Wang Du - Contemporary Art London Thursday, June 21, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Deitch Projects, New York

  • Exhibited

    New York, Deitch Projects, November 11 - December 23, 2000; Chicago,
    Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Wang Du: Défilé, June 6 - August 5, 2001(anotherexample exhibited); Palo Alto, Stanford University, On the Edge-The West through a Political Lens, January 26 - May 1, 2005 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature

    B. Erickson, ed., On the Edge, Stanford, 2006, pp. 56-59 (illustrated); R.
    Taplin, ‘Wang Du at Deitch Projects - Brief Article’, Art in America, April, 2001; M. Tanenbaum, ‘Pushing the envelope’, Palo Alto Weekly, online edition, February 18, 2005; R. Hopkins, ‘Geo-Politics from China to Africa, with stops in between for “America Starts Here”’, The Phoenix, February 2, 2006

  • Catalogue Essay

    The sculpture by Wang Du, descriptively titled Youth with Slingshot, portrays the 1999 demonstration led by student protestors when NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslovia. Topical and often volatile in its reference to politics, media and culture, the artwork of Wang Du butts heads with our preconceived notions and messages filtered through the media. In the present lot, Wang Du distorts the proportions to mimic a photograph culled from a newspaper clipping, enlarging the arm, fist and slingshot on a smaller torso of a boy that recedes abruptly to a scale of much smaller proportions. The intentionally exaggerated magnitude of the weaponry yielded by the youth begets reaction for its violent act. The artist, however, is apt to point out that this act was precipitated by a grosser act of violence beforehand and we are meant to ponder the political ramifications of such transgressions.

74

Youth with Slingshot

2000
Resin, fiberglass, acrylic paint.
78 3/4 x 52 3/8 x 43 3/8 in. (200 x 133 x 110 cm).
This work is from an edition of three.

Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for £57,600

Contemporary Art

22 June 2007, 4pm & 5pm
London