北京当代艺博会2025艺术作品海报｜邬建安《之后——兔子在一刹那跃向木星》

Wu Jian’an’s creations navigates between the tension-filled coordinate systems of academia and folklore, canon and myth, tradition and modernity, the collective and the microcosmic. He uses traditional folk arts such as paper-cutting and shadow puppetry as a unique artistic language, breathing new life and meaning into historical discourses such as legends, totems, craftsmanship, fantastical tales and writing. Through painstakingly hand-made production and intricate collage, he creates installations exuberant with both visual impact and narrative imagination.

Then: The Rabbit Runs to Jupiter Swiftly originates from Wu Jian’an’s signature series Incarnation, which uses the Chinese zodiac symbols to express an eastern understanding of time, space and the universe. The hundreds of images that make up the “rabbit” draw from Chinese and Western mythologies, ancient and modern anecdotes, historical texts and fantastical imaginings. Arranged in a densely layered and rhythmically structured composition along the center axis of the canvas, they overlap and intertwine, creating a series of allegorical tableaux exploring the complex relationships among human, nature, myth and the universe. The work seems to mirror and challenge our current ability to process explosive information, while also invoking art as a means to reignite the ultimate questions about purpose and existence.