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M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong, © Ma Desheng
Ma Desheng 馬德升
Six Square Metres 六平方米
1979, printed 2005
In Six Square Metres, an artist holding a palette and several brushes leans backwards to look at his painting on an easel, one leg kneeling on the bed. Numerous images are on the wall, including female nudes. Huang Rui’s 1979 painting Yuanmingyuan: Rebirth is visible at the upper left. This woodcut print makes reference to the cramped studio where Ma Desheng also lived, making art after working as a draftsman by day. Only the back of the painting is shown in this print, perhaps an allusion to the censorship of nudes in China at the time. The representation of the tall figure and the implicit sociopolitical commentary of the print recall the style of Frans Masereel, whose woodcut prints influenced Chinese artists in the early twentieth century. Many of Ma’s expressive and monochromatic prints depict the feelings of depression permeating Chinese society and were published in the underground literary journal Today. After moving to Paris in 1986, Ma resumed working in ink-wash painting, a medium he had first used in his early career in China.
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