Autumn of Tang Dynasty (Tang ren qiu se 唐人秋色),

2008

自2007年开始,我用层层宣纸裱糊残破的模特,待其晒干,在身体上绘制经典传统图像。在我眼里,残破的模特如现代维纳斯;层层裱糊的过程,如“作茧自缚”;从模特上揭下躯壳的过程又像“金蝉脱壳”。作于2008年的《唐人秋色》即是这一时期的代表。我在女性的后背挪用赵雍的《挟弹游骑图》,画面中男子的凝望与女性身体的并置很好玩,暗含着女性与男性的双向凝视。

Since 2007, I’ve been using layers of rice paper to create partial mannequins, then after they dry, I paint classical images on their bodies. The partial figures, missing limbs, and heads resemble modern Venuses, and the layering process is like creating a spun cocoon. The act of peeling the paper off the model is akin to shedding one’s skin. Autumn of Tang Dynasty exemplifies my work from this period. On a female figure’s back, I appropriated a painting by Zhao Yong (1289–ca. 1360)—Carrying a Catapult while on Horseback [now in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing], creating an amusing apposition between the male gaze and the woman’s body, hinting at man and woman’s mutual contemplation.

Peng Wei, artist