Let Us Bodiless! Lacquer! Contemporary Art under Traditional Aesthetics Lacquerware Generated in Layer upon Layer

In the context of accelerated digital visual culture and the increasing dematerialization of material experience, contemporary lacquer art has re-emerged as a critical medium through which artists reconsider temporality, materiality, and bodily perception. Focusing on the exhibition Bodiless Project, this article examines how contemporary lacquer artists reinterpret traditional lacquer practices within global contemporary art discourse. Through the detailed case studies of Sheng Zhong, Tingzhu Ou, and Wenjia Sun, the article examines how lacquer operates not simply as a traditional craft material, but as a highly relevant contemporary artistic language that actively resists the speed, smoothness, and instant visual consumption characteristic of modern digital culture. Drawing on theories of material culture, craft studies, and contemporary visuality, this research adopts a comprehensive material-cultural and curatorial analysis to explore the layered, slow-forming, and accumulative qualities inherent to lacquer creation. The study argues that contemporary lacquer art constructs an alternative temporal and sensory experience that fundamentally challenges fast visual consumption and reactivates the profound relationship between the human body, physical labor, and tangible material. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that lacquer is no longer confined to the restrictive category of decorative heritage. Instead, it has evolved into a powerful conceptual and philosophical medium through which contemporary artists negotiate tradition, technology, and cultural identity in an increasingly interconnected global context, ultimately offering new paradigms for understanding material endurance today.