Gu Zheng (Professor of Fudan University)

With common ready-made objects, like oxygen bottles, discarded mattresses, iron wire, sealing tape and gauze bandages, Wang tries to develop or elevate their artistic dimensionality by transforming their purposes and application scenarios, then redeveloping them through other media (such as photography). He further suggests the paradox between modern life and civilization, to transform and intensify the pain, restlessness and tension in the image, to create the warning image of the endless but always unstable life, and to break up the new daily routine of living a befuddled life on the basis of economic development. Recently, the new normal of befuddled life received a bitter hit from the virus, which is as slippery as an eel and makes everyone feel in danger, and has been replaced and exiled by another new normal. The images he elaborately selected tell us that the human crisis represented by COVID-19 has integrated into our routine and been deeply inlaid into our consciousness in a normalized manner. After driving out the new normal, it has become the new-new normal with greater uncertainty. Again, he stimulated the smooth, steady and blunt routine, which has been changed by COVID-19, with a violent image. Therefore, we gain an opportunity to restore our conception and ideas about life which have been paralyzed, spoiled and corrupted by superficial abundance. We are also inspired to reflect on routine and life itself.  

The real-life experience brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic, as Wang’s source of inspiration, becomes the backdrop of the exhibition. The exhibits shine with unusual power and developed texture. The rich aesthetic expression based on profound life experience is tightly connected to his reflection on life, with the key image of oxygen bottles as the real standpoint. Therefore, it fully shows the ideological tension of an artist in an era of crisis.

July 2020