“Night Revels of Lao Li”
(abbreviated as “Lao Li”) is a contemporary photographic work made by Wang
Qingsong in 2000. It is based on a
Chinese traditional painting named “Night Revels of Han Xizai” (abbreviated as
“Han Xizai”) by Gu Hongzhong (A.D.
910 – 980) in ca. 970. “Lao Li” is
a C type print measuring 960mm x 6000mm.
It is about Lao Li’s one night party. “Han Xizai” is an ink and colour painting on a 287mm x 3355
mm silk hand scroll. It depicts
Han Xizai’s private night party.
“Lao Li” is constructed
photography. “Han Xizai” had a
sophisticated context when created.
Han Xizai was an intellectual politician the Nan Tang Dynasty (A. D.
937-975). Gu Hongzhong, the court painter, was supposedly sent to pry on Han
Xizai's private life instructed by the Emperor Li Yu. There are several
versions of the story. According to one version, Han Xizai had refused Li Yu's
offer to be the prime minister. Worrying about Han Xizai’s intention, Li Yu was
interested to know what was behind Han Xizai’s refusal. Surprisingly the
painter found him indulging in partying.
Han Xizai was not satisfied with the Emperor’s incompetence and
corruption. He preferred to
indulge himself in every day partying rather than joining his contemporaries in
the degenerate court. “Han Xizai”
is actually a product of “painting-journalism” more than one thousand years
ago.
Lao Li is acted in “Lao Li” as “Lao
Li”. Chinese tends to address some
one with the surname and add “Lao” as an honorific. Lao Li is actually Li
Xianting. He is one of the most
influential contemporary art critics especially in the 1980’s and 90’s, when
Chinese contemporary art was emerging.
He organised the most important exhibition “Xingxing Exhibition” and
first used the terms “cynical realism” and “political pop” in China. Wang Qingsong meticulously planned the
photograph and replaced Han Xizai with Li Xianting addressed as “Lao Li”. He commented on his work as follows:
“What has been
haunting in my mind is the position and destiny Chinese intellectuals
experience in our history. In such an era that lacks ideals, people have cast
doubt on the heroes and ideals of the past. I wanted to catch some scenes that
describe such loss of hopes replaced with hoarding desire for money and power.
To compare the past and present, I appropriated the old and known masterpiece
“Night Revel of Han Xizai” which was the best piece of Chinese traditional
figure painting. This old art piece reflected the then social life in the
torrents of transformation, and depicted the life of a worried intellectual and
high official in Post-Tang Dynasty, Han Xizai. He was powerless to fulfil his
ideals of reconstructing the country. To “cleanse” himself, he chose to evade
and “indulge in” comfort. After several centuries, even though the Chinese
dynasties have changed frequently, the status of intellectuals in society has
remained the same. With some thoughts on this question, I created “Night Revel
of Lao Li”. It is a portrait of contemporary Chinese reality in this new
century, portraying the situation of contemporary Chinese people, and of
intellectuals in particular”. (Wang, 2000)
Within the last three decades,
contemporary art developed significantly in China. Photography as an avant-garde medium is of no
exception. “Lao Li” is one of the
milestones of China’s contemporary photographic art. It is the epitome of photography as a mature art form. In this dissertation, I will to use
“Lao Li” as an example to de-construct China’s contemporary photographic art
context by discussing China’s historical heritage, contemporary social,
cultural, and political background, and some visual cultural theories
underneath this work. A proposed
structure of the dissertation is as follows.
Chapter 1 Introduction
(1000 words)
Chapter 2 Historical & Cultural Context (2500 words)
Chapter 3 Image Analysis
(1500 words)
Chapter 4 Theoretical Analysis
(3000 words)
Chapter 5 Conclusion
(1500 words)
The Introduction gives a general
outline of the issues and theories to be discussed. It presents the structure of the dissertation and my
findings as a summary.
As most of the readers are from
western culture, as in this proposal will explain the historical background to
lay essential foundations in order to understand the art works.
In Chapter 2, I will elaborate in
even more detail. I will not only
explain social, cultural and historical milieu, but I will also discuss the
medium specificity of Chinese painting.
Medium specificity decides the visual language. At least more than 2300 years ago,
(Zheng, 2005, p.29) Chinese art useed silk to paint and preserve images. This tradition still has a strong
impact in China’s contemporary art including photography. In this chapter, a
short history of China’s contemporary art will also be laid out to help explain
Wang Qingsong’s artistic development.
Chapter 3 will focus on a
comparison of the image scenes and narratives between the two works. It will explain how the narrative is
built from this long hand scroll visual format. It will explore how Wang Qingsong constructed the new
version of “Han Xizai” and how contemporary elements and signifiers are created
with the historical visual reference.
Chapter 4 will set out some of
contemporary visual culture theories and analyse both images within these
theoretical frameworks. In Section
1 will discuss these with reference to Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1934) Craig Owens’s “The Allegorical
Impulse” (1980), and Rosalind Krauss’s “The Originality of the Avant-Garde and
Other Modernist Myths” (1985). Section 2 will focus on gaze and voyeurism
drawing reference from Laura Mulvey’s “Visual and Other Pleasures” (1989) and
other works from Christian Metz, Freud and Lacan. Section 3 will discuss aspects of social identity aspects
within our current globalisation context.
While summarising the key foundings
of the analysis of “Lao Li” in the last chapter, I will compare “Lao Li” with
Jeff Wall’s “Picture for Woman” (1979).
I will argue that “Lao Li” in China contemporary photography is like
“Picture for Woman” in western contemporary photography. In addition to this east and western
comparison analysis, There had been dozens of artists painted and appropriated
the original “Han Xizai” in the last more than 1000 years. I will discuss these
dozens of artworks to find some reflections for future China contemporary art
development after “Lao Li”
Bibliography
Gao, Minglu (1998) Inside Out: New Chinese Art. Berkeley: University of California Press
Lutgens, Annelie and Smith, Karen.
(2005) The Chinese: Photography and Video from China.
Ostifildern: Hatje Cantz Publishers
Gu, Zheng (2011) Contemporary Chinese Photography.
Beijing: CYPI Press
Mulvey, Laura (1989) Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press
Owens, Craig, (1980) “The Allegorical Impulse: Toward a Theory of
Postmodernism.” (1992) in Scott Bryson, Barbara Kruger,Lynne Tillman,and Jane
Weinstock eds., Beyond Recognition: Representation, Power, and Culture. Berkeley : University of California
Press.
Philips, Christopher (2004) ed.
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, New York: ICP
Sullivan, Michael (1977) The Arts of China. Berkeley: University of California Press
Wang, Peggy (2010) Contemporary
Chinese Art: Primary Documents. Durham:
Duke University Press
Wang, Qingsong (2000) Available at
Accessed: 03/03/2012.
Wu, Hung (1997) The Double
Screen: Medium and Representation in Chinese Painting. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Wu, Hung (2009) Wu Hung on
Contemporary Chinese Artists. HongKong:
Timezone 8
Wu, Hung (2007) Making History:
Wu Hung on Contemporary Chinese Art and Art Exhibition. HongKong: Timezone 8
Zheng, Wei (2005) China Art History. Beijing: Beijing Publishing Group (In Chinese)
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