COMUNICATO STAMPA

Quando sono andata a fare lo studio-visit da Jilan Wu in uno studio dove apparivano continuamente quadri da angoli riposti fuori da sguardi indiscreti, ha attirato la mia attenzione un bel volume monografico su Marc Chagall disposto su un tavolo ordinato e privo di orpelli. Allora molte idee sulla pittura della giovane artista hanno cominciato ad andare al loro posto. L’antico maestro russo è stato un grande colorista e ha sempre dipinto emozioni e relazioni umane, legate alla sua concezione di amore e di famiglia; sovente del resto ilcolore e l’emozione vanno di pari passo, almeno nella linea sempreverde che si diparte dallo Spirituale nell’arte (ed. 1912) di Vassilij Kandinskij – un altro russo peraltro – e che con alterne vicende arriva fino a noi con un a dir poco plateale revival. Qualche meditazione Jilan la deve avere fatta anche sull’arte dei Fauve e sull’accecante stesura unita e brillante di grandi superfici di Henri Matisse. Jilan infatti finora predilige campiture quasi monocrome di colore con un tono dominante caldo e affocato: il colore preferito è il rosso, che può diventare arancione o giallo nelle loro infinite variazioni. I colori sono sempre a pastello, qualche tempo fa su carta, ora su tela, e il pastello è coprente e non crea effetti di trasparenza, ma si sovrappone unito ad un altro colore compatto. Jilan infatti non ama i colori freddi, i blu ad esempio, che hanno un effetto di sfondato. Tutto rimane in superficie, tutto è scintillante, presente, tenero e delicato. In mostra c’è un quadro della serie degli Abbracci(2024) che va avanti da qualche tempo e l’espressione sognante della figura con gli occhi chiusi e con le braccia che la attorniano ci descrive relazioni, emozioni, aspirazioni umane, intime ed universali. Ci sono poi dei quadri più piccoli e recentissimi in cui i colori si differenziano maggiormente rispetto a prima: compare l’idea del nudo e del rosa screziato da altre sfumature di colore più scuro; il corpo isolato o al massimo due corpi sono massicci e si gonfiano occupando lo spazio e contorcendosi per rientrare nel perimetro della tela, talvolta vengono evocati per frammenti, per tracce di gesti, appaiono, rispetto alla visione più iconica e meditativa precedente, il movimento e il tempo, probabilmente l’inizio di un nuovo e fecondo percorso.
Carmen Lorenzetti

EN:
The two young artists present in the exhibition Approdi Umbratili at the AF Gallery, Jilan Wu (1990) Yirui Fang (1997) in their paintings show an oriental delicacy, a proceed for sensations that are traced in the painting with which they install a dialectical comparison and "amorous senses" that hover East and West. Yirui Fang has recently embarked on a path specifically linked to the painting in a hand-to-hand with his homeland of choice: Venice. You can not recognize the deep impact of the crashed planes and flickering blows of lightning Giovan Battista Tiepolo on the young artist and the inscription of Yirui in the large international patrol that in these years renewed and general return to the Painting looks with interest and with relevantoutcomes the masters of the past. The path of Yirui is fast and in fieri, only a year ago dominated the brunettes and brushstrokes charged and wide that inflated formeovoidali, that recalled clouds full of rain or storms of dark sand that sprouted perfect and crystalline anatomies barely distinguishable in the whirlwind of painting. Indeed, the reference is also evident in some titles of the paintings Auspicious Clouds (2023) or Cloud (2024). Then there is the idea of the fall, of failure, of punishment in certain paintings such as Fire (2023): a meditation perhaps on the unfortunate Feton, or Blue (2023) from which wings sprout. In 2024 the palette clears and tends to the blue of the skies, the brushstrokes become filamentous and radiate like a net in the painting, always referring to barely distinguishable but cultured concrete elements, as in the masterful decoration of Gossamer (2024). The internal dialectic between distinct and indistinct, which brings the image always on the edge of a threshold that liquefies it, Yirui leads him to a reflection on painting as a historical and physical element, as well as formal, because, In a way more evidentenei his paintings of smaller dimensions, is confronted with the idea of gap andsurvival, of painting (evident in the fragments of frescoes to which it seems to refer) that often survives without its ancient integrity. And so PinkHistory (2024) and the already mentioned Cloud (2024) have very evident internal gaps and wedges of frame that propose a comparison between the skin of the painting and the support, updating a critical reading of the painting itself.
When I went to study-visit with Jilan Wu in a studio where pictures from angles were constantly appearing, out of prying eyes, a nice monographic volume about Marc Chagall arranged on an orderly flight without frills attracted my attention. Then many ideas about the painting of the young artist began to go to their place. The ancient Russian master was a great colorist and has always painted emotions and relationships, related to his conception of love and family; often the color and emotion go hand in hand, at least in the evergreen line that is part of the Spiritual art (ed. 1912) by Vassilij Kandinskij - another, however - and that with ups and downs comes down to us with a say pocoplateale revival. Jilan must have done some meditation on the Fauve Art and on the blinding united and brilliant writing of large surfaces byHenri Matisse. Jilan in fact so far prefers almost monochrome backgrounds dicholore with a dominant tone warm and crowded: the favorite color is red, which can become orange or yellow in their infinite variations. The colors are always pastel, some time ago on paper, now on canvas, and the pastel is opaque and does not create transparency effects, but overlaps combined with another compact color. Jilan, in fact, does not like cold colors, blue for example, which have a background effect. Everything remains on the surface, everything is sparkling, present, tender and delicate. In the exhibition there is a picture of the series of Hugs (2024) that goes on for some time and the dreamy expression of the figure together with closed eyes and arms that surround us describes relationships, emotions, human aspirations, intimate and universal. There are also smaller and more recent paintings in which the colors differ more than the first: appears the idea of nude and streaked pink from other shades of color darker; the isolated body or at most two bodies are massive and sigonfiano occupying space and contorting to re-enter the perimeter of the canvas, sometimes are evoked by fragments, for traces of gestures, appear, compared to the most iconic and meditative vision before, the movement and time, probably the beginning of a new and fruitful path.
Carmen Lorenzetti