臭美系列3 －－ 梁硕在吹牛
“Fucking Beautiful #3″, Liang Shuo’s recent work displayed at the Arario Gallery’s “The Game Is Not Over - Young Chinese Artist Group Exhibition” (游戏没有结束) was a beautiful elegy on all things kitsch and native to China. Its Chinese name, “臭美” translates roughly to something like “self-admiration”, “indulging in vanity”–– the work is a culmination of the artist’s exploration into the world surrounding him, and perhaps a more objective interpretation of “aesthetics” than what we usually see.
Last year, graduates from CAFA’s sculpture department held a rogue exhibition (titled “掉队”) in the art studios by Crab Island (蟹岛). Among the works there, Liang Shuo’s “Shopping at the Temple Fair” (描绘购物) left me giddy, it has proven to be a work in which he honed this vocabulary of bright, flashy and gaudy that appears in “Fucking Beautiful #3″.
Although then still a work in process, “Temple Fair” was clearly a work with roots in rural and folk traditions, as well as an almost encyclopedic examination of the uniqueness of the “made FOR China” market–not only were these objects inexpensive, they were reflective of the dreams, preferences and practicalities of living in rural places. Like the “migrant labor” figurative sculptures that he became well known for from 2000-2004, “Temple Fair” also reflected a consciousness or state of living unique to China.
In “Temple Fair” he displayed 120 objects that had been purchased over two days at a fair in Huaiyang, Henan. The objects were displayed with their price and a brief description of what they were: decorated steamed buns, underpants with pockets, leopard print bicycle-seat covers and a poster of HK star Tong Leung among them.
Here in “Fucking Beautiful #3″ form follows function, I interpret the function of this amalgam of colors, shapes and sounds to be no more than what its name states––”FB #3″ is a gratuitous display of “beauty”, eye-catching gimmicks and aesthetics that fit squarely in the milieu of China’s lower classes, rural and small cities.
Its four main components, a fake mountain, a pool replete with fountains, an advertisement, and the musical soundtrack of Kenny G’s “Going Home”, are rife with gaudery. Beholding “FB #3″ is like a visit to a Chinese open-market, distilled, where the prevailing “clusterfuck aesthetic” exemplified in markets like the Golden Five Star is invoked.
Adorning the “fake mountain” are trophies, fluorescent lights flashing purple and turquoise, mist pours from its orifices, plastic flowers and grass add accents of “natural beauty”, and a framed airbrushed photo of a sports car hangs wistfully on the back.
Fountains of water trickle from plastic washbasins into the pool below, and the sultry gaze of our “product spokesman” gazes out from his superimposed position on an obviously faux mountain scene. Our spokesman is titled with the phrase “Niu Bi-ing” (牛逼-ing) Those familiar with Chinese slang “Niu Bi” meaning literally “fucking rad” or “awesome” (please pardon my translation!) these are the two characters he uses to phonetically sound out “New Being”)
This indulgent, shapeless sculpture/installation truly confront us with a “New Being”, viewers might meet it with a sense of repulsion, but if you’re like me, the draw of this amorphous and egotistical mass will slowly pull you into one of its animated, glittering caverns.
I hope Liang Shuo continues working with this basic, but ubiquitous, vocabulary of objects. Not only is it a new perspective on identity, it is a entertaining experiment in aesthetics for Chinese artists––the result (Kenny G loop notwithstanding) surprisingly beautiful.
Liang Shuo’s blog “notliangshuo”
see earlier works on the artist’s personal webpage
watch a video of Liang Shuo and “Fucking Beautiful #3″ at the opening via ArtSpy
read Jerry’s Saltz’s piece on “Clusterfuck esthetics” on artnet
see more photos of “Fucking Beautiful #3″ below…
Thanks for sharing, we’re glad you like it. I should just give up and take lessons from you
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