Two Series of Five Steps of Wearing Clothes着衣的兩個五拍
1991
These two works dissect the daily actions of dressing, undressing, and laughing into sequential steps. They offer a rational, non-expressive approach to human behaviour at a time when the passions and idealism of the ’85 New Wave were at their height. Geng here abandoned oil paint and experimented with a conceptual method of cutting and pasting paper photocopies onto wooden boards.
Mapping Chinese Art, 1972–2012: Selections for the M+ Sigg Collection. M+, Hong Kong, 2019. sigg.mplus.org.hk
Geng Jianyi (born 1962, Zhengzhou) graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, in 1985. He was an early member of the pioneering avant-garde group the Pond Society and works with diverse media including oil painting, installation, and ink drawing. Geng is best known for works that represent ambivalent notions of identity and its relation to the larger world. He lives and works in Hangzhou.