From a geological perspective, the events of May 12th 2008 reflected tectonic stresses resulting from the movement of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau against the Sichuan Basin. The human reality of this was the literal and metaphorical fragmentation of the world for hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. Liao Zhenwu’s heartfelt response to the tragedy can be seen in the solo museum exhibition MONUMENT curated by Michelle Yun. Comprised of over thirty works in a variety of media, MONUMENT is a manifestation of the two-year burst of cathartic creativity that the artist experienced immediately following the Wenchuan earthquake. This exhibition, Making of a MONUMENT, is an exploration into how the key works and ideas of MONUMENT originated, an examination of the working process, and a tracing of the development from catastrophe to enduring memorial.
Although it’s difficult for anybody to remain unmoved by the nature and scale of such a tragedy, the fact that Liao Zhenwu’s origins are from a town in the Sichuan countryside, appears to have provoked a sharper sense of empathy within him. None of his family or close friends were among the deceased, yet the manner in which he has related to the earthquake victims has rendered his works, particularly those made in the period immediately after the quake, resonate with a raw emotional charge.
As a result of the earthquake all of the highways in the surrounding area were damaged, delaying the arrival of soldiers and rescue workers in the places where they were needed most urgently. Persistently heavy rain, landslides, and aftershocks further affected the already perilous conditions. Within weeks of the quake, after following the emotional scenes unfold from afar on the television and Internet, Liao embarked on what would be the first of four journeys to the region. Access to the worst-hit areas had been restricted and the public was not permitted to gain entry. Finding a way around the roadblocks, Liao was to encounter a scene that would leave an indelible imprint on both his life and work. This first-hand experience of the devastation has imbued the works of MONUMENT with a discomfiting veracity and insight.
The trips to the affected area and in particular the photographs Liao took whilst there constitute the structural scaffold of MONUMENT. Combined with a selection of images obtained from the Internet, the photographs exhibited herein are the visual building blocks with which the artist composed the two large-scale mural paintings The Pain of Three Oceans and Exodus (both 2008-2010).
Looking at the photographs alongside his preparatory materials and his watercolors and sketches, we start to see how the same images reappear and intertwine, often assuming slightly different forms as they evolve over time. For example, we have an image of a rescue worker taken from the Internet, rendered first in a watercolor painting (Watercolor 16, 2009) and then surfacing again in the full-size version of Exodus (2008-2010) albeit with the soldier depicted as a civilian (image 1, below). This organic development of appropriation and adaption is evident throughout the figures and landscape features of the two large compositions. Each of these murals is composed of upwards of ten separate images, reworked and then seamlessly knitted together to create a sweeping vista of devastation that engulfs the viewer. The collated Preparatory Materials (2008) provide a revealing insight into how these images gradually came together around a central image to form the main composition. The Pain of Three Oceans for example, is anchored on the iconic image of a view over the devastated town of Beichuan from behind a statue of three goats (Untitled, 2008, image 2). Exodus is based upon a panorama of the town and its surrounding valley taken from an elevated position (Untitled, 2008, image 3). Both of these central photographs are subsequently supplemented with ideas and images from other sources. A rough developmental lineage can be traced from the photographs, via his watercolors, pencil sketches, and mid-size preparatory studies (images 4 and 5) before finally arriving at the giant murals. A mutable dialogue exists between each successive stage, as ideas are nurtured or discarded in light of the specific physical qualities of the medium or the desired artistic effect.
The works and materials in this exhibition have been arranged to help highlight this cross-medium growth and progression, while still allowing each work to breathe individually and the viewer to draw his or her own conclusions freely.
The photograph Untitled, (2008, image 6), provides us with the starting point. Behind the striking ruins of a half-destroyed building, we can see a public clock reading 2:28 pm, frozen in perpetuity at the terrible moment the earthquake struck. Although the clock doesn’t feature in any of the final works, (but if you look closely you can see it in the right hand side of the two preparatory sketches for Exodus) it remains a potent reminder of exactly when it all started.
Belying the overt emotional content and very loose nature of his painting style, every aspect of the large compositions was carefully considered; from the use of a strict grisaille palette to convey the somberness of the event, to the 5×12m measurements in memorial of the date of the tragedy, 5.12. It is worth noting here also that the title of the piece, The Pain of Three Oceans, comes from Liao’s intention to extend what is a very specific event and its corresponding grief, to the universal nature of human tragedy, regardless of time, race, or belief system. In Chinese, the abbreviated word for goat (羊) is a homonym with the word for ocean (洋) and so by switching the Chinese characters, the pain witnessed by the three goats is transcribed to the pain witnessed throughout the world and its three main oceans (the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific).
