wenjuelu

Thebe 2, 2023 Soft Sculpture by Wenjue Lu & Chufeng Fang . Cotton, polyester, vinyl 34’’ × 34’’ × 34’’ Ceiling-hung . Even in its perfectly balanced unison, there are countless ways a utopia could be achieved, implying the infinite ways a utopia could be imagined and perceived, too. In a Taoist utopia, “人法地 地法天 天法道 道法自然” ( Human beings emulate the earth; The earth emulates Heaven; Heaven emulates Tao; And Tao emulates what is as is.), there’s no freedom without nature in the sense of being in unison with every being besides the self, no “自由”（self-willing）without “自然”（self-being）. For Lu and Fang, Thebe 2 is the metaphysical expansion of Thebe 1 and the consolidation of the symbolic qualities defined by the shifting sphere: the perfectly balanced world siltted in half, day and night, light and dark, only one possible frame out of a constantly morphing spherical utopia; always in motion, as ancient and as eternal as time. A perfectly balanced state almost feels indecisive, confused, lost, insecure, undetermined, and lastly, cruelly lazy. If decay and death are inevitable, admit and join wholeheartedly in the endless cycle toward existence. Thebe is hereby expanded to become the impossible utopia to be experienced and captured once and for all, yet it’s spinning so continuously and beautifully that every single being could be united by distinctive versions of perfection, ready to be documented in its temporality one single still frame at a time. Thebe 2 is a question mark towards the singular still frame of perfection when overly replicated into nothingness, owing to an inability to be proactive by being actively reactive. Clinging onto the perfect frame could be so unawarely counterintuitive that what used to be self-regarded as perfect could melt into quicksands surrounding the soul, devouring one’s capability to dream. The piece demands attention yet rejects sympathy, visibly scarred yet offensively affectionate; Lumps and spikes are the tumors and thorns of manufactured eternity. . Text: @cannedjunk Image: Thebe 2, 2023 Studio Wenjüe Lu / Wenjüe Lu © 2023 #wenjüelu #wenjuelu #softsculpture #brooklynartist

1 of 1 “FROWNY” LONG-SLEEVED BUTTON UP SHIRT W/ SPECIAL MOON POCKET Customized for & Commissioned by Tim @pastry_club Aug 2024 Fully customized pattern to pref Irregular petaled cuff Fully customized “Frowny” pocket configuration based on our signature Crescent Moon Pocket Vintage buffalo bone buttons Randomized buttonhole rotation Curved yoke, Shirttail hem Pre-washed unbleached/undyed tight-weave cotton Hand stitched name tag and customization tag One-of-One Wenjüe Lu “#READING” Bookmark Thank you for your trust. Image: Customized Button Up Shirt, 2024 Studio Wenjüe Lu / Wenjüe Lu © 2024 #wenjuelu #wenjüelu #custommade #1of1 #sashiko #UROBOROS #ウロボロス #vintage #BORO #襤褸 #刺し子 #刺子 #ボロ #バンダナ #handmade #visiblemending #sashikostitching #slowstitching #customclothing

1 of 1 “SMILEY” LONG-SLEEVED BUTTON UP SHIRT W/ SPECIAL MOON POCKET Customized for & Commissioned by Eddie @eddie.3dm Mar 2024 Fully customized pattern to pref Irregular petaled cuff Fully customized “smiley” pocket config based on our signature Crescent Moon Pocket Vintage mother of pearl buttons w/ Rotated buttonholes Curved yoke, Shirttail hem Pre-washed unbleached/undyed tight-weave cotton Thank you for your trust. Image: Customized Button Up Shirt, 2024 Studio Wenjüe Lu / Wenjüe Lu © 2023 #wenjuelu #wenjüelu #custommade

Wiid as your perfect last-minute holiday gift — to family, friends, and don’t forget about yourself Order by Dec 17th for guaranteed arrival, link in bio *Shipping within US Only . < Wiid > Eau de Toilette by Studio Wenjüe Lu    In collaboration with Yi Fei Li @real_lif3r $100 · 30ml / 1 fl. oz Bitter gourd, freshly bagged eighth, in a tannery A stroll around the pagoda, scorched pinewood, & mud-covered roots  & Dying incense fume, wet mulch, at the apothecary - We wanted to begin with the hemp/cannabis plant and end with something that feels/burns more like an incense stick, giving the concerted experiences of a poem, a symphony, and a dream all at once, and here we are - M&M&L “Wild is the Wiid” - we created a zine with @y1u1_h that serves as a guide to fully conceptualize & experience Wiid, accessible from our website Hand-bottled in our Brooklyn studio in small batches individually etched & numbered by hand each bottle is unique taste/shop in person at @komune.space Photo: @w.luuuu

