PRINTCatalogue Note:
MONA LISA
SHI XINNING
Throughout the development of Chinese and Western art history, masters have been known to recreate, reanalyze and subvert masterpieces to such an extent that their works become indivisible parts of the comprehensive cultural heritage. Examples include Marcel Duchamp’s mustached Mona Lisa and Edouard Manet’s incorporation of characters from Greek mythology into his work. In contemporary Chinese art, classics from art history and iconic images from films, newsreels, photography and advertisements are employed in ways that gradually elevate these images of profound influence, whether as representations of cultural value, symbols of the era, or simply serendipitous outcomes of history, into people’s collective memory and into classics with timeless universal value. The paintings of Shi Xinning may be divided into two categories in terms of subject matter. In the first category are reproductions of Western classical oil paintings that include replacements of the original graphic composition with elements that engender contemporary meaning, achieving a sense of incoherence in the image that yet affords the viewer a balanced visual effect in the midst of incongruity. The artistic language of painting adequately and accurately expresses this quality unique to contemporary China – an image of superficial harmony that conceals unspeakable, indescribable conflicts and struggles. The second category is the usage of old pictures from documentary media out of which an individual figure is plucked and replaced by the portrait of Chairman Mao, thereby creating historical implication beneath a surface of comical humor that speaks volumes to those who are enlightened.
Shi Xinning was born in Yingkou, Liaoning in 1969 and graduated from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. Shi Xinning duplicates past history and creates new history time and time again by conducting the replacements, absorption and reinterpretation of classic images, a creative concept that has persisted throughout his career. His works clearly retain partial traits of the original but are completely transfigured into images of his subjective creation. What he achieves is not a reproduction or copy in the ordinary sense, but a reexamination of historical aspects by recreating on his canvas of image data from classic historical scenes, which is much more than mere transplantation, tampering or replacement. In the grand scheme of history, classics are thus accrued and become historical texts that occupy a place of distinction in the great traditions throughout the generations. Most of Shi Xinning's works are inspired by and created from significant moments in Chinese and Western history. This contrast between image and consciousness is precisely the deliberate work of modern Chinese artists. According to Shi Xinning, he enjoys discovering the contradictions in seeming harmony and trying to control them, because he finds the absurd to be sometimes more powerful, even more harmonious than the original. He believes that his era is one of a unique sensitivity and capability, which is to say that he hopes contemporary China to be an era of his generation, one his contemporaries may participate in creating. Thus, the paintings of Shi Xinning serve as an existential testament for this age.
Shi Xinning's paintings are endowed with a level of absurdity and contemporaneity that inspire nostalgic sentiments of youth and sensibility in the 1970s generation, whose self-image and affective characteristics have only begun to take shape. Important concepts on Mao Zedong are, in terms of time, much more distanced from younger artists like Shi Xinning, to whom memories may have faded but cognition is still very much alive. The image of Mao Zedong as a social-historical legacy and its numerous forms of portrayal is an intriguing social phenomenon. From the perspective of visual art, he has used the language and symbols of paintings to recreate the classics, restored and renovated traditional models and styles, eliminated the possibility of the classic linear development, questioned the single narrative approach, and achieved a formula for absurdity utilizing the contemporaneity of the original subject. The simple black and white images are like a series of historical photos, yet through his deliberate rearrangements and misplaced figures, people from different historical backgrounds are placed within the same image, thus generating a certain level of realism but at the same time achieving excessive contradiction and absurdity. While the visual effects are powerful and shocking, they also possess amusing insights.
