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 GU Dexin, <B44, B45, B46>, Embroidery on canvas, 80x55.4cm, 72x58.4cm, 76.9x60.2cm, 1983
GU Dexin, <B08, B29, B47>, Oil on canvas, 64.6x49.3cm, 64.6x49.7cm, 69x48.4cm, 1983
[China] GU Dexin B44, B45, B46 B08, B29, B47
A pioneer of the Chinese avant-garde art in the 1980s and a member of the “New Measurement Group”, Gu Dexin has been wondering for an artist’s identity. His interests in the social functions of “relational aesthetics” made him believe that audience participation is critical in attributing meaning to a work of art. His earlier works consist of drawings, watercolor, embroideries and etc., revealing illicit animalistic qualities of the human world that is both illusory and dystopic. The B series included both the colorful surrealist element of oil painting; the frogs in human figures, the heads poking out of clouds or bushes, and the crude embroidered bizarre animals with human breasts. These imaginary human figures became the basis of his later sculptures, provided inspirations to the animation. In 1989, Gu participated in the exhibition Magicien de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou in France, which was marked as the first recognition of Chinese contemporary art in the West. With his increasing disdain of the art world, Gu stopped all artistic practices in 2009. |
