Zhou Yan Contemporary Chinese Art Archive 周彦当代中国艺术档案
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Date
1994
Format
Photograph
Materials
Mixed Media (mirror, metal, and more)
Dimensions
120 x 90 cm (triptych)
Description
The backdrop of this work seems to be comprised of three large or organic mirrors featuring a man operating upon tripod against the dark, opaque blue (imagine a photograph taken under ocean) in reflection. The surfaces of the three juxtaposed mirrors seem to be damaged and contaminated -- potentially by flame. Upon the destructed surfaces, the artist installed several ready-made objects like clocks and telephones. Many of the objects placed serve as indicators of human "civilization and culture" ("human produced clocks"); by displaying the "civilizing" objects in ruined form, the artist wishes to cast doubts on the "civilization" which human invested so much for, as well as to suggest the beauty in alternative forms -- perhaps in the crude, in the wasted, and perhaps in the very parallel of the new and the used. (Wang, 刘彦 在自己的内心延伸出了自然的推移， 艺术家作为个体在特定场域中的公共意识 (Artists' self-specific public awareness), available on http://www.namoc.org/xwzx/hzmt/hz2013/ysh/ysh201309/201310/W020131010507354623106.pdf) (Jerry Wu'23).
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