As an artist, Li You is highly sensitive to issues and happenings around him. He neither has the habit nor the mood in hiding his feelings. As for his commentaries, he leaves them all on his sculptures, which he hopes would speak out for the silent majority.

Serve The People, one of his wood works, exemplifies his particular way in stating his view. The work is his explicit tributes to the popular political slogan that can be seen almost everywhere in China and often come in scripts after Chairman Mao. The five Chinese characters “為人民服務” were carved out of wood and painted bright red for obvious reasons but he composed the base these characters rotting away in piles of carved worms.

One other exhibit, “Untitled”, is equally thought provoking. The iron and bronze sculpture is a man in a Mao tunic. Eyes fixed upwards, this seemingly important character greets his guests with his two big nostrils and one wide-open mouth.

Li You was born in Dalian, Liaoning Province in 1965 and graduated from Lushun Academy of Art in 1990.  Li started making sculptures in 1998 and is currently a deputy professor in the International Art Department of  the Dalian Foreign Language Institute.

Items in this exhibition touch on various social issues and will be on display in Art Beatus Gallery from September 8 to 24, 2011.  The exhibition is co-presented by the Dalian Art Exhibition Hall and the Other Shore Arts of Beijing.