The power of simpleness and steadfastness is the truth which most people fear to express or are unable to recognize. Largely, this is the specific quality of Feng Yan's photographic works that stirs our minds.
In his 2011 new series “The Monuments”, Feng Yan uses the form of ”human portrait” to sculpt objects from a particular era. Adopting a more “specialized” and transcendent stance from the past, Feng continues the threads of related themes starting from his “Rockery” and "The Power” series: beginning with the motif of “public and privacy”, “symbols of power” and the current theme of “politically stigmatized or aestheticized memories” . These objects situated in peoples shared memories and became “public furniture”; they are items from the last century that include black leather stool, Mao style sofa, electronic fan, bookcase, cloth hanger and iron file cabinet…
Feng said: “Most of these objects came from flea markets and government units. Like a human face that bears emotions, these objects also carry the memories of a whole generation.” Shot with a single background, In these portraits, Feng endued these objects with such emphases that equate their human counterparts. Similar to typical shots of criminal, Feng took shots of the front, side, profile and back views of an iron file cabinet. How many people’s histories and memories were locked inside a closed iron file cabinet? Now, the cabinet has become an object of interrogation in the artist eyes. Through it, the artist questions: Who establish a person’s dossier and determine its meaning? And who would actually select our memories on our behalf whether they are the same or not?
Obviously, Feng Yan’s “Monuments” is not a nostalgia. The artist expresses his or his generation’s doubts of the emotions that exist within memories, and simultaneously, declares a certain degree of acceptance. Continuing the minimalism and the abstactness of his “Psychedelic Bamboo” and “Red Calligraphy” series, Feng raised the black stool from the ground and in the spirit of Chinese calligraphy, it strikes as a firm stroke hitting the center. The “Black Stool” was once part of the seating in a museum, seated by innumerous people. Seemingly, this was a short process, but the artist gave it a monumental image.
August, 2011 |
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