A recap of our event exhibiting Wenjüe Lu’s new Soulith jewelry collection Link in bio for all of @han.alexander ’s beautiful photos

A slice of Studio Wenjüe Lu on a sunny day 👀 video by @isabelletakacss @ruihong1iu @ndru.a

Happy birthday to @zeng___1 🤍 A first look into Aufhebung - Collection 2024, a collection driven by Posthumanism — the idea that not everything in the world revolves around humans. Zeng @zeng___1 in - Hooded Shirt in conversation with sculpture: Form II (upcoming) - Elf Gaucho in conversation with sculpture: Form VII . Fashion, as we see it, is not an end—it is a means. A medium for self-reflection, cultural inquiry, and philosophical exploration. It is not just clothes and accessories. Garments hold the potential to transcend decoration, to become a language for identity, a canvas for expression, and a bridge to engage with the past, present, and future. Each garment in Aufhebung is both a translation and a transformation of its source sculpture, embodying the concept of ”sublation“ as proposed by Hegel — — a state where something is simultaneously lifted up and abolished, affirmed and negated, yet retains elements of the original. Redirecting the subjectivity of today’s fashion away from the ego-driven obsession with the human body, Aufhebung gave life to garments originally conceived from non-human forms. We reclaim fashion as serious art, as a living, breathing sculpture—a study of selfhood, culture, and interconnection. Through the act of wearing, garments connect the personal to the universal, converting the body into a site of convergence. Stay tuned to the gradual unveiling of the larger body of Collection 2024 as we continue to preview new works. Text: @cannedjunk Photo: @w.luuuu #wenjuelu #wenjüelu

A first look into Aufhebung - Collection 2024; not just clothes, not just artwork, it is both, and much more than both, it’s neither. Zeng @zeng___1 in -Snail Shirt in conversation with sculpture: Form IX -Swirl Trousers in conversation with sculpture: Form XII (upcoming) with Form IX, 2024 Cotton, polyester 23” x 20” x 7.5” . The concept of Liu Bai, a technique from traditional Chinese art that involves leaving intentional blank spaces within a composition, is mirrored in the Aufhebung sculptures and garments. The sculptures, with their raw, unbleached cotton and undefined forms, serve as “blanks” for the garments, or for any other entity to attempt to complete, offering the audience an entry point to contemplate one’s own identity, selfhood, and embodiment. A blank sheet of paper. This ongoing dialogue, between sculpture and garment, not only enriches the viewer’s understanding of each piece but also echoes the collection’s broader inquiry into the dissolution of ego-driven, anthropocentric narratives in art. Aufhebung, as both a concept and a practice, thus functions as a holistic exploration of transformation, where art and fashion function as tools that collectively question and redefine the parameters of human experience and interconnectedness when stuck inside a permanent state of hyper-real. Stay tuned to the gradual unveiling of the larger body of Collection 2024 as we continue to preview new works. Text: @cannedjunk Photo: @w.luuuu Image: Zeng, in pieces from Collection 2024 Studio Wenjüe Lu / Wenjüe Lu © 2024 #wenjuelu #wenjüelu

3 Days of Wenjüe Lu at Komune >>Friday Nov. 15th – Sunday Nov. 17th Celebrating the debut of “SOULITH,” a Jewelry Collection by Studio Wenjüe Lu – Happy Holidays _ Here are the details: Friday Nov. 15th = SOULITH Debut ( 12pm - 6pm ), Public Opening Reception ( 6pm - 8pm ) with Sound Set by SYANIDE @deathvia ***RSVP required Sat. Nov. 16th = SOULITH as available, Collection 2023 available at holiday prices ( 12pm - 7pm ) Sun. Nov. 17th = SOULITH as available, Collection 2024 preview & pre-orders ( 12pm - 7pm ) _ Moments captured by @han.alexander Beer provided by @snowbeer.us ( Opening Reception ) Please visit Link in Bio for your spot at the opening

