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JIA Aili, <Hermit from the Planet Ⅱ>, Oil on Canvas & mixed media, 450x800cm (450x266.7cm x 3개), 2016
JIA Aili Hermit from the Planet Ⅱ
The northeast region of China is the heart of China’s heavy industry as well as a place where numerous historical events took place in China’s modern history. The northeast and the northern region have brought about China’s rapid economic growth earlier, but they suffered economic decline since the 80’s through the 90’s. As a result, the majority of heavy industry factories went bankrupt or closed down, leaving hundreds and thousands of factory workers change or quit their job. In a blink of an eye, absolute egalitarianism under planned economy of the past is transformed into performance-based market economy. The misfortune and desolation including the factory workers the society experienced became scars and pains of the times. The most salient part in the work of Jia Aili who thoroughly observed that particular time period, is the scene ‘in ruins’. In order to give the feeling of things being ‘in ruins’, Jia Aili paints machines and people dim and blurry in his work. This enables the viewers to imagine and feel the chaotic environment and the solitude of an individual. The lives of the people manifested in his paintings all carry a feeling of helplessness of the times, and humans are only left as weak and weary beings against the gigantic screen. His works make us reflect on our past and talk of a sad future in which we are forced to come to grips with reality. Despite the fact that the stage of Jia Aili’s new work <Hermit from the Planet Ⅱ>(2016)is set against the background of an endlessly wide and cozy screen, the feeling of being ‘in ruins’ consistently present in all of his works still remains. |
