“Amulet” for the World: a Solo Exhibition of Artist Jia Hongjun

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“Amulet” for the World: a Solo Exhibition of Artist Jia Hongjun

Artist Jia Hongjun’s first solo exhibition “Amulet – Jia Hongjun’s Thinking and Action” opened on July 4, 2020 in Poly Art Museum. This exhibition concentrates on artist’s latest works created in the past two years…

Amulet — Jia Hongjun’s Thinking and Action

Exhibition time: July 4, 2020 to July 8, 2020

Artist: Jia Hongjun

Academic Director: Luo Shiping

Curator:Gu Yun

Executive Curator:Xiao Ran

Visual Designer: Jia Xiaochen

Host: Poly Art Museum

Exhibition held by: Dayi Art Net – Lianyi (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd

Venue: Poly Art Museum, Murray Building, 9F, Dongzhimen South Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing


Exhibition site

Artist Jia Hongjun’s first solo exhibition “Amulet – Jia Hongjun’s Thinking and Action” opened on July 4, 2020 in Poly Art Museum. This exhibition concentrates on artist’s latest works created in the past two years. By integrating the traditional image of “Amulet” with contemporary artistic form, the artist’s practice show a unique perspective based on his rich life experience, which has critical and realistic significance.


Artist Jia Hongjun

As an exhibition held during the epidemic period, Jia’s practice is also an “Amulet” — a blessing symbol to all human beings who are experiencing the epidemic. Regardless of location, profession or ethnicity, the exhibition wish every viewer can receive the sincerity from this artist and scholar who, through his work, conveys blessings.

What is Amulet

After years of research on Chinese traditional culture, Jia Hongjun has created a number of contemporary artworks by using the form of “Fu” and “Zhu” of traditional culture. The artist uses his unique artistic language. By excavating contemporary expressions from the traditional Chinese vocabulary, Jia reconstructs them into a set of independent visual system – “Zhu” and “Fu”.


Rocana Buddha Amulet ll

The “Fu” and “Zhu” in Jia Hongjun’s works correspond to “painting” and “verse”, also indicates “image” and “text”. The combination of visual image and text delivers a “structural call” to the “implied reader” in an unconventional way, and forms a new conceptual construction for fresh viewers. Jia hopes his audience can have a comprehensive view of “Fu” and “Zhu” by engaging their personal visual experience and timely understandings as a re-creating process to his works. Their participation and independent thinkings form the comprehensive construction and the final “completion” of the work.


The front of the work is “Fu” (right side) the back of the work is “Zhu” (left side)

Contemporariness: the “Enclave” Land of Artist and Observer

In Jia’s works, it is not hard to find his profound thoughts and humanistic care. In the interview, Jia said, “In the process of creating, I am totally in the context of contemporary art. There are so many ways to realize contemporary Art, but I just chose one of those. From the subject matter to the planning of my expressive system, then to the way of my thinking and problem analyzing, till the final appearance of artworks, I manage to distinguish my practice from traditional Chinese ink and wash painting, and I hope my audience can think with me.”

Each work is combined by many times of drawing. The artist hopes to carry a kind of responsibility through the practice of painting, and regard the whole process of his thinking and practice as a way of self-salvation, so as to realize a kind of “sacrifice” to art and the blessing objects. However, it can not be simply summarized as a “religious sacrifice”, but also the practice and action of the artist himself. 

Consistent with the concept of the work, the artist’s thinking is full of contemporary. From the theme and interpretation by the artist himself, it is not difficult to see Jia’s unique views on various phenomena in modern society, and his concerns on the nowadays way of life and the future of “human being”. In the face of various constraints and anxieties from reality, Jia also has his own chivalrous dream. As indicated in the “Zhu” of “Freedom Amulet of Yema Palace on the Night of Buddha Ascension”, “the spirit is not the body, the body is not the spirit, Extend all justice, to achieve the enclave Land”. Art is an artist’s “Enclave” land and where he expects to yearn with the audience together.


Freedom Amulet of Yema Palace on the Night of Buddha Ascension

The Future of Amulet: The Original Intention of Art

In the process of creating an artwork, artists often come up with a lot of original intentions, just like mothers have expectations for their children. But artists may also face the reality, that is, art is art itself, thus it is difficult to bear so much hope for reality. In Jia Hongjun’s artistic practice, by appropriating the form of religious “sacrifice”, he criticizes the realistic world with a kind of almost pathetic mood, and infinitely longed for a better life in the future. The instinctive yearning of human beings for beauty has lasted for thousands of years. This exhibition can be seen as a modern man’s wisdom of meditation after getting rid of the inertia of being raised.


Teng Snake Riding Amulet

As curator Gu Yun said in the foreword of the exhibition, “An important purpose of art is story-telling, but there is never fixed way to tell stories. I believe viewers would relate, and share the same mood of irreconcilable and annoyed when reading these paintings. Standing in front of certain works by the artist, you may recall a certain moment of joy or sadness, thinking or impulse from the past or in the future.”


Mahāvairocana Amulet

Art is supposed to tear apart the pleasant appearance and hypocrisy of carefree, in order to usher in Nirvana and obtain true knowledge trough self-transitive pain. The blessings of the exhibition and “Zhu Fu” Amulet—the two wander between instinct and wisdom, pointing to a common purpose – the original intention of art.

The exhibition will held until July 8, 2020.


The Amulet of Eastern spring of Qing Emperor

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