About “Recounting of Skin”
Feng Zhengjie
There is no doubt that art is the consequence of the interactions between the individual artist and the social reality, cultural environment and existence status in his times, no matter whether he is entangled with the past social and cultural complexions, or indulged in the direct descriptions of the on-going reality, or focused on the forecasts and pre configurations of the hidden social and cultural issues based on his keen insight. Artists, based on their individual sensitivities and understandings, associates themselves with the times in a unique way of art presentations, thus to establish their value and spiritual directions in the art.
The social reality and cultural environment in today’s China is very complex and unique. With the further development of the reforms and opening up policies, China, as a nation with a civilization of thousands of years and long term blockage from the outside world, is experiencing profound and tremendous changes. It is austere challenge no matter in the longitudinal development or in the transverse collision and communications. The chances and difficulties as well as development and crisis accrete. On one hand, the west society has shown us a bewildered blueprint with its advanced economy and prosperous scenes; on the other hand, the highly materialized society has brought forward many social problems and spiritual crisis. What does further emancipation mean to us? Will there be the Eden? The old paradox is just the dilemma of the open china and its reality. The satellites, movies, telephones, nuclear powers, computers, expressways, cars, aircrafts, trains, skyscrapers, neon lights; erotic videos, pornographies, toilet culture, prostitutes, illiterates, cheap labors; existence crisis, senses of isolation, boredom, tension, environmental pollution, diseases, crimes, people’s indifference, lost of beliefs, decline of moral values…all of such has composed modern China’s natural, social and cultural scenes with complexities, coexistence of the good and the bad.
If the fashion art in the 80s was a cultural campaign in which west modern cultures were introduced to confront with the Chinese traditional culture, then the artists in the 90s should introspect the social and cultural reality and hidden problems brought by the campaign and further develop the useful in both cultures in order to better support society and our people. That is the question I am trying to answer in my recent art explorations
Skins as part of the compositions of life itself fully cover the human body as the only intermediate of reactions between life and the external world. Apparently the narration of skins is nothing but the narration of skins will probably superficial, however it must originate from the profound relationship between the internal life and the outside world. “Narration of skins” just took such a cut-in point to show concerns on the living status and existence situations of the modern society and modern people and to convey the feelings and understandings of myself in a way of visual art.
Obviously , skins possess not only the physical meanings but the symbolized meanings presented in the visual art. Physically, pathological changes in skins indicate various actual factors as environmental pollutions, disorders of the nature, casual sex deluge; visually, skins can also be interpreted as the contradictions and conflicts between life and culture, reality and dream, spiritual confusions, moral decline and other internal factors. All these show serious problems and profound crisis behind the social reality and cultural environment.
Recounting of skins uses comprehensive means, such as images of seductive girls, classical art images, pathological changes of skins, and flamboyant colors, to strengthen the effect of tensions. The works shows no only the wake of ethic and dreams, tensions and anxiety of the reality, but also the forecast and criticism of the hidden problems and spiritual crisis of the modern society and culture.
Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, June 1995
