In June Guo Jian returns from China to exhibit his first solo exhibition at Arc One Gallery.
Known for his satirical commentary on his experience in the People's Liberation Army, in China, Guo Jian 's paintings have gravitated into a more harmonious and balanced space. 'I feel my works have changed, not only politically but also in a social way as well.'
Born in China in 1963, Guo Jian's references raise potent questions surrounding propaganda, control and cultural identity. The idea of being watched is integral to Guo Jian paintings. Each subject captivates their audience by seduction, foreplay and manipulation, just as the world he once knew may have ravished his ideologies.
Soldiers captivated by female characters being transcended to a higher platform through dance, is the common thread stiched to each artwork. The female dancer appears to to be the soldiers only savour and release, triggering a sense of false happiness in a censored, uniformed and faceless society.
Guo Jian may embellish the communist ideal at first glance, but his paintings communicate and raise a more fundamental universal concern surrounding government manipulation and controlled censorship. Each artwork is fundamentally an exploration of the self; Guo Jian provokes you to question the difference between the illusion of reality and fantasy. This series essentially celebrates life, the perpetual search for happiness and the need to establish an ideal, distinct from the idea of illusion.
Guo Jian has carved a strong International reputation. Participating in numerous Award exhibitions, including the Sulman Prize, and The Australian Drawing Biennale at the Drill Hall in Canberra. In 2001 Guo Jian had a major solo exhibition at Heide Museum of Art.
'Jian's art begins with searches for images of people and objects that could be included in the next series. Then he sketches draft compositions on rough sheets of paper, using charcoal pencils and black ball-points. To change these arrangements, he cuts figures out and tapes them into new configurations. When satisfied, he pencils these onto canvas at full scale and begins painting with quick and slow drying oils over three pale base coats. Critics identify this former Beijing soldier, student and dauber of propaganda posters as one of the coterie of post-Tiananmen expatriates who are galvanising a major art world movement of the early 21st Century: the renaissance of Chinese sexuality.' Extract from Davina Jackson, 'The Satiric Satyr', Pol Oxygen , 02-03
|
