Zhou Yan Contemporary Chinese Art Archive 周彦当代中国艺术档案
Preview
![image preview](https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhou/1172/preview.jpg)
Date
3-1995
Format
Photograph
Date of Exhibition Event
1995
Location of Exhibition Event
An Jia Lou, Beijing 安家楼,北京
Materials
Action art with pot, cookers, fish and more
Description
In a narrow alley in An Jia Lou (安家楼), Beijing, Ma Liuming stood naked and set up a temporary cooking station, of which the artist used to fry a fish. The fish, however, was not cooked appropriately. It remained in the heated pot for too long until it was fully burnt. The oil in the pot was even ignited due to the enormous heat it received from the stove (as we can see in the image). Fish to Ma Liuming is an acute symbolism of liberty, but at the same time fish is such vulnerable creature for outside assaults. Frying the fish until its surfaces were burnt to black may be Ma's metaphor to his own circumstance, implying how his liberty could be as readily to be destroyed as the fish. (Asian Art Magazine, 90年代东村行为艺术概况, available on http://www.miaozhe.net/zixun-1/35309561.htm (This web is a reproduction of the original texts in the magazine)) (Jerry Wu'23).