Incarnations – Believe it or Not, No Photoshop

It’s logical to imagine that Photoshop is making creative photography passé, at least as cutting-edge art. If it is, don’t tell Li Wei, Hei Yue, and Liu Bolin. Without a byte of computer enhancement, they’re producing surreal work as culturally challenging as anything seen in China since the first guy to paint Mao in a tutu.

To up the ante, they are the subjects of most of their photos, blending performance art with camera-craft to make their statements. Perhaps no other group of young artists today mesh as well as this trio will in their ‘Incarnations’ exhibit, beginning this Saturday at 798′s Paris Beijing Photo Gallery. Each of them has a bizarre yet identifiable take on dealing with life in modern China – plunging into the abyss, blending into the cityscape, and smacking one’s bare ass at the self-importance of it all.

Li Wei – Losing His Grip

Hanging by a thread, spinning out of control, or crashing head-first, all are apt metaphors for the average guy’s inner life nowadays, and the predominant themes of Li Wei’s work. Li Wei dabbled with oil painting for a while, but switched to performance art-cum- photography when he realized he should be experiencing his own message.

“There is a feeling of losing a grip on things, an uncertainty about the morrow. It’s a feeling of hanging in the air, of having nothing firm under the feet. And even if the family is my priority and thus a key part of my performances, I wonder: How much are we able to put up with?”

Don’t you dare call “shop” on these pics – the credit goes to good old fashioned wires, mirrors, and acrobatics.

Liu Bolin – Fading Out

The individual’s vanishing act is old news in the Western literary tradition. Kafka woke us up to life as a giant roach, and Holden Caulfield warned us about slipping through the cracks in the sidewalk. But Liu Bolin puts a haunting new spin on the concept, as he becomes one with his surroundings, losing his voice and identity, but gaining a certain feckless freedom in the process. What price anonymity?

“He is profoundly isolated and unaware of his surroundings, a shell without a soul. He moves from one environment to another, from one background to another, and he is just like us, changing from one job to another, from one place to another… All of these changes are meaningless, but they give us freedom and allow us to escape the confinement and the duties imposed on us by society. However, by avoiding the burdens of society, his virtues are also destroyed.”

Hei Yue – What Cheek

The unabashed exhibitionist in the exhibition, appropriately named “Black Moon” bares