Upon first sight of Jianguo Sui’s ‘Mao Suit’ exhibition, I was struck by
the visual power it possesses. One cannot ignore these solid, oversized suits
and the vast contrast they strike with the surrounding naturalistic atmosphere.
It is almost impossible to not build a mental catalogue of semiotic conclusions
relating to this display.
Do the solid, hard shouldered; over-sized suits bare a representation of
the Artist’s personal experiences of Communism in China? Does this combined
with the void where a head should be, represent a sign of impersonality;
everybody wearing the same; standing the same, in the same direction etc. Does
this become a comment on a driving force that eliminates character?
The image is extremely powerful; I feel its considerable level of
ambiguity infinitely increases this impact. We don’t know what the exact
message is, which leaves us pondering every possibility, however sinister it
may be.
No comments:
Post a Comment