關於藝術家：

闫曉靜（1978年出生于中國江蘇徐州，現居加拿大多倫多）橫跨兩種文化，亦同時受到兩者的影響，盡管她的創作主要投入在表現中國本土文化上。她的偏好清晰地表現在她的主題選擇上，即通常基于中國的傳統山水畫、美學經典和古老的民間故事、傳說、醫學典籍、精神教義以及哲學思想。景觀和地域概念是她創作的核心，同時又融入了移民群體複雜的文化和心理分叉感。

2000年獲得南京藝術學院藝術學學位後，闫曉靜在她二十多歲時離開中國。後于2007年在賓夕法尼亞州印第安納大學獲得雕塑藝術碩士學位，此後一直定居于多倫多。

闫曉靜的創作對于這個彷徨迷失、前所未有的時代具有示範意義，也提醒我們必須與自然和諧相處——否則將遭受滅頂之災。


Artist Statement

The Chinese seeds of my art, rooted for fifteen long years in Canadian soil, push their way up through the densely woven layers of my identity as a first-generation Chinese-Canadian. Once these seeds burst through my complex immigrant experience into the fresh air and sunlight of creativity, they transform into a bi-cultural lens for what it’s like to balance between two cultures as I breathe new life into my heritage of 5,000 years of Chinese traditions and rituals.

I start with materials rich in religious, mythological and cultural meaning and then I reinvent them within a contemporary aesthetic. I’m currently focused on how nature, an inherent force within traditional Chinese art, transcends culture.

Aligning the spirit and form of specific natural elements with my evolving identity as a Chinese-Canadian opens up a new range of artistic freedom. From the freshwater pearls that form my piece Spirit Cloud, a large oscillating cloud shape that references Chinese lingzhi mushrooms which are associated with longevity, and the pine needles that I wove through sheets of gauze to depict the famous hazy mountain shapes from historical Chinese landscape painting, to the hundreds of cicada beetles which I dipped in gold to create a dramatic, suspended staircase linking this world and the next—This emerging freedom of imagination has allowed me to transform the existential anxiety and struggle of a bi-cultural identity that previously underpinned my work.

I’m fascinated with the way technological advancement gives humans the illusion of power over nature. Now I’m playing with a range of collaborations between the human element and the natural element by designing a controlled, human environment that, over time, gives way to an organic process. For me it’s important that each side of this equation has a chance to shine.

Throughout my practice, I never know where a material or method will lead me. Each project is steeped in experimentation with forms, textures and materials. After a concept takes hold, the action plan may begin with the installation space, the subject matter, or a personal element from my interior world.

Along the way, new ideas and forms spontaneously announce themselves, which deepens the mystery of an artistic process that is at once under and beyond my control. This makes me endlessly curious about how far I can go in aligning my human control with nature’s organic serendipity by focusing on “yi hua jie mu” 移花接木, the process of “stealthily grafting one twig onto another” until each encounter with the natural world reveals my contemporary, personal mythology of art’s transformative spirit.