X-Ray of China

Creator(s)

Shun YUAN 袁顺

Preview

Date

1992

Format

Slide

Materials

Mixed Media

Description

This installation piece by the artist shares the same title as (https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhou/488/). It is reasonable to assume that this piece was also displayed at the Museum of Art, Lodz for the "Construction in Progress IV" (1993) exhibition. Beyond the title, this piece also seems to have the same skeletal structure as the other 'X-Ray of China' work (see above). However, this piece replaces the white cloth over the structure with a black tarp-like material which is also detailed with various images including a portrait of Mao Zedong, what appears to be the top half of a photograph of German artist Joseph Beuys, a likely contemporary pornographic artwork depicting a Western woman, and the bottom half of a Western appearing man. Overlaid on top of the Beuys portrait is the text "[...] really wear a hat [...] as a German artist, nowadays". Given the presence of the Beuys and the Mao Ze Dong portraits, there seems to be a political undercurrent present in this piece. The inclusion of the other portraits also seems to create a comparison between Eastern and Western cultures. (Nicole Wang '26).