Mao Mass Art: Geng Jianyi

I used to think that a completed artwork was like the completed act of taking a piss: when it’s finished it’s finished – you don’t go carrying the contents of the chamber pot around with you. But now tings are different, you can’t just take a piss whenever you like anymore and be done with it. There are special bathrooms, like museums and art galleries, that want to expose you in your most basic acts. And doesn’t everybody now accept this situation as normal? The people going in for a look are all very interested, in comparing who is big and who is small/ how is it that I was born in this age of organization? And how is it that I want to be proclaimed the champ? It’s really a shame.
- Geng Jianyi

Geng Jianyi’s artowk focuses on individual identity and the embarrassing situations of everyday life. His work is often described as “after-images that continuously veil and unveil fragments of the individual” (Gladston). Focusing on unidentifiable portraits, Geng Jianyi can emphasize both the presence and abandonment of individuality.

As one of the early contemporary artists in China, Geng Jianyi set the stage for avant-garde art, where the cynical and inventive were invoked. In the 1980s, Jianyi became a member of the Pool Society, where he could work alongside other contemporary artists free of artistic constraints set by Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He faced difficulties as an artist in China; many of his works were not deemed acceptable, since they “showed no positive expression.” In response, Jianyi’s produced The Second Condition using images of grimacing faces to comment on the alienation and hypocrisy of human relationships (Slavkoff).







	I used to think that a completed artwork was like the completed act of taking a piss: when it’s finished it’s finished – you don’t go carrying the contents of the chamber pot around with you. But now tings are different, you can’t just take a piss whenever you like anymore and be done with it. There are special bathrooms, like museums and art galleries, that want to expose you in your most basic acts. And doesn’t everybody now accept this situation as normal? The people going in for a look are all very interested, in comparing who is big and who is small/ how is it that I was born in this age of organization? And how is it that I want to be proclaimed the champ? It’s really a shame. - Geng Jianyi Geng Jianyi’s artowk focuses on individual identity and the embarrassing situations of everyday life. His work is often described as “after-images that continuously veil and unveil fragments of the individual” (Gladston). Focusing on unidentifiable portraits, Geng Jianyi can emphasize both the presence and abandonment of individuality. As one of the early contemporary artists in China, Geng Jianyi set the stage for avant-garde art, where the cynical and inventive were invoked. In the 1980s, Jianyi became a member of the Pool Society, where he could work alongside other contemporary artists free of artistic constraints set by Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He faced difficulties as an artist in China; many of his works were not deemed acceptable, since they “showed no positive expression.” In response, Jianyi’s produced The Second Condition using images of grimacing faces to comment on the alienation and hypocrisy of human relationships (Slavkoff).