Artist Statement

I was born in Beijing—an ancient city with a stable temperament. I have a deep-seated passion for figurative sculpture and architectural spaces. My interest stems from creating a reference for a character in this challenging world we live in, and my exploration through the process of sculpture keeps me whole.

I start with Armatures to design my figures. Then I would go through anatomy references and add clay to shape the muscles. I then attach the skin and specific smooth and rested expressions until they reach a "lifelike" state. The more time and energy I put into my sculptures, the more I yearn to cast different materials as if they were my clothing. Long-lived solid materials have always been my "dream lover."

Rather than saying making the sculpture explores the relationship between materials and the environment, it is more about exploring the relationship between my passion and the environment. I usually prefer to keep that result private. I have seen my stubbornness and the "unsatisfactory tacit understanding" between the individual and the environment.

However, how I handle this dissonance is dramatic—The Birth of an Architectural Dream. It is like a stage and an isolated island, a throne specially prepared for me and my sculptures. It secretly draws an invisible boundary with the outside world with its posture and subject matter (Such as increasingly rare classical themes and highly compressed structures). I also like to hang them in the air and give them a streamlined vehicle design, and this series of buildings is named "Space & Ship." Like a ship, I start from the deck - currently, I've been sticking with a shape inspired by the deck of an aircraft carrier as it allows for both design dynamics and usable area for the buildings. Then there is the dome from the 17th century, the beams, setting aside space for statues and murals and imagining it as my moving palace.

My love of Greek mythology is an excellent inspiration away from the mundane. “Myths are clues to our spiritual nature, and they could help guide us to a sacred place where we might unlock the creative power of our deeper unconscious self.” Joseph Campbell's words cleared me of many practical and cultural negative cues. The rest is the accumulation of time and creation until my name doesn't matter all that much. Sometimes I can't tell what made me drift here; maybe this is the fate people often say. 

Xilin Wei,

2023