At 3 pm on March 20, 2024, the "Nostalgia" Wu Yujuan art exhibition hosted by Youth Film Manual opened at the art space No. 8, Zhuangsheng Square, Xicheng District, Beijing. Wu Yujuan's paintings and installations full of emotional tension and touching people's hearts have brought The audience was deeply shocked, and the review of her film works in her acting career was even more tearful.
Wu Yujuan graduated from Class 85 of the Acting Department of the Central Academy of Drama. She is a national first-class actor. Her representative works include the movies "The Price of Madness", "Police Officer in the Year of the Dragon", "Scented Soul Girl", and the TV series "Flying Fox in the Snow Mountain" "Sunrise in the East and Rain in the West" " and so on. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 13th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award for "Police Officer in the Year of the Dragon", and won the Golden Bear Award at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival for her starring role in the film "Scented Soul Girl".
Actor and painter Wu Yujuan
"Nostalgia" Wu Yujuan's art exhibition is curated by film director, screenwriter, and producer Cheng Qingsong, and is executive curated by artist Wang Mao. The art exhibition consists of three parts: Wu Yujuan's paintings, installations, and films. The curatorial team selected 53 paintings from 108 paintings created by Wu Yujuan from 2020 to 2023, which were presented to the public for the first time. Wu Yujuan, who has never had professional art training, has constructed an art world of her own with her free imagination and passionate brushwork. For more than a thousand days and nights, Wu Yujuan took the initiative to choose "self-exile" to live with her works day and night, falling in love and killing each other. This is a feat that is not afraid of being broken into pieces. Wu Yujuan stands on the ruins of memory and reality and uses her colors and brushstrokes to build a new spiritual home. The sky, the sun, the river, the trees, the flowers, the mountains... these are the nature in the memory. The scenery turned into a sparkling painting through her unnatural subjective imagination. Director Jiang Wen commented on Wu Yujuan, "It is obviously not enough to define Wu Yujuan as an actor or a painter. She is a person who tells stories with a paintbrush." Wu Yujuan. She specially selected 11 paintings among them and wrote 11 stories herself. These stories are about the closest family members in her life. Each story is touching and sad.
Wu Yujuan’s installation works construct a world of “nostalgia” belonging to Wu Yujuan. The door of the exhibition hall is covered by the seven elephants looking for home in Wu Yujuan’s oil painting “Nostalgia 98”, which is full of visual impact. The audience enters through this and is filled with emotions. It is childlike and can reflect on our relationship with nature. The burgundy velvet curtain represents Wu Yujuan’s identity as a stage actress and complements the color of the entire art space. Four ancient screens are tied with reeds and silk grass just picked from Wu Yujuan's hometown of Leiyang, which represents a unique challenge of wild growth. The entire exhibition hall is covered with red leaves and ginkgo, and viewers feel as if they are walking on the mountain road that Wu Yujuan walked with her father in her childhood. These fallen leaves come from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, as well as Changsha, Leiyang, Hangzhou, Tongren and other places. Clumsy tables, chairs and cabinets, mottled ice cream boxes and wooden basins and buckets, simple and heavy raincoats, old abacus and scales, and giant straw boats made of reeds and silk grass are suspended in the center of the exhibition hall. These silent objects They all seem to have life and the mark of time. They not only describe the changes of the times, but also awaken the "nostalgia" of a generation.
An independent space has been opened for the display of Wu Yujuan's film works. This space is connected to the exhibition hall by a bridge from her hometown that Wu Yujuan drew from her memory. Rare videos such as "The Price of Madness", "Unforgettable High School Days", "Police Officer in the Year of the Dragon", "Fragrant Soul Girl" and "Women's Football No. 9" allow everyone to relive the classic performances of this outstanding actor who became famous in the 1980s. These film clips In a sense, it also represents the "epitome" of different periods of Wu Yujuan's film career, freezing Wu Yujuan's personal charm and performance art in time, and once again vividly presenting it to the audience. In this space, you can also see posters, scripts, and stills of movies starring Wu Yujuan, as well as magazine covers, calendars, postcards taken in her early years, and even Wu Yujuan's student status list and meal tickets from the Central Academy of Drama cafeteria, which will make the audience enter. The illusion of a time tunnel, Wu Yujuan and her classmates Gong Li, Shi Ke, Jin Lili, Jia Hongsheng and others stepped into the campus of the Central Academy of Drama for the first time.
