Deng Zhen: Transformative Photography and Incongruous Performance
10th September, 2020
Deng Zhen, a contemporary artist from Loudi, Hunan province, China, presents a nihilistic observational depiction of his environment, particularly unique in his manipulation of objects, icons and perspective to shift one’s perception and create beautiful or striking images. Focusing predominantly on photography and performance as a means of conveying his art, he often presents imagery out of context to force juxtaposition, or changes perspective in a way that may make an object unidentifiable or appear original in form. His collages of panoramic and circumferential photographs allow him to take photography to a deeper level as he manipulates images. He uses his mediums to create arbitrary messages, particularly those that critique social issues and modern Chinese society. Most notably, his performance works, often well received, such as Like Brother (2018) and Untimely Visitor (2019) at the Venice Biennale, confront the unwitting public audience with an image that may be considered amusing but carries, in its realisation, greater meaning.
Deng allows his art to be transformative, to take an incredibly familiar image and turn it onto its head, and to create movement or emotion in an inanimate object. His experimental photography is an excellent example of this being used, particularly his series of pieces using a technique he terms ‘Full Body Art’, an ‘impossible photography’ (Deng, 2017) . Inspired by the questions and fantasies of great artists, philosophers and scientists (Wang, 2019), Deng’s series, Full Body (全面体, 2017) merge angles of a single object into one image to create elongated, stretched, and twisted forms from everyday objects (Zhang, 2019). His piece The Birth, Aging, Sickness and Death of a Cabbage (颗白菜的生老病死,) captures the great possibilities of this photographic method. Placing together chronological images of the slow degradation of a cabbage, as it’s form becomes loose and it sheds soiled leaves from its exterior. Visually, the progression is striking, from bright whites and greens of the fresh vegetable, to darkened browning of the end of its life in this horizontal orientation.
Deng Zhen, Like
His engrossing depiction of the bust of Mao, A Big Turning Point (大转折, also Spring-Autumn of Mao) presents one of many references Deng makes to his background in modern China. Whilst he does not publicly explain his meaning behind this piece, he points to this gold bust to present China’s idolisation of Mao, yet highlights the cracks and weathered appearance of the statue (Deng, 2019) . In doing so, he insinuates a vast difference between how Mao is perceived by China, and the reality of his corrupt leadership. The Full Body photography allows a complete view of the leader, complete with cracks and erosion particularly in focus on the back half of the image. It suggests that when you can see the entire picture, Mao’s superficial, gold-plated image is faulty at best, and just as the oxidised gypsum base manifests in green cracks across his body, the manifestation of corruption within the Maoist regime. The viewer is exposed not only to the leader at literal face value, but the faults behind the façade. Ultimately, Deng’s Full Body collection contains some of his most prominent works in his oeuvre, presenting visually stunning images that carry cultural and personal significance, as well as allowing enough room for interpretation and pure appreciation for the technique itself.
Deng has also established himself as a performance artist, having performed across the world bringing salient concepts into the public view and amongst other works. His most notable being his piece Like Brother (点赞哥 , 2018-2019) featuring Deng as he travelled exhibitions, seemingly appreciating and ‘liking’ the works, bringing further commentary to the works in the exhibit. Occasionally interacting with artworks, Deng gathered an audience of adults and children alike watching his lighthearted approach to the art. The social media iconography of the ‘like’ symbol has been taken from the usual context of a phone screen to the real space around them. This piece provided a means for the viewer to further contemplate the artworks around them, as opposed to becoming distracted by social media. It also critiques the overwhelming need for people to capture the world around them, particularly those deemed aesthetically pleasing, and reduces it’s value to quantity of ‘likes’ or through the approval of others online. In Beijing, this drew the attention of curator, collector and head of Cheng Xindong International Contemporary Art Space president of the Beijing Gallery association, Cheng Xindong, who thoroughly enjoyed Deng’s piece, particularly as it brought waves of fans through his art space (Literary Planet, 2018). This piece acts as a form of arts communication, an issue Deng finds prominent in bringing the public to art, particularly contemporary and performance pieces, promoting and actively appreciating other works in a visually interesting way (Gong, 2019).
