Zhou Yan Contemporary Chinese Art Archive 周彦当代中国艺术档案
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Date
11-1993
Format
Photograph
Date of Exhibition Event
November 24th, 1993
Location of Exhibition Event
Guangzhou, China
Materials
Plastic models, etc.
Group/Movement
Big-Tail Elephant Group
Description
There are two photographs and two slides that document the action art “The Allegory of Love #2”. They record the moment of two plastic mermaid models tenderly embracing each other outside the “Red Ant” pub in Guangzhou, China. Both wearing a blue helmet and having their tails intertwined, these models gaze at each other with fixed expressions. After these models are placed on the ground, some students start to throw remains of meals onto them, which fulfills the goal of the artist: the work becomes an ordinary part of the environment, while still having a sense of strangeness. According to Monica Dematte, this work could be interpreted as a false love of the First World for the Third World (based on the blue helmets that symbolize the United Nations soldiers), or the false freedom of homosexual love amongst army men ("Essay: Five Hours of a 1000 Yuan Worth Allegory of Love" by Tan XU 徐坦 (kenyon.edu). See links below for more photographs of this work. (Yifan Shang ‘25)
Rights Statement