A first look into Aufhebung - Collection 2024, a conceptual collection centering on Hegelian sublation and Taoist interconnectedness. Mu @muliu14 in -Slanted Jacket in conversation with sculpture: Form I -O Trousers (2024) in conversation with sculpture: Form X (upcoming) . To us, garment is a very particular type of sculpture: always awaiting activation, they lie dormant on racks, mere commodities in a consumer-driven world, “dead” until they encounter a body. Only when worn do they come alive, shaping and being shaped by the wearer, transforming into living entities that defy the static confines of fashion-as-product. This conception, central to the studio, emerged from our practice of creating garments and sculptures side by side, an exploration of the human form, both physically and philosophically. The garment design process inherently studies the fabric’s relationship with the body—its anatomy, movements, volumes, and shapes—thus extending these inquiries into our sculptural work, and vice versa. Trends after trends, the tides of the mainstream and its need to cling onto fixed body ideals and stereotyped social roles subconsciously molded into shapes against our desires and beliefs. One requires a sense of gravity when composing with fabrics, we believe, given the catastrophic abundance and the overwhelmingly-pervasive nonchalance towards said catastrophe. Stay tuned to the gradual unveiling of the larger body of Collection 2024 as we continue to preview new works. Text: @cannedjunk Photo: @w.luuuu Image: Mu, in pieces from Collection 2024 Studio Wenjüe Lu / Wenjüe Lu © 2024 #wenjuelu #wenjüelu

A first look into Aufhebung - Collection 2024, an unconventional collection of simultaneous sculptures and garments Mu @muliu14 in - Slanted Jacket in conversation with sculpture: Form I - O Trousers (2024) in conversation with sculpture: Form X (upcoming) with Form I, 2024 Cotton, polyester 27 ” x 29 ” x 9 ” . Just as Collection 2024 is a set of questions, it is also a set of attempted answers to these same questions: what’s a body to a garment, what’s a garment to a sculpture, what’s a sculpture to a body… Not just clothes, not just artwork, it could be both, and much more than both. Centering on the concepts of Hegelian sublation and Taoist inter-connectedness, Collection 2024 - Aufhebung sees soft sculptures as foundational sources, initiating dialogues that are then transformed into garment form, creating twelve distinct “conversations”. Each garment piece corresponds directly to one of the twelve sculptures, crafted as an “interpretation” or “translation” of its sculptural counterpart. This act of translation mirrors how one moves from one language to another—sometimes faithfully capturing the original, while at other times, veering into abstract or symbolic territory. In Wenjüe Lu, all pieces only have birthdates and no expiration dates. All works born in 2024, whatever the form is, goes into and becomes the eventual collection as the year arbitrarily ends. Stay tuned to the gradual unveiling of the larger body of Collection 2024 as we continue to preview new works. Text: @cannedjunk Photo: @w.luuuu #wenjuelu #wenjüelu

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Entering Aufhebung at :iidrr Gallery. We are grateful to be in such an interpersonal community that is willing to resonate with our frequency and appreciate the existence of our art. May we all thrive with these potent doses of hope, not coming from the system but coming from and can only come from each other. This four-day exhibition showcased three fine art pieces—Form I, Form IV, and Form IX—as the beginning to the gradual unveiling of the still-evolving collection of simultaneous sculptures and garments, titled Aufhebung These pieces are attempts to reimagine the traditional viewer-art relationship by integrating ”留白“ (Liu Bai), a traditional Chinese art concept of leaving blank spaces. Often seen in traditional Chinese Shan Shui(Mountain-Water) ink painting to accentuate the most critical elements of the composition, allowing the viewer’s imagination to complete the work. The seemingly unfinished sculptures are the raw canvas to be “painted” through infinite attempts of perception. These literal and conceptual ”blanks“ subvert the audience from mere observers into participants of dialogues enriching the work with each unique attempt. Teresa’s installations enter into this dialogue with a stark, industriously nihilistic aesthetic, her installation works serve as the antithesis to visualize the dialectical interaction between form, materiality, and texture, demonstrating one possible conversation out of infinite others.  The act of creating meanings is always a collective action by nature. Thank you all for giving us meanings. Stay tuned for new pieces to come. - M & L Entering Aufhebung Oct 7 - Oct 10 2024 :iidrr Gallery @_iidrr Solo Exhibition of Wenjue Lu @w.luuuu & Chufeng Fang @cannedjunk in special collaboration with Teresa Wang @rupurtsons  S/O @shuwan for the appreciation 🤍 S/O @ndru.a & @yining.fu for the teamwork🤍 S/O @han.alexander for the beautiful captures . Image: Reception Night, Entering Aufhebung, Oct 2024 :iidrr Gallery, New York 10002 Photography by @han.alexander