Artists for essay + Zhang Huan
The artists and artworks I have chosen to discuss in my essay are, Yue Minjun and his works Execution and Temporary warriors, Zang Fanzhi's The Last Supper, Chen Weiming's Tank Man and the Ai Weiwei collaborative piece I have chosen is Remembering.
The reason why I choose two artworks by Yue Minjun is that I couldn't find alot about Chinese political sculpture, often the work that came up was work glorifying China, not fitting into the cynical realist movement or not falling into the category of protest. I found that alot of the work was performance art or painting. A performance art that I found most drawn to and one that I would have liked to include in my essay is Zhang Huan, 12 Square Meters, 1994, performance. (Yapp & Leung, 2013)
He sits naked on top of a public toilet in the outskirts of Beijing. With his head seemingly finding balance on top of his slightly curved spine, the weight of his torso gravitates downwards on top of his crossed legs. The counterbalance of his upward-sensing spine against the weightlessness of his sitting provides the sense of stasis, while his closed eyes furthers this in-between state. This sense of reflection and being in the moment is augmented by Zhang’s lack of reaction to the swarm of flies stuck onto and around his honey-smeared body. The horde of flies makes the viewer aware of the intense stench of the public restroom that permeates the seemingly serene moment that Zhang inhabits.One sees used bits of toilet paper left along the floor, providing a deeper sense of the tactile sensation of flies on the skin, along with the summer heat, and of the smell of urine and feces.
12 Square Meters is an iconic work that scholars have often commented on in terms of its political critique on the rural and urban divides amidst the rapid shifts in China’s economy. Noted historian Wu Hung has described 12 Square Meters as “combin[ing] personal experience with a social critique. The relationship between aesthetics and politics here is often seen as a one-to-one correspondence, where the artist draws upon personal life to critique the world that surrounds him. Aesthetics is situated as reactionary to politics.(Yapp & Leung, 2013)
Yapp, H., & Leung, V. (2013, August 8). REVISITING PERFORMANCE ART OF THE 1990s AND THE POLITICS OF MEDITATION. Retrieved from http://www.leapleapleap.com/2013/08/revisiting-performance-art-of-the-1990s-and-the-politics-of-meditation/.
The reason why I choose two artworks by Yue Minjun is that I couldn't find alot about Chinese political sculpture, often the work that came up was work glorifying China, not fitting into the cynical realist movement or not falling into the category of protest. I found that alot of the work was performance art or painting. A performance art that I found most drawn to and one that I would have liked to include in my essay is Zhang Huan, 12 Square Meters, 1994, performance. (Yapp & Leung, 2013)He sits naked on top of a public toilet in the outskirts of Beijing. With his head seemingly finding balance on top of his slightly curved spine, the weight of his torso gravitates downwards on top of his crossed legs. The counterbalance of his upward-sensing spine against the weightlessness of his sitting provides the sense of stasis, while his closed eyes furthers this in-between state. This sense of reflection and being in the moment is augmented by Zhang’s lack of reaction to the swarm of flies stuck onto and around his honey-smeared body. The horde of flies makes the viewer aware of the intense stench of the public restroom that permeates the seemingly serene moment that Zhang inhabits.One sees used bits of toilet paper left along the floor, providing a deeper sense of the tactile sensation of flies on the skin, along with the summer heat, and of the smell of urine and feces.
12 Square Meters is an iconic work that scholars have often commented on in terms of its political critique on the rural and urban divides amidst the rapid shifts in China’s economy. Noted historian Wu Hung has described 12 Square Meters as “combin[ing] personal experience with a social critique. The relationship between aesthetics and politics here is often seen as a one-to-one correspondence, where the artist draws upon personal life to critique the world that surrounds him. Aesthetics is situated as reactionary to politics.(Yapp & Leung, 2013)
Yapp, H., & Leung, V. (2013, August 8). REVISITING PERFORMANCE ART OF THE 1990s AND THE POLITICS OF MEDITATION. Retrieved from http://www.leapleapleap.com/2013/08/revisiting-performance-art-of-the-1990s-and-the-politics-of-meditation/.
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