In this piece, the methods employed include the dissolution, displacement and transformation of classic images that invoke satire and absurdity, subverting the sanctity of the original classics. It is Shi’s analysis and description of the image of a glorious era through the lens of his personal experience. His work stands out from among the multitudes of Mao Zedong inspired creations as a result of his will and disposition. Mao Zedong is an element and symbol that artists are enthralled by and draw frequent inspiration from. The different backgrounds Shi employs to portray his images of Mao Zedong are highly allegorical, such as this simple composition of Mona Lisa, a renowned portrait masterpiece. It represents the epitome of da Vinci’s artistic achievements by for its successful portrayal of a middle-class, urban woman in an era that saw the rise of capitalism. By substituting the classic household portrait of Chairman Mao onto the Western classic of Mona Lisa, the artist is embedding the modern Chinese cultural symbol Chairman Mao into the traditions of Western culture. The image is an omnipresent Chinese symbol in all corners of the country while long periods of isolationism has kept China at a distance far removed from the Euro-centric world. This piece is therefore an apt demonstration of how modern Chinese artist Shi Xinning is humorously exploiting this very image to reconstruct important moments in history for his fellow Chinese.
Shi Xinning's paintings have long surpassed the traditional cultural-social critical standards of faking the truth till the truth becomes fake, holding on to nothing till everything becomes nothing, and have earned him the right to take part in contemporary public dialogue. His experiments are the defamiliarization of familiar images that allow him to control the viewers' expectations, enabling these viewers to experience the surprise produced by new images and new perspectives as well as the sense of freedom after their disposal of long-standing arbitrary rules. Many people would, therefore, gaze upon Shi Xinning's paintings and experience a sort of historical image déjà-vu, some of which are even renowned works of photography. The viewer is aware upon first inspection of Shi Xinning's work that the text he is about to peruse is no longer one of visual imaging art history in the historical sense but a history that has been cosmetically altered. These are visual texts have been carved and imprinted with his personal creative marks, while this type of work conveys an understanding and sensibility toward the traditional classics. Images are reconstituted out of traditional and historical aesthetics and given new form to commemorate the thoughts and sentiments of the past while generating strong visual impact. The genre remains a celebration of the past, exemplifies the sense of loss in affective memories of past worlds so often found in Chinese poetry, and serves as a tribute to and nostalgia for history.
SHI XINNING
Throughout the development of Chinese and Western art history, masters have been known to recreate, reanalyze and subvert masterpieces to such an extent that their works become indivisible parts of the comprehensive cultural heritage. Examples include Marcel Duchamp’s mustached Mona Lisa and Edouard Manet’s incorporation of characters from Greek mythology into his work. In contemporary Chinese art, classics from art history and iconic images from films, newsreels, photography and advertisements are employed in ways that gradually elevate these images of profound influence, whether as representations of cultural value, symbols of the era, or simply serendipitous outcomes of history, into people’s collective memory and into classics with timeless universal value. The paintings of Shi Xinning may be divided into two categories in terms of subject matter. In the first category are reproductions of Western classical oil paintings that include replacements of the original graphic composition with elements that engender contemporary meaning, achieving a sense of incoherence in the image that yet affords the viewer a balanced visual effect in the midst of incongruity. The artistic language of painting adequately and accurately expresses this quality unique to contemporary China – an image of superficial harmony that conceals unspeakable, indescribable conflicts and struggles. The second category is the usage of old pictures from documentary media out of which an individual figure is plucked and replaced by the portrait of Chairman Mao, thereby creating historical implication beneath a surface of comical humor that speaks volumes to those who are enlightened.
Shi Xinning was born in Yingkou, Liaoning in 1969 and graduated from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. Shi Xinning duplicates past history and creates new history time and time again by conducting the replacements, absorption and reinterpretation of classic images, a creative concept that has persisted throughout his career. His works clearly retain partial traits of the original but are completely transfigured into images of his subjective creation. What he achieves is not a reproduction or copy in the ordinary sense, but a reexamination of historical aspects by recreating on his canvas of image data from classic historical scenes, which is much more than mere transplantation, tampering or replacement. In the grand scheme of history, classics are thus accrued and become historical texts that occupy a place of distinction in the great traditions throughout the generations. Most of Shi Xinning's works are inspired by and created from significant moments in Chinese and Western history. This contrast between image and consciousness is precisely the deliberate work of modern Chinese artists. According to Shi Xinning, he enjoys discovering the contradictions in seeming harmony and trying to control them, because he finds the absurd to be sometimes more powerful, even more harmonious than the original. He believes that his era is one of a unique sensitivity and capability, which is to say that he hopes contemporary China to be an era of his generation, one his contemporaries may participate in creating. Thus, the paintings of Shi Xinning serve as an existential testament for this age.