At the 58th Venice Biennale Armory Exhibition, Italy (2019), Deng produced a poignant performance piece, as part of a series with Chinese artists Fan Changjiang, Gong Jianhua, and Liu Haofen (Gong, 2019). The series worked under the theme of ‘untimely’, particularly forming a comparison between European and contemporary art from their own experiences of Chinese art and culture. By presenting their own non-western context for the european public and artists to view, it provided a means of contemplation of differing social and artistic perspectives and the concept of ‘normal’ within cultures (Gong, 2019). The 2019 Biennale Arte was named May You Live in Interesting Times after a Chinese saying, used mostly in irony or as a curse, with ‘interesting’ inferring something other than content, even menacing or challenging (Baratta, 2019). This title evokes consideration for the course of human events and what is generally considered to be normal or acceptable, despite great complexities in the state of life. Presenting his work in such a globally prominent art event speaks volumes for the impact Deng’s works make on both a European and Chinese audience.
Deng Zhen, Like
His Untimely Visitor, featured the artist in full winter clothes, a thick jacket, a scarf and fur hat, walking around the Biennale during the scorching heat of the city in June. Passing other pedestrians, the viewer, themselves likely clad in light summer clothing, would immediately note this odd image before them. Deng discusses this piece as a way of reflecting the social reality China lives in comparison to Europe. Whilst this does not appear to be a topic of comfort for the artist (Deng, 2019), it can be suggested the juxtaposition between the setting and Deng’s character presents the complete dissonance between the constructed reality of the Chinese population versus the actualised system within China wherein many issues are masked from people. It also directly compares how a western country, such as Italy, would view China and vice versa, viewing the other country as an issue or corrupt on a national level. The piece is both graceful and simplistic, it requires a level of critical thinking to view it as the artist intended, though provides enough aesthetic engagement and curiosity provoking content for it to be appreciated by the passer by.
Deng Zhen’s art provides, sometimes seemingly simplistic, subject matters that allow the viewer’s preconceptions of ideas to be both reinforced and subverted, or to further consider topics. His photographic work and Full Body pieces use distinct techniques that are both visually and cognitively intriguing, whilst his performance work has travelled throughout continents and allows him to communicate subjects surrounding art and culture, both from a Chinese and a more universally understood perspective, to a wide range of audiences. Ultimately, Deng’s work does not lack in aesthetic construction, nor intellectual meaning, providing a complete experience in both a fleeting viewing and a considered contemplative approach to his pieces.
Bibligoraphy
Baratta, Paolo (2019) Biennale Arte 2019: May You Live in Interesting Times, La Biennale di Venezia, Accessible: www.labiennale.org/en/news/biennale-arte-2019-may-you-live-interesting-times
Deng, Zhen (2017) 不可能的摄 (Impossible Photography). Accessible: tuchong.com/2382853/15173531/
Deng, Zhen (2019) Lecture.
Gong, Yu (2019) 和通社：威尼斯双年展中国行为艺术“不合时宜”关注热烈 (He News Agency: Venice Biennale Chinese Performance Art "Untimely" Attention) Phoenix Network Zhejiang Comprehensive, Accessible: zj.ifeng.com/a/20190618/7462214_0.shtml
Literary Planet (2018) “点赞哥”邓震爆红艺术圈 从“香港巴塞尔”一路点赞到“艺术北京” ("Like Brother" Deng Zhen hit the art circle from "Hong Kong Basel" all the way to "Art Beijing"). Accessible: www.sohu.com/a/230557543_555194
Wang, Yiqiong (2019) 从2019看2029 (Looking at 2029 from 2019). Accessible: m.weibo.cn/status/4441029387885522
Zhang, Xiangou (2019) 全面体艺术 (Full Body Art), Lianzhou Foto, Guangdong. Accessible: www.lianzhoufoto.com/cn/exhibitions/detail-258.html