'Streaking Brother': An artist with issues (2)

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'Streaking Brother': An artist with issues (2)

By Li Jingjing (Global Times) 11:22, August 06, 2013

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Li's artistic impulse seems to come from the pressures of life. Just like many young people who live and work in Beijing, he doesn't live in a fancy place and must move often. He said, "Houses used to provide shelter and be the safest places for people, but that is no longer the case."

As for walking a chicken, he said, "It was to challenge the thing that people were most afraid of. People slaughter chickens and are afraid of chickens, but are chickens the real problem?"

As Li inserts himself into his world, passersby become his audience. "When I was shaving and brushing teeth on subway, some people looked at me funny, and some pretended that they didn't see anything, and some looked like they felt uncomfortable as if they were intruders in my bathroom."

Becoming creative

Li studied sculpture at CAFA from 2006 to 2011. Like many other students of arts, his understanding and creation were more theoretical in the first few years. However, a course about creation inspired him and helped to set the direction for his future works.

In the third year of his studies, the teacher of the creation course asked the students to finish a work within five minutes, without any topic. At first, he really struggled with how to be creative. Suddenly an idea occurred to him when he saw two rocks on the road. "I will break the stones," he said.

In the end, holding a stone in his hand and breaking the other became his work for that class. Moreover, he found excitement in using his body as a part of the work.

His tutor, Yu Fan, also the vice director of Sculpture Department at CAFA, told the Global Times that Li's works were always quite creative and unique when he was in school.

"I think the work with him holding fireworks is his representative work, I like that."

Yu gave a him a rather good assessment for his graduation project (a score of 95), but if Li wants to go further on his path, Yu gave this advice: "Maybe he should put aside the 'Streaking Brother' title and buckle down to creating."

New exhibition

Li's new exhibition called I Have Issues will be held from August 24 to September 22 in Gallery Yang at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing. During this exhibition, all his "action works" in the past few years will be presented in many forms, including videos and pictures.

The owner of Gallery Yang, Yang Min, who has been in this field for over 10 years, also expressed why she chose to exhibit Li's works this time: "When seeing his work of running naked, I didn't think of it as art. But after seeing his studio, I saw many interesting and artistic works. I meet countless artists every year, but his work reflects the youngsters, especially the thoughts of the post-80s generation."

With a picture of him running naked on the poster, and I Have Issues as the title, many find it rather interesting. "I Have Issues meets my state, and it's an attitude - admitting and facing up my own issues." Holding this exhibition, Li explained, is also a reflection of others who live in this confused society that may be suffering from issues mentally, not physically.