Shi Xinning's paintings are endowed with a level of absurdity and contemporaneity that inspire nostalgic sentiments of youth and sensibility in the 1970s generation, whose self-image and affective characteristics have only begun to take shape. Important concepts on Mao Zedong are, in terms of time, much more distanced from younger artists like Shi Xinning, to whom memories may have faded but cognition is still very much alive. The image of Mao Zedong as a social-historical legacy and its numerous forms of portrayal is an intriguing social phenomenon. From the perspective of visual art, he has used the language and symbols of paintings to recreate the classics, restored and renovated traditional models and styles, eliminated the possibility of the classic linear development, questioned the single narrative approach, and achieved a formula for absurdity utilizing the contemporaneity of the original subject. The simple black and white images are like a series of historical photos, yet through his deliberate rearrangements and misplaced figures, people from different historical backgrounds are placed within the same image, thus generating a certain level of realism but at the same time achieving excessive contradiction and absurdity. While the visual effects are powerful and shocking, they also possess amusing insights.
In this piece, the methods employed include the dissolution, displacement and transformation of classic images that invoke satire and absurdity, subverting the sanctity of the original classics. It is Shi’s analysis and description of the image of a glorious era through the lens of his personal experience. His work stands out from among the multitudes of Mao Zedong inspired creations as a result of his will and disposition. Mao Zedong is an element and symbol that artists are enthralled by and draw frequent inspiration from. The different backgrounds Shi employs to portray his images of Mao Zedong are highly allegorical, such as this simple composition of Mona Lisa, a renowned portrait masterpiece. It represents the epitome of da Vinci’s artistic achievements by for its successful portrayal of a middle-class, urban woman in an era that saw the rise of capitalism. By substituting the classic household portrait of Chairman Mao onto the Western classic of Mona Lisa, the artist is embedding the modern Chinese cultural symbol Chairman Mao into the traditions of Western culture. The image is an omnipresent Chinese symbol in all corners of the country while long periods of isolationism has kept China at a distance far removed from the Euro-centric world. This piece is therefore an apt demonstration of how modern Chinese artist Shi Xinning is humorously exploiting this very image to reconstruct important moments in history for his fellow Chinese.
Shi Xinning's paintings have long surpassed the traditional cultural-social critical standards of faking the truth till the truth becomes fake, holding on to nothing till everything becomes nothing, and have earned him the right to take part in contemporary public dialogue. His experiments are the defamiliarization of familiar images that allow him to control the viewers' expectations, enabling these viewers to experience the surprise produced by new images and new perspectives as well as the sense of freedom after their disposal of long-standing arbitrary rules. Many people would, therefore, gaze upon Shi Xinning's paintings and experience a sort of historical image déjà-vu, some of which are even renowned works of photography. The viewer is aware upon first inspection of Shi Xinning's work that the text he is about to peruse is no longer one of visual imaging art history in the historical sense but a history that has been cosmetically altered. These are visual texts have been carved and imprinted with his personal creative marks, while this type of work conveys an understanding and sensibility toward the traditional classics. Images are reconstituted out of traditional and historical aesthetics and given new form to commemorate the thoughts and sentiments of the past while generating strong visual impact. The genre remains a celebration of the past, exemplifies the sense of loss in affective memories of past worlds so often found in Chinese poetry, and serves as a tribute to and nostalgia for history.