Lot 1647: QI ZHILONG

QI ZHILONG
(B. 1962)
Chinese Girl Series
signed in Chinese; dated '2005' (lower right)
oil on canvas
134.5 x 161.5 cm. (53 x 63 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2005

After 1989 the Chinese art scene was hectic with the "Political Pop" movement, represented by the leading artists such as Wang Guangyi, Qi Zhilong and Feng Zhengjie, who contrive, through pop art stylings, to bring a sense of humor, absurdity and irony to the use of commercial symbols and socialist totems of political implications. Qi Zhilong's series of Consumer Icons No. 37 (Lot 1652) is the product of this wave. Qi , reflecting on the origins of the series, commented on "the two most popular images, Mao Zedong and beautiful women, paired side by side ubiquitously in newsstands and bookstores", a phenomenon that evoked his revelation that our daily lives are indeed filled with the absurd entanglemen of idealism and commercialism. Day by day, commercialism vanquishes political ideologies, becoming the new dominating force that determines how people think and perceive beauty. These are the "reality" and "truth" that the post-1989 artists like Qi Zhilong became impressed by and became the theme these artists strived to convey. Qi, therefore, "sought after the direction of modern art through ideology, commercialism and materialization", and condensed into one those fashionable images of beautiful ladies, flowers, and the portraits of Mao Zedong. By portraying the Chairman against blossoming flowers and the,sexy and flirtatious "pinup girl", the solemn political context embedded in the Mao portraits is severed. The kitschy smile and gesture of the girl tell of the way how "everything can be materialized" and "nothing is not a consumer good". Contrasted with the Mao portraits that deliver political ideology, we can find both similarities and differences in them, which are exactly the great disparity and the farcical semblance between idealism and commercialism. This farce coupling, however, is the most direct representation of the cultural landscape of today's reforming China. The Chinese Girls (Lot 1592 & Lot 1647) series is the new project Qi launched after 2000. Here political totems and commercial elements are again juxtaposed; the pinup girl in "Red Guard" military garb transforms the auspicious political collectivism into materialistic smiles that tempt consumption. It symbolizes the transition from idealism to materialism. In his expression and the purposive choice of the female image, there is a gimmickry that never loses its commercial appeal, is not in the least individualistic, and serves to eliminate such subjective concepts of time, history and memory with its deep exploration and reflection of the social context. From its theme to its way of expression, this work holds on to the principle of commercialism, and displays a satiric implication that calls for cogitation.