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GU Wenda, <Drama of Two Culture Formats Merge>, Ink, gouache on rice paper, 137x68.5cm x 8panels, 1987
[China] GU Wenda Drama of Two Culture Formats Merge
The critical positions on his native culture, Western culture as well as his continuous artistic experiments ground Gu Wenda’s position in the history of Chinese contemporary art. As a founding artist of Chinese experimental art, he had already began to explore new possibilities in Chinese painting as early as the 1980s, integrating ancient Chinese cultural spirit and typical symbolic objects with western language of oil painting, even adopting surrealist approaches from an angle of cultural reflection, critiquing the symbolism of the Chinese character and its traditional framework. Drama of Two Culture Formats Merge blends the medium of ink painting with installation with the desire to destroy and inquire. Using lines, permeations and ink splashes, Gu rendered forms that resemble the human face and organs, or rather, symbolic totems in various forms. The two cultures refer to “traditional literati culture and the political culture of the Cultural Revolution”, thus, when the red-cross marks and arrows are added to his imageries, it’s astounding effects become more apparent. In 1987, Gu immigrated to America and began working primarily with mediums of installation and performance, departing from the essence of a human being, posing questions to issues of globalism. |
