Three Parts Falling in Love, Hidden Concubine Rabbit
Li Bo
李波
Production date
2008
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
120 x 199.5 cm
Notes
Against a grey background, figures and objects painted with photographic realism are lined up in a row – a giant wedding cake and toy rabbit, a Chinese building and three guards or police carrying a struggling woman wearing a red dress. Li Bo finds many of the images used as source material for his paintings on the internet, adding objects from his own life or from photographs. He lines them up in juxtapositions that appear random at first sight, but which create chains of meaning when ‘read’ like a sentence. ‘Falling in Love Chapter Three, Hidden Concubine Rabbit’ was painted when the artist, then in his late twenties, was feeling confused and uncertain about love and relationships. He was drawn to images of ‘pure’ love, such as the image on the far left which depicts an ethnic minority couple, while at the same time being fascinated by darker aspects of desire – the image on the far right came from a news story about the arrest of a prostitute. In China, the pressure on young people to find a partner and marry is enormous, accompanied by societal pressure on young men to be financially successful. And the ‘hidden rabbit’? Li Bo says the toy rabbit was a real object from his life – a ‘kawaii’ cute creature called 'Mashimaro' who represents the ideal partner (male or female) as sweet, docile and gentle.
Accession number
2009.042