Aesthetic Practice as a Possibility for Faith Development

It is said that art originates from ritual. The earliest artworks were created for ceremonial purposes, closely intertwined with human faith. Ritual is an embodied process, a shared expression of human society. The forms it gives birth to concern gods, the universe, time, and eternity. Thus, art of faith can be seen as a reflection of all things.

The exhibition "All Things Formless" presents three new series of sculptural works by Fan Yanjun. The works draw from folk customs, popular culture, and ethnic aesthetics, exploring the influence of mass culture on traditional religious art aesthetics and the formation of new forms of faith-based art through the transformation of worship objects and the appropriation of symbols.

Featured Works

• "Covenant of Skulls": Thirteen thumb-sized skulls carved from various types of jade are strung together in a circle. The skull, the remains after bodily decay, is a symbol of death in many civilizations. While feared in traditional Chinese culture, skulls are considered sacred relics in Latin American countries, even seen as dwellings for souls and revered as deities. Modern literature has rendered the skull a popular element in countless sci-fi and gaming works. Yet, what is the difference between your bones, my bones, and the bones of a saint? Whether this "Covenant of Skulls" bracelet is a rosary or an ornament depends on your faith and personal projection.

• "Goddesses": A group of twenty goddess statues, each with different glazes, created from clay molds. As representations of femininity, the transformation of the goddess form serves as a microcosm of changes in women's realities and societal trends. From ancient Greek goddesses to medieval ones to Marvel heroines, studying a specific goddess offers insight into its culture. The image of the goddess in Macao has also undergone fascinating changes with the flow of history, showcasing individualistic religious aesthetic tastes. Fan Yanjun's "Goddesses" vividly reflect secular concepts and contemporary trends, echoing the societal and personal "obsessions" and "fascinations." This group of goddesses is bright, intellectual, transcultural, multi-identitied, uncertain, each unique yet indistinguishable.

• "Family Shrine": Interestingly, Fan Yanjun employs the stained-glass mosaic technique commonly used in Western churches to create this work. In local culture, a shrine is the dwelling of deities and ancestors, symbolizing a sacred space, typically made of wood or stone. Stained glass was used in Byzantine churches as early as the 3rd century to depict biblical stories. Its widespread use in 15th-century Gothic churches, with sunlight filtering through the colorful windows, created an atmosphere of emptiness, spirit, and divine presence, promoting Christian doctrine by "replacing ears with eyes, seeping into the human heart." Using this material with strong Western religious connotations to create a Chinese-style shrine aptly resonates with Macao, "a city named in the name of Christ." The artist assembles a stained-glass shrine to create a new foundation for spiritual power and develop new ways of communication between humans and the divine.

Since the rise of neoliberalism, social cultures and arts worldwide have faced severe impacts. Faith is inherently enduring, yet contemporary life grows increasingly disordered, fragmented, and contingent, inadvertently forming a chaotic mix of tastes, giving rise to a set of aesthetic practices in faith. Today, new knowledge and perspectives bring new phenomena and questions. Faith-based art seeks new forms through deterritorialization, de-stratification, and multi-vector approaches. This mode of form development is not merely the replication of external physical objects but often the product of the human mind itself. The artist, as an intermediary, faces the world and the work, using their hands to manifest subjective spirituality, constructing an astonishing world. These symbols and images, though from different countries, cultures, religions, and historical periods, are connected to the continuous progress of human civilization. They belong to humanity's spiritual heritage and represent the state of being for every individual in the world.

Curator

• Liang Feiyan