Death, Sacrifice And Monumentality: Study Of The Cultural Materials In The Work Of Chen Zhen, Gu Wenda And Huang Yong Ping

From the very end of the 1970s up to now,Chinese artists have explored new media,genres and creative processes.In the course of this historical shift,one particular trend can be identified towards the end of the 1980s:the pervasive presence of the theme of death in the work of a young generation of artists,born in the 1950s.Indeed,the reference to symbols of death,funerary arts along with other related topics became increasingly conspicuous in the work of several avant-garde artists.Chen Zhen(1955-2000),Gu Wenda(1955-)and Huang Yong Ping(1954-)were key artists in the generation in question.This pervasive presence of the theme of death crystallised towards the very end of the 1980s,when these three artists started to create installations in the shape of tombs,coffins and steles,while using controversial materials,such as blood,hair and discarded objects.In certain cases,their art was even seen to revive divinatory and sacrificial rituals,adding a performative dimension to their work.By exploring the cultural significance of funerary culture,these three Chinese artists seem to enquire about the civilisational singularities towards death.Thus,the concept of death and its various cultural and philosophical resonances give them a valuable prism to engage a fruitful dialogue between the Eastern and the Western worlds about a wide range of contemporary issues such as geopolitics,ecology and bio-ethics,as well as a set of theoretical questions about the essence of art,if any,and the social role and status of artists.Furthermore,far from narrowing their scope,this reference to Chinese traditional culture enables them to adopt culturally hybrid approaches in their work.Eventually,it helps them to formulate their personal contribution to Art History:a universal heritage with Chinese characteristics.Our ambition is to study the different steps and factors of this artistic epiphany from a multidisciplinary perspective,encompassing Cultural Anthropology,Sociology,Semiotics and Art History.We have focussed our analysis on the first two decades of their career,from 1980 to 2000 approximately.