The Qing Dynasty
cloth, acrylic
36'' * 24''
The work was inspired by a black and white photo of a man eating rice from the Qing dynasty in ancient China. I think this photo is very typical and perfectly represents the life of people in the time before China’s modernization. China had a totally different society in almost 300 years ago. I find the huge transformation mysterious and fascinating, despite the fact that this process was built on millions of people’s blood and death.
I incorporated my mixed feelings into this piece, re-created it using small pieces of cloth as a brush to paint such a work full of color.
Cultural Scar
performance
The work is about the cultural revolution that China experienced in the early years of the last century. During China's cultural revolution, government sent scholars, doctors, teachers and artists into exile to work as laborers or be killed. The process destroyed a large number of ancient relics, ancient buildings, books and art works.
In my works, I played the role of an artist during cultural revolution. I was covered with propaganda slogans and posters, holding artworks that yearned for freedom and criticized the society and revolution in my hands, yet I was spurned and bullied by the society.
Bread
wood
18” * 11” * 5”
Most of the staple foods we eat come from plants. For nature, the dough for toast is no different than the roadside trees. For me, this work is a process of cognition and dialogue with materials, redefining everyday things with the most original composition.
XI’AN
plaster, wood, acrylic
48'' * 72''
I came from China’s ancient capital xi 'an, and I am fascinated by my own origin and culture. I am really in to colors as well as I like to use high saturation colors to interpret works. Most of my works were related to Chinese culture and they are mainly traditional folk art.
The main body of this work is the terracotta warriors. Compare to other Chinese traditional artworks, the terracotta warriors have a higher reputation and popularity in the world. However when comes to specific things, few people know about the terracotta warriors’ cultural background and specific image. Therefore, I want to re-edit and create a new form of a more conceptual traditional Chinese art work, in order to bring a modernized traditional Chinese art work to our global culture.
Do not look back
metal, wire
14” * 7 ” * 11”
The prototype of this sculpture is a lamp, but unlike a regular lamp, this lamp faces towards the base. The whole work can be read as an reflection of me: the base represents my past. I lost a very important family member in my childhood and witnessed whole thing happened, it had a great impact on me. I love my family very much, but it makes me no longer have the courage to recall the lovely times together. I abstracted the light from the lamp into cold black antennae, which expressed the pain and helplessness of recalling the past in my heart.
Dreaming
Fiber, cotton, magazine
4’’ * 5.5’’
The boy is from Africa and lives in a very difficult environment, lacking food and water. But that didn't stop him from dreaming of walking in the arid desert with a paper plane he'd made.
Through collage, I realize the little boy's dream and beautify it, turning the world upside down.
Meditation
Wood, wire
5” * 5” * 16”
This is a sculpture I made with founding object. I found the rotten wood on the beach, it was so badly corroded by the sea that I could crush it with my hands. This material reminds me of meditation in Buddhism. The whole process is like purifying the mind, feeling the friction between fingers and log to craft it into heart. Finally, I decorated it with wire, which represents one of the internal forces that you feel when you are meditating.
Connection
gas tank, acrylic
3’’ * 8’’ * 9’’
This is a relatively personal sculpture. The phone in the work is inspired by the laughing gas I use when I feel depressed. Whenever I feel depressed, I will use that to improve my emotion, so as to reduce the pressure in real life.
I built the body of telephone with a stack of gas tanks and made it into the shape of a phone, which expressed my dialogue with my ideal world by using laughing gas. At the same time, the colors with fairy tale flavor were used for decoration, which further distinguished the difference between my ideal world and reality.
Floating
fiber, magazine
11’’ * 15’’
The collage comes from an ikea brochure, and I used a blue felt in the background to add layers.
Everytime when I am look at the AD, I feel like the price tags are alive, as if the whole book is a small world. Each fixed price tag has its own home, its own color, its own description, everything is so simple and clear. I always have a lot of fun looking at brochures, makes me feel like I am floating.