Wu Yujuan specially presented a painting to the Central Academy of Drama. She has a deep affection for her alma mater in her heart. President Hao Rong and Vice President Song Ying of the Central Academy of Drama, as well as Wu Yujuan’s alumni Tao Hong, Zhang Yang, She Nannan, Wang Mao, Zhou Shuai, and Lu Xin, and famous actors Zhang Fengyi, Liang Tian, Ma Ling, Chang Rong, and Wang Xiaokun , Kan Xin, Xie Yuwang, directors Han Jie, Liang Ming, Li Dongmei, modern dance choreographer Gao Yanjinzi, photographer Zhang Hao, screenwriter Wang Yixue, producers Guo Meiqing, Xin Qi and other friends from the literary and art circles attended the "Nostalgia" Wu Yujuan art exhibition. Alumni Duan Yihong, Shi Ke, Jin Lili and others who were not present presented flower baskets. Wu Yujuan’s family also came to the scene to witness the unveiling of Wu Yujuan’s first personal art exhibition with the media, guests and friends.
The opening ceremony was hosted by curator Cheng Qingsong. He commented that Wu Yujuan borrowed the expression techniques of movie lenses, far, medium, close and special. Every painting is like a movie, and every painting is like a novel. It is Wu Yujuan’s unforgettable personal memory, and it has also awakened our collective memory. Her brushstrokes are free yet warm, dreamy yet hot, allowing her lost hometown to remain forever in her "nostalgia".
Actor and painter Wu Yujuan burst into tears in front of her friends who were present. She said, "I am very grateful to all the guests present today. I am grateful for the love and warmth you have given me. I hope to do better in the future. Today's Spring Equinox is the sowing of seeds." Season, I hope you can sow and reap something in the Year of the Dragon. I wish you health, peace and good luck."
Hao Rong, Dean of the Central Academy of Drama, brought congratulations and blessings from all the teachers, students, and staff of his alma mater to Teacher Wu Yujuan, saying that Wu Yujuan "is an outstanding alumnus of the Central Academy of Drama, my country's top outstanding actor in the 1980s, and she is still in the Central Drama Theater "Everyone in the college is proud of her creations" and formally extended an invitation to Teacher Wu Yujuan, "I hope to bring the complete 108 paintings to our new campus for display. All the teachers and students in our school are eagerly looking forward to it."
Hao Rong (left), Dean of the Central Academy of Drama,
Actor Zhang Fengyi said, "As an actress, Wu Yujuan can continue to improve her artistic accomplishment and achieve new achievements. I feel that I envy you, and I sincerely congratulate you." Actor Tao Hong commented that Wu Yujuan is "a particularly high-quality actress. The painting on the gate of the Chinese Theater School depicts our Chinese Theater alumni's attachment, beauty and gratitude to the school." Director Zhang Yang found resonance in Wu Yujuan's paintings, and he also extended an invitation to Wu Yujuan, hoping that Wu Yujuan could continue creating in Dali, where he lives. Actor Ma Ling felt that "Wu Yujuan is an extremely emotional person, as warm as water" and "discovered a pair of unique 'eyes'" in her paintings.
Zhang Fengyi
Director Zhang Yang (left), curator Cheng Qingsong (right)
Tao Hong
Ma Ling
Modern dance artist Gao Yanjinzi expressed her feelings through cross-border art. She sincerely shared that "you can learn from "Nostalgia" "I felt Wu Yujuan's feelings in the movie. It is very rare to be able to touch my emotions again with my heart in the noisy, anxious and busy era." Actor Chang Rong sent his blessing to Wu Yujuan, "Every time we meet, I feel very cordial, like family, and I sincerely hope that you will get better and better in your paintings.” Young artist Wang Xiaokun said frankly, "Teacher Wu was able to turn dreams into reality in three years. This is a very enviable thing" and wished "Teacher Wu can continue to have beautiful dreams and paint happiness and beauty." ".
Modern dance artist Gao Yanjinzi
Chang Rong
Wang Xiaokun
Liang Tian
Actor Huang Bo expressed his affectionate sigh after visiting, "These paintings seem to come from dreams, they are rich and gorgeous, hazy and clear, There should be a secret garden deep in Teacher Wu's heart, full of colorful pictures."
Wu Yujuan, Cheng Qingsong, Huang Bo
"Nostalgia - Wu Yujuan Art Exhibition" published by China Film Publishing House was also officially released on March 20.
After the opening ceremony, many artists and actors strolled through the exhibition hall, stopping to admire every piece of art created by Wu Yujuan, and feel attentively the story behind the flow of time and "nostalgia" infiltrated in every painting and object.
Cheng Qingsong, Xie Yuwang, Wu Yujuan, Kan Xin, Lu Xin
"Nostalgia" Wu Yujuan Art Exhibition will be on display from March 21st to April 8th, at the Art Space No. 8, Zhuangsheng Plaza, Xicheng District, Beijing, Sponsored by Youth Film Manual, hosted by Jiusi Rongcheng Asset Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Dexin Rongcheng (Beijing) Technology Development Co., Ltd., Beijing Xutai Cultural Development Co., Ltd., Tianxiadashang Entrepreneurs Club, Zhuangsheng Group, The Xicheng District Giant Port Specialized New Small Giant Enterprise Development Promotion Center in Beijing is the supporting unit.
