“The Long March Space -- The Power of the Public Realm” Enters Its Third Phase
Yan’an’s “King of Clay” Wang Wenhai’s “Changing Face”

As the thirteenth site of The Long March: A Walking Visual Display, the 25000 Cultural Transmission Center in Beijing is hosting the third phase of “The Power of the Public Realm” throughout December. This show in all its phases has become the core exhibition of the Long March Space, and will carry on indefinitely, marching on in its continual development. In this most recent phase, “Wang Wenhai’s Changing Face,” Wang Wenhai’s sculptures have evolved from traditional public imagery of Mao as a leader or as a God, to images of Mao employing realistic, abstract, and surrealistic forms. Wang Wenhai’s new 3.4-meter-tall work, Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong, now stands in the center of the Long March Space. The artist has said he created the work as a gift to Mao Zedong in commemoration of his 110th birthday. Towering over its viewers, the work presents the elder Mao Zedong and the young Mao Zedong standing alongside each other, not arm in arm but rather each with his clay hand grasping a curious real-life umbrella, perhaps in the hope of saving their clay-selves from a potentially hazardous rainfall in Beijing.

In addition, “Changing Face” presents Wang Wenhai’s latest work, entitled Dragon. The artist sculpted the work over the past two months in situ at the 25000 Cultural Transmission Center. In Dragon, he adopts the mountain composition seen so often in traditional Chinese sculpture and transforms it into his own arrangement of Mao figures. The ridges at the top of the work form the spine of a dragon, while the valleys create two caves -- the Dripping Water Cave from Mao’s birthplace and one of the caves in which sacred Buddhist texts are held. Historically, during times of political problems, Mao Zedong would often hide in the Dripping Water Cave, and Wang Wenhai has said that his inclusion of the cave in this work symbolizes “spirit.” The cave of Buddhist texts, on the other hand, represents “precious knowledge.” The other peaks and valleys of the landscape’s composition are made up of twelve images of Mao, both Mao-the-leader and Mao-as-Buddha. (One particular figure is Mao laying in the same position as the Sleeping Buddha). Wang Wenhai’s Dragon thus infuses traditional Chinese mountain composition with a surrealist style and Buddhist forms, while at the same time employing a folk flour-sculptural technique.

“The Long March Space -- The Power of the Public Realm” Will Be Entering Its Fourth Phase in January of 2004 with the Addition of a New Artistic Program

In the fourth phase of the “The Power of the Public Realm,” contemporary artists from the city will join these four public artists at the Long March Space, creating a dialogue between amateur and professional, public and elite. We are often asked by artist friends of ours, “Where exactly is the Long March going? Why have these ‘nonprofessional’ artists been featured on such a large scale at the gallery? Are you going to stop showing the professional, avant-garde, contemporary, experimental art that we are doing all together?” The misreading characterized in these questions is serious. With all the phases of the exhibition, we have endeavored to reexamine the concept of “art,” of “contemporary,” and of “public,” but this type of misunderstanding has made us realize that we cannot bring about a revolutionary shift in these concepts with just one exhibition of this nature. At the same time, we are excited about the show because it produces a rare moment when the general public can participate in a dialogue with the artists and artworks that has no artificial division, no distancing, and no alienation. The artists themselves are as much a part of the public as the viewers are. We do, on the other hand, desire that this dialogue also be achieved visually. With this objective in mind, for the fourth phase we propose that artists from the art world join the artists from the public realm and enter the public space that the 25000 Cultural Transmission Center has become. We welcome works created in any media and in any form, whether it be solo or collaboration, celebratory or subversive. With this new phase, we will carry on marching in our endeavor to peel away the layers of meaning surrounding the notion of “art” and “public” while at the same time building up the public space within the 25000 Cultural Transmission Center.

For images, artist profiles, and other information about this or other Long March exhibitions, please visit our website at www.longmarchfoundation.org.

Thank you for your support of the Long March.