Furniture 1
Li Tingting
李婷婷
Production date
2011
Object Detail
Media
ink on rice paper
Measurements
182 x 97 cm
Notes
Rather than painting scholar rocks, plum blossom, or bamboo like a literati ink painter, Li Tingting paints mass-produced consumer goods, furniture and household items, documenting the transformation of Chinese culture in the twenty-first century. Her depictions of ethereal feminine accessories and solid formal furnishings signify China’s new wealth. Travelling overseas and visiting European galleries, Li’s discovery of abstract paintings by Cy Twombly inspired a new direction in her work, which became more overtly gestural. The result, after a period of intense experimentation, was a series representing grandiose items of furniture, with expressive marks, drips and stains soaking the paper. Upholstered armchairs and overstuffed sofas, lacquered Chinese chests and wooden chairs float in amorphous spaces with dribbles of ink running down their surfaces. The acclaimed ink painter Peng Xiancheng said, ‘For me there is no boundary between art and life.’ Li TIngting may not be painting waterfalls and mountains, but just as surely as the ink masters of the past, with her delicate depictions of the ordinary and the mass-produced, she is recording the seismic shifts in Chinese culture.
Accession number
2012.053