kulue

Luo Yongjin

" kulue " — this Sinicized Mongolian term means both " fence " or " enclosure " and " dilemma ."

The three artists all live within the confines of Beijing’ s six ring roads, each seeking balance between a stable home and a nomadic artistic life. Wang Tong resides in the Asia’ s largest concrete jungle, yet amidst towering buildings, he traces the pulse of old walls and structures facing the onslaught of modern civilization. Chen Nong stays near the ancient royal mansion, yet chases the divine murals of Dunhuang in the flickering kiln fires of Jingdezhen. Chang Keyong nests in a farmhouse in Shunyi, steeped in the aura of a darkroom, yet regularly journeys to Xishuangbanna to knead and roll tea leaves from the old trees. Their lives are like a meticulously constructed " kulue "—a physical anchor and a spiritual point of departure.  Only when they step beyond the city’s confines, facing their respective spiritual pursuits, does the true meaning of " kulue " emerge: both the reality of being trapped and the creative territory they willingly enter.

  They interpret " kulue " in different ways. In Wang Tong’s work, the weight of borderland history overlaps with the frivolity of modern civilization on reversal film. The ghosts of ancient soldiers confront the vanity of social media influencers. He is trapped in temporal dislocation, yet tears open a rift in the absurdity—history, diluted by consumerism, develop and fix once more in his photos. Chen Nong’ s ceramics reenact the eternal murals of the Mogao Caves, the glazes warping and transforming in the kiln’ s heat, ultimately becoming new auspicious symbols along the Silk Road. Birds, beasts, flowing robes, and blooming flowers melt into glazes, forming a flowing epic. His creative process itself is like a " kulue " of kiln transmutation, both confining memory and forging renewal in the flames. Chang Keyong’ s silver gelatin prints preserve the final imprints of intertwined agrarian and nomadic civilizations — his darkroom is an island resisting the digital deluge, each grain on the film an untamed mark free from algorithmic domestication.      

 Perhaps the true " kulue " lies not beyond the northern frontier but within every creator’ s heart—a longing for stability yet an inability to cease wandering; a reliance on the roots of reality yet a yearning for spiritual journeys afar.