Happy Life - Family
Chen Wenling
陈文令
Production date
2005
Object Detail
Media
bronze, automotive paint
Measurements
186 x 60 x 83 cm
Notes
The Chinese character ‘jia’ 家 meaning ‘family’ or ‘home’ is a pictographic character made up of two radicals. The ‘roof’ radical is placed over the character ‘shi’ 豕representing a swine or hog. As pigs are said to have been the first animals domesticated in China, the character symbolises the desired prosperity of the family dwelling. Whether Chen Wenling was intentionally referencing the symbolic and poetic aspects of the Chinese script in Happy Life - Family, the connection is inescapable. In this work a glossy, white, beatifically smiling mother cradles her beaming baby – although he looks more like an old man than an infant. She balances firmly on the back of an enormously fat pig, which the artist has said can represent gluttony and stupidity as well as prosperity.
Accession number
2006.004