Interview with Gengjun Fan
Interview with Gengjun Fan
by Joshua Y'Barbo
Joshua Y'Barbo (JY): Tell me about your practice: What do you make work about? How do you go about making your work? What do you think about when making your work? Do you still make work?
Gengjun Fan (GF): Hi, I am Fan Gengjun, a visual artist and writer. I have often pondered the location of photography as a media paradigm in contemporary art practice. I believe that in contemporary culture, photography is almost everything, the plane of immanence: photography is the screen, advertising, consumption, desire, Instagram; photography is autopilot, algorithm, agency, perjury; photography is the screen, advertising, consumption, desire, Instagram. I believe that in contemporary culture, photography is almost everything, the plane of immanence: photography is the screen, advertising, consumption, desire, Instagram; photography is autopilot, algorithm, agency, perjury; photography is control, power, surveillance, fascism; and of course, photography can be a literary intervention or an It is almost the whole of contemporary life. Usually, my work is initiated by my own observations of current phenomena and trends - it may come from my surroundings or the larger environment. I often use moving images, writing, assemblage of readymade, curating and publishing to inform my practice. Recently, my workmates and I have been working on a publication related to contemporary photography practice.
JY: How was studying and finishing your degree? What had the most impact on the work you made and make now?
GF: Actually, I am preparing for my graduation presentation in December, after which I will graduate from Chelsea College of Arts with an MA in Fine Art. It's essential to keep an open mind and to keep learning and taking in information.
JY: Based on your experiences, do you have any problem-solving advice for other artists & designers?
GF: First and foremost, it's important to take in a lot of information, even if it has nothing to do with your work, and when keeping up with that input habit, that information may work for you. It's also important to keep in touch with your peers, and seniors you recognise, to find out what they're up to, and what they're doing these days, and to be open to asking for advice and exchanging ideas with them. Lastly, going for a walk in a quiet place, like a forest or by the water, and physically blocking out sources of information could allow your brain to work independently, which is useful. But anyway, having your own database is the most important thing.
JY: What are your immediate concerns or interests, both personally and professionally?
GF: It's hard to say because there are many aspects involved, some of which I need to personally have the means to address. But in general, I hope that as artists or a creator, we can be freer in our expression.
JY: Do you have any questions for me, other artists, or anyone further afield?
GF: I'd like to ask you all how to stay creatively alive during bottlenecks.
JY: I believe that creating new or unique ideas is a process of combining partial or old ideas together, which we can cultivate as a technique to fit our unique interests and ways, or working, so that when we are stuck, we can focus on the stages of this process. For example, we may have something specific we're struggling with in the studio or life that we can draw from. Additionally, we generally have life-long interests or ongoing concerns that we can also draw from. Finding your way out of a bottleneck is about understanding what the problem you're facing is and comparing it to things outside that problem to find inspiration. I've written briefly about instances where I've used this thinking to teach workshops and seminars.
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