Communication (Bright, Impulsive, Awkward)
XU ZHEN®
徐震®
Production date
2019
Object Detail
Media
resin, paint
Measurements
180 x 240 x 15 cm
Notes
XU ZHEN®’s “Communication” series of paintings juxtaposes forms and colours derived from images of multiple cartoon characters. Identities appropriated from classic mainstream animations include Mickey Mouse, Angry Birds, Mario Bros., Pikachu, Gingerbread Man and Smurf. These images are instantly somehow recognisable, even when almost completely abstracted: XU ZHEN® says they have ‘shaped the younger generation’s visual aesthetics’. A computer program simulates the fall of each form to the ground, amalgamating them together in the form of irregular colour blocks in rich, vivid tones and strong shapes. By using familiar cartoon images as abstract elements, XU ZHEN® playfully subvert the once-fixed boundaries between figuration and abstraction, two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, and between popular culture and conceptual art. The highly saturated colour and visual stimuli of the cartoons are created anew by the calculations of a computer program, a binary of rationality and irrationality which XU ZHEN® sees as characteristic of our digital age.
Accession number
2019.152