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Chen Wenling and
His Sculptures
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Art
is a common language shared with no geographical limit. I
love sculpture and would like to share with everybody in the
world who love sculpture too. ---Chen Wenling
Chen Wenling
and his "Red Boys |
Chen Wenling with his model of the red boy |
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| Mr.
Chen Wenling is a famous young sculptor working in Xiamen,
Fujian Province of China. His works the Red Boys are
a series of boys portrayed in scarlet. Red is the color
in fashion in the year 2002. From the Red Devil Cheer
Team in South Korea to the unusual red uniforms of the
European football teams, and to the various red symbols
in China, it seems that red is everywhere. The red color
in vogue makes the Red Boys natural in their use of
color. Throughout Chinese history, Red has been the
symbolic and auspicious color in Southern China. In
real world, the bodies in red change the works realistic
tendency, and stress their unrealistic aspects, which
express the sculptor’s negation of the pursuit
of money and power, tension, anxiety, fear and cruelty
in the adult world. They also convey people common wishes,
the nostalgia of their innocent childhood and a questioning
of Chinese culture. |
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The
Red Boys are innocent and not evil, healthy and not
sick. It is well known that the visual arts of late
twentieth century, whether in art, movie and three-dimension
cartoon pictures of computer games, are full of violence
and self-doubt and pity. Chen’s Red Boys look
like a lotus growing out of mud, satisfying viewers’
craving for a new trend of avant-garde art, i.e. to
make art a vehicle of the construction of human nature
rather than the weapon of criticism of human nature.
His works attracted outsiders, insiders, academics and
avant-garde critics alike to appreciate them from their
own perspectives. |
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Chen’s
series work of the Red Boys, entitled the Red Memory,
which have various meanings for different modern art
viewers. They may be reminded of a newly-born baby (red
boy) which symbolizes the innocence of human heart in
classical culture, without a feeling of ordinariness.
They may relate the works to the Red Boy of one of the
four Chinese great novels the Money King, without a
feeling of an evil spirit. They may be reminded of the
Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, without a
feeling of cruelty. They may be reminded of the war
fires in the past in this strategically important city
of Xiamen, without any feeling of fear. Those who know
Chen may link the Red Boys with one of his unusual experience.
In 1996, there was an astonishing report on newspaper
of the Xiamen Daily, entitled Rare and Courageous Self-Defense.
It was reported that a couple of a young man and a young
woman were robbed at the beach. The man courageously
defended himself and the woman, and was stabbed dozen
of times. Two main arteries of his both wrists were
cut open. His body was soaked with blood. It was the
bloodiest case in the local criminal history. The article
described the heroic actions of the young man in detail
and the hero was no other than Mr. Chen Wenling, who
luckily survived the attack. Despite of this, Chen shows
no trace of hatred in his Red Memory. |
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| Pig Vs. Horse |
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Chen
Wenling is an artist of secularism, and at the same
time he used a humorous and exaggerative way to show
the themes of his works.
Pig is a signature of Chen
Wenling, and at the same time pig is a special animal
for Chinese people. No people in any other countries
are so close to pigs, pig, in fact, is China herself.
Especially in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, “pig
culture” are very popular. As a man born and live
in Fujian, Chen Wenling use pig as the first signature
of himself is an interesting thing.
Horse, in Chinese cultural
dictionary is a western word. From the recent works
of Chen Wenling, we could see some traces that he learn
form western world.
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Modern
art emphasizes the concepts in a piece of work. It often
creates a style of too many concepts, making viewers
tired. In contrast, Chen’s works are simple and
true. He does not deliberately create concepts. The
naked bodies have nothing to disguise themselves. What
left is a direct communication with the nature and a
direct conversation between the society and the people.
The facial and body expressions of the Red Boys are
properly exaggerated to enhance the communicative effects.
This series of works is a relief of too many concepts.
It can also be viewed that there is a concept in the
works to curtail the burden of concepts. |
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