant-garde artistic effect. Yong Ji renders his acrylic 
works with more than 2000 years of traditional Chinese craftsmanship, interspersed with his 
introspective and subtle gold and silver inlaying works. The viewer must look closely to 
appreciate the dynamic effect of the articulation and artistic stretching of the works, from the 
clear up to the clear down, from the bright to the gradual settling. Each of the works is made 
of transparent resin, and although the objects look simple and light in weight, they are actually 
extremely difficult to craft.The most impressive is the transparent resinmeticulous painting. The operation requires 
excellent inner constancy fully supported. The acrylic in the art installation gives the 
impression of being light and airy, but in fact it embodies the inner essence of the Chinese 
spirit of humble and compatible. Its charm stems from a dislocation of sensory forms, yet it 
manages to pull together these intricate and wonderful dimensions without being 
incongruous.
Yong Ji is a very intuitive person who does not like to do much rational thinking. In the past, 
he has been following the trail that interests him the most and that he is most sensitive to, so 
that he can bring out the best of himself and his strengths. These works are based on his very 
individual life experience in the last three years in the face of the COVID-19 of the times. He 
brings a feeling of non-traditional and pioneering. Artists need to find real and effective 
creative inspiration along with their own inner demands in order to make their works appear 
more socially valuable and meaningful.
Zhi
Yong Ji has his own unique insight in the use of his own unique artistic language. From these 
works, I feel that his future development path will be very broad. He has broken the window 
of confinement in his thinking, so what he wants to do in the future can be achieved.
If you want to live beautifully, you have to do beautifully first.Yong Ji invokes very difficult 
techniques in art installations. But the difficult way of making also requires a lot of energy and 
time. As we all know, art and life are inextricably linked. All the daily experiences, the books 
we read, the people we meet and the things we hear, which will eventually be presented in 
the artworks one by one. That's why I'm especially happy for him, because the form and 
ideology of his works this time are obviously more free than last time, and the artist's own temperament fits better with the artworks. It can be said that he has finally found an ultimate 
way to express himself. Art creation need a keen sense of discovery and a creative and unique 
way of expression, so vision and expression are both very important creative factors. No 
matter what kind of work you look at, as long as it covers the elements of light and 
translucency, you can discuss it in depth with rich topics. Even issues related to materials and 
the extensibility of the material language itself can also be discussed.
Finally, there is a question that artists should think about: "Who are you? What is it that infects 
you to create art?" I think you may one day come to know it yourself, but others may not be 
able to guess it. Maybe it's a piece of color, a piece of material that touches his heart. But it 
need to be digested to converted into something deep inside yourself. The process of 
digestion requires a careful taste of the cultural taste, cultural style and literacy, which are the 
cornerstones of the quality of the work.
Zhang：
Thank you for taking the time to discuss Shen Yongji's solo exhibition here today.
Art Granary has previously been involved in several public art projects. This inevitably 
disturbed Shaofeng, who suggested adjusting the gallery's exhibition content to include 
sculpture and public art. At the same time, Shaofeng recommended Yong Ji, so this exhibition 
was presented. His works are the expression of the author's inner message in the subtlety and 
emotion, and this kind of message needs to be felt and understood on site and for a long 
time, so it is quite valuable.It was originally planned that last year's exhibition in Ningbo would be held at the same time 
as this solo exhibition at the Art Granary, but due to the epidemic, the exhibition was 
postponed. Two months ago, Shaofeng, Yong Ji and I went to see the space and got to know 
each other and had many commonalities, as well as similar personalities, so the project was 
quickly implemented. We took the work to the first Ranqi Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, 
where there were tens of thousands of people a day. In the South, the work of Yong Ji is very 
intuitive, and his rich materials and craftsmanship are able to meet the requirements of the 
artist. If we talk about the artist's concept, ideas and creative logic behind the works from the 
images and visuals of the works, the acceptance on site will be very high.
As the operator of the art granary, my basic job is to control the content and direction, to 
realize the artistic value and commercial realization of the works. We choose curators and 
artists to work with, and sort them out and put them on a suitable level, which is the basic 
ecology of contemporary Chinese galleries. We will continue to invest money, energy and 
time in this content, so that the soul of the art granary will be thicker, have a longer-term 
development in the future, and export a more pure concept, and be able to show more 
powerful works.