Zijing Wu,

Athlete, Artist

Physical Motion

“If new ideas are to adopt artistic form, then corporeal, sensual, spiritual, and intellectual powers and abilities must be equally ready and cooperating.”

(Johannes Itten, 1964:11)

Drawing inspiration from the Bauhaus philosophy of preparing both body and spirit for creative production and Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint series, which emphasises growth through restraint, I embarked on an exploration of the full range of body movements in artmaking. Through this process, I began to view the body as a tool for creating art, capable of producing intricate and captivating works through repetitive movements.

I documented my exercise routine using paint to transcribe movement onto canvas. Each body part training routine was represented by a different colour: yellow for the back workout, blue for the chest, purple for the shoulder, and white for the legs. The process of making emphasises balance and resistance, which helps me access more profound levels of creativity and express emotion and meaning. The body is valued as a flexible machine that coveys the idea onto canvas. Meanwhile, repetitive movements required in the creation allowed me to become more focused and stimulated new connections, producing images in a different way and looking at them from a new perspective.

My work aims to blur the boundaries between physical exercise and artmaking while exploring the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and spirit. I aspire to inspire others to see their bodies as a medium for creating the total work of art and prepare them to create art holistically.

Itten, J. (1964). Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus. Reinhold, New York.