Wenda Gu:
Art from Middle Kingdom to Biological
Millennium
by Mark
H.C. Bessire, Editor
Cambridge, MA , The MIT Press, 2003
230 pp., illus. 75 b/w, 50 col. Trade,
$25.00
ISBN: 0-262-02552-3.
Reviewed by Rob Harle
Australia
recluse@lis.net.au
The problem with book reviews is that
we are constrained by the meaning of words!
There are many things in this world that
words fail to adequately describe, and
Wenda Gus art is one of them. Interestingly,
much of Gus work consists of Chinese-like
ideograms that are pseudo-ideograms deliberately
created to transcend the traditional content
of Chinese "words". As Gu says,
"I felt such freedom, leaving behind
the content of words" (p. 145). Having
only words at my disposal, Ill
do my best to give the reader a feel for
this magnificent book.
The book is wonderful just to glance through,
but it is much more than a coffee table
presentation. It documents much of Gus
work, both through serious academic discussion
and lavish colour photographs. It also
includes an insightful interview with
this most complex, unique artist by David
CateforisProfessor of Art History
at the University of Kansas.
Gu was born in Shanghai and now lives
and works in Brooklyn, with studios in
Shanghai and Xian. In the Orient
he is Gu Wenda in the west Wenda Gu, this
naming convention in a sense sums up Gus
work. He is constantly striving to juxtapose
Eastern and Western symbols, not in a
unifying sense but in transcendent third
position. "Globalism has intensified
ethnic difference on a local level while
increasing ethnic unity on a global level.
This environment . . . is referred to
as "transculturalism" by Gu,
whose work tends to parody the role of
cultural colonialist from a suspended
cultural position as a citizen of a diasporan
world" (p. 12).
Gu, like David Suzuki and Isamu Noguchi,
constantly deals with this "transculturalism",
both on a personal and professional level.
Gu has not only to consider minor changes
in conventions such as with names but
with fundamental ideological differences
on the most profound levels. Not that
long ago Gu, born in 1955, was painting
large propaganda posters of Mao for the
Red Guard in a totalitarian communist
state. Now he is a leading avant-garde
artist in the most capitalistic society
on Earth. The materials he has used in
his art in the past, including menstrual
blood and placenta powder, are challenging
to say the least in either culture. He
now uses human hair as his main medium
and is sometimes known as "the hair
artist".
Gu collects human hair from many countries
around the world, donated by over a million
people so far. He then weaves it, compresses
it into bricks, presses it into glue to
make translucent hanging panels, and uses
it arbitrarily in his massive installations.
Most of Gus work is monumental.
His ongoing project "united nations"
contains hair woven into a braid 5000
metres long. The different hair colours,
their origin, and the different locations
of the "work" all point to Gus
notion of "transculturalism".
It also works as a metaphor for "the
mixture of races that he [Gu] predicts
will eventually unite humanity in a brave
new racial identity" (p. 12).
Large ink on paper calligraphic or ideogram
style painting is usually combined with
the hair components in his work. "United
7561 kilometres" is a new piece in
the exhibition, "Wenda Gu: from middle
kingdom to biological millennium"
and is the twentieth installation of his
"united nations" series, which
incidentally he began in 1993. This book
is an accompaniment to this travelling
exhibition.
The books rather enigmatic subtitle
refers to Gus perception of the
traditional Chinese Middle Kingdom (Chou
empire, circa 1000BC) and the new millennium
of the biological era. The human body
materials he uses represents, this era,
and the calligraphic paintings, the former.
As mentioned, this book has an interview
with Gu together with essays by leading
Chinese academics, a fascinating exhibition
history and bibliography, and an academic
essay by Gu himself. This artists
vision is as grand and monumental as his
creations; it most certainly could not
be contained nor circumscribed by one
culture or country.
The greatness of this artist and his work
can only be hinted at in words. The best
I can hope for with this review is that
it encourages readers to buy this book
and also to seek out Gus exhibitions
to experience "in the flesh".