At the centre of the exhibition is a smaller installation variant of the 170cm diameter Monument (2008-2010) bronze sculpture featured in the MONUMENT exhibition. Steadily spinning on its axis atop a soft shroud of fog, the slow, consistent revolution evokes the movement of our own planet, emphasizing the idea that the world continues to turn in spite of whatever hardship and loss we may endure. Although not a preparatory study as such, this smaller sculpture is a precursor to the larger one and, like the paintings, has undergone a number of designs and manifestations. The earliest of these is a digital collage completed shortly after the earthquake which is the first time Liao’s idea of depicting people trapped inside a globe attained a visual form. When viewed alongside the Preparatory Sketches for Monument (2008, images 7 & 8) we can see how the final tangled mass of arms, heads and earth took shape before being sculpted into its three dimensional form.
The dog-eared, paint-spattered preparatory photographs and printouts are shown in use by the artist in the short accompanying documentary featured in both of the exhibitions. We also see Liao inviting friends to act as models, arranging their posture before photographing them. Not only did this enable Liao to obtain exactly the poses he wanted but also aided with a sense of scale when transcribing the images to the giant canvases. The documentary also showcases his adroitness with a long-handled brush; his masterful, free-flowing strokes helped by his prior working experience in painting murals.
Liao’s use of acrylic is a relatively recent development. His primary training was in watercolor and we can see echoes of this in both the fluidity of his pencil sketches and the expressive drips in his application of acrylic. The Watercolor series is a collection of individual, self-contained narratives, which cover a breadth of scenes associated with the chaotic aftermath, from medical staff struggling against adverse conditions to the raw symbolism of the ruined landscape. Due to the fact they were painted in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the Watercolor sketches are significant insofar as they capture the sense of urgency of the time, as well as aiding the artist formulate his ideas for the larger pieces.
The pained expression of Frozen Memory No.7 (2008, image 9) is the sole painting featured here from the Frozen Memory series, and acts as a bridge within his work; it has stylistic echoes of his previous series Times Tag (2007-2008) whilst being thematically suggestive of the subsequent Faces series (2009-2010). The human face has become a recurring motif within Liao’s work, particularly over the past year or so. Since ancient times, representations of the human visage have often carried symbolic significance. Symbolizing, among other things, intellect, civil advancement, beauty, and in some cultures, the seat of the soul, the human face is an integral part of our visual language. It is also a crucial factor in the identity of an individual and a primary means of expressing emotion and communication. It is in this light that we should consider Liao’s works that repeatedly incorporate the human face either figuratively or symbolically. In some cases it is the figurative facial expressions that convey the emotion (e.g. the tangible torment of Monument (Installation), 2009), whereas in some instances, as seen in the Faces painting series, the faces themselves act as a conduit for the artist’s own emotions. By simultaneously representing pain and grief as well as being an important part of the artist’s own cathartic healing process, they help encapsulate the human necessity to move on from tragedy whilst never forgetting it. As we can see from the Preparatory Sketches for Faces (2010, images 10 and 11) the works start with a clear depiction of a human face before becoming increasingly obscured with expressionist outpourings. The larger of the two sizes in the series, as seen in the MONUMENT exhibition, has greater tactility of paint, lending a more visceral, mutilated quality. The smaller grouping (images 12 and 13) is subtler, the faces seemingly afloat in an unsettling state of stasis.
The paintings of the Faces series should be viewed in conjunction with the more recent installation works, The Story of The Underworld Nos.1-4 (2010, images 14 and 15), as well as the Faces bronze relief sculpture (2010, image 16) and the Plexiglas Preparatory Studies for The Story of The Underworld (2009, images 17 and 18). This focus on the human face can be interpreted as an emphasis on the human loss of the earthquake and a reminder that each of the tens of thousands of often-nameless victims was a human individual.
The Story of The Underworld is the culmination of a series of experiments in mixed media that serves to highlight the extent of Liao’s development since arriving in Beijing as a watercolorist five years ago. Incorporating elements of light, water, sound and fog, the faces were originally made by applying heat to a Plexiglas sheet – achieving a distorted effect similar to the Faces painting series – before being cast in bronze.
In Chinese society, public displays of emotion are generally frowned upon in an effort to maintain ‘face’. Liao Zhenwu’s psychologically charged faces lay bare the rawest of sentiments in remembrance of, and dedication to, the victims of May 12th 2008. In transgressing the cultural norm of emotional restraint, Liao’s work assumes an even greater potency. As the artist said in a recent interview:
“The earthquake was a trigger point for my emotions. I believe as an artist that I’m responsible for using my work to remind people of this painful moment. There is a saying that history can’t be forgotten when the pain forces one to remember; tragedy itself is not as terrible a thing as a forgotten tragedy.”
Holding a candle in the shadow of loss, this exhibition endeavors to elucidate the artistic processes and developments that took place as Liao Zhenwu created his monumental tribute, in turn ensuring that the Wenchuan earthquake and those affected by it never stray too far from our thoughts.
Matthew J. Fox
