Case Study #7- Liu Zhuoquan
Liu Zhuoquan’s work involves the collection of various peculiar bottles which he then paints using the subject matter. This art evolves from traditional Chinese snuff bottle inner painting, however Liu Zhuoquan’s art focuses on integrating each independent inner bottle painting into a unified art concept which emulates a drug store or a store room. In his work‘Broken Fingers’, he references the injuries, specifically lost fingers, in Chinese factories where the workers are taken advantage of and often have no choice but to work in unsafe conditions. The lost fingers are painted in a realistic manor with deep reds symbolizing blood and pain. Each bottle is contrary to the other and each painting within are diverse, however reference the same concept. They are categorized by their similar rosy colours and each black outline, and are stacked on shelves in a series.
however the symbolism of the hand is strongly representative of the role of man and the damage which has been incurred as a result. The number of glass bottles is such that, one gets the sense of mass production, this once again when considered in relation to Liu’s Buddhist background makes comment on the imbalance which has been incurred in power by people and additionally the impacts mass production have had on our lives and the planet as a whole. Whats more the use of flasks such as these is strongly redolent of perfuming bottles which seek to attain the essence of a scent or thing- implying the notion that the experience and lives of these individuals can be distilled into this single symbol, once again drawing into question the value of a life, or the role of companies such as the ones tang advantage of workers in China should have the power to be able to place value over another’s existence as their actions have done in treating them as disposable and inexhaustible commodities.
Liu treats his subject matter like specimens as a general rule, to be studied in miniature beneath the magnifying glass; contained for our utility, condensed and concentrated for our convenience. Even the most emotionally wrenching object of study takes on a kind of morbid air, experienced from a distance behind the glass, our view of it permanently manipulated, even the artist himself having painted the image from inside the bottle hasn’t seen the image in full, hasn’t grasped it from every angle. The artist himself says “I care about more is the feel when an image or an object is trapped in a space” trapped, the ghost of something, the wisp of a memory, something almost grasped yet ultimately intangible. Liu goes on to say: “My artwork is full of such skepticism or questions. As far as I am concerned, the signals the bottles are sending are as if they are questioning the audience what it is inside: nectar or poison?”. Liu takes the concept of life and equity and demonstrates dramatically those instances where neither are being respected as fundamental proponents of the 21st century the way they should be.
Liu Zhuoquan’s work involves the collection of various peculiar bottles which he then paints using the subject matter. This art evolves from traditional Chinese snuff bottle inner painting, however Liu Zhuoquan’s art focuses on integrating each independent inner bottle painting into a unified art concept which emulates a drug store or a store room. In his work‘Broken Fingers’, he references the injuries, specifically lost fingers, in Chinese factories where the workers are taken advantage of and often have no choice but to work in unsafe conditions. The lost fingers are painted in a realistic manor with deep reds symbolizing blood and pain. Each bottle is contrary to the other and each painting within are diverse, however reference the same concept. They are categorized by their similar rosy colours and each black outline, and are stacked on shelves in a series.
however the symbolism of the hand is strongly representative of the role of man and the damage which has been incurred as a result. The number of glass bottles is such that, one gets the sense of mass production, this once again when considered in relation to Liu’s Buddhist background makes comment on the imbalance which has been incurred in power by people and additionally the impacts mass production have had on our lives and the planet as a whole. Whats more the use of flasks such as these is strongly redolent of perfuming bottles which seek to attain the essence of a scent or thing- implying the notion that the experience and lives of these individuals can be distilled into this single symbol, once again drawing into question the value of a life, or the role of companies such as the ones tang advantage of workers in China should have the power to be able to place value over another’s existence as their actions have done in treating them as disposable and inexhaustible commodities.
Liu treats his subject matter like specimens as a general rule, to be studied in miniature beneath the magnifying glass; contained for our utility, condensed and concentrated for our convenience. Even the most emotionally wrenching object of study takes on a kind of morbid air, experienced from a distance behind the glass, our view of it permanently manipulated, even the artist himself having painted the image from inside the bottle hasn’t seen the image in full, hasn’t grasped it from every angle. The artist himself says “I care about more is the feel when an image or an object is trapped in a space” trapped, the ghost of something, the wisp of a memory, something almost grasped yet ultimately intangible. Liu goes on to say: “My artwork is full of such skepticism or questions. As far as I am concerned, the signals the bottles are sending are as if they are questioning the audience what it is inside: nectar or poison?”. Liu takes the concept of life and equity and demonstrates dramatically those instances where neither are being respected as fundamental proponents of the 21st century the way they should be.