Chinese artist Lu Hao uses an excavator for his critical take on the impact of rapid urbanisation and consumerism
deepika shetty, Straits Times 29 Aug 09;
Contemporary Chinese artist Lu Hao has done something striking with a construction site digger, a familiar object on building plots all around town.
The Beijing-based artist has recreated part of it as a giant sculpture, transforming the excavator's mechanical arm into a menacing feature complete with fangs.
It is made from cast bronze, stainless steel and rosin, a solid form of resin.
The towering 2.18m digger arm and spade, a work entitled Tool Of Construction, is part of Lu's first solo museum show in South-east Asia at the Singapore Art Museum from today until Oct 25.
The exhibition, Cities Here And Now, presents an overview of the renowned artist's work with sculptures, recent ink paintings and other new pieces such as his 2008 Landscape Series done by using ink and colour on silk.
The theme is a critical take on the impact of rapid urbanisation and consumerism.
Lu, 40, who has lived in Beijing all his life and seen the cityscape change beyond his wildest imagination, tells Life!: 'I feel a sense of regret. We have developed so much but we have lost a lot along the way.'
On his dramatic sculpture of a digger's arm, he says: 'In Beijing, we are all familiar with something like this. There is construction going on all the time and demolition and relocation have become a way of life.
'To me, an excavator is both a tool of construction and destruction. To give it a sinister look, I have created something with long, sharp fangs.'
The idea of this modern savage beast is to make people think about the rapid stride of urbanisation and how it can never be reversed.
Also on display is The Flower, Bird, Insect, Fish series, which is widely considered Lu's breakthrough work.
This series features acrylic architectural models (below) of The Great Hall of the People, the National Art Museum of China, Tiananmen and Xinhaumen, all of which signify political authority and cultural grandness in Beijing.
When they were first exhibited internationally - to much acclaim at the Venice Biennale in 1999 - these transparent and miniature models included live flowers, birds, grasshoppers and fish and transformed China's iconic places and institutions into a bird cage, a fish bowl and a flower point.
The idea was to look at places of power with humour.
In Singapore, the live elements are missing but the models still evoke a sense of power and grandeur.
The artist, who graduated from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, has taken part in several international exhibitions and biennales, including the Lyon Biennale in 2000, the Istanbul Biennale in 2001 and the Sao Paulo Biennale in 2002.
Singaporeans can also see him use another technique in his 2008 Landscape Series on display here.
From a distance, it looks like a printed poster. But everything in this series, right from soy sauce bottles, beer cans and shoes down to books, are real objects that have been hand-painted.
Lu says: 'Consumerism in China is very wasteful. It is all pervasive. There is no stopping the goods from filling our shelves, our lives and our homes.'
He also makes viewers stop in their tracks by switching to the medium of a 17m-long hand-scroll painted in ink and colour on silk, entitled Landscape. It depicts a world of buildings, but no people.
Professor Wu Hung, 64, who is guest curator and director of the Center for the Art of East Asia at The University of Chicago, says Lu's ability to combine traditional elements with contemporary events is what sets him apart.
'His concerns may seem common - rapid urbanisation, the loss of a way of life - but his visual language is unique,' says Prof Wu.
'He may explore the same themes, yet he does it in so many different ways, from traditional Chinese-style scroll painting to sculpture. This makes him a very exciting artist to watch.'
deepikas@sph.com.sg
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CITIES HERE AND NOW
Where: Singapore Art Museum, 71 Bras Basah Road
When: Till Oct 25. From 10am to 7pm daily and 10am to 9pm on Fridays
Admission: $8 (adults), $4 (students)
Info: Call 6332-3222 or go to www.singaporeartmuseum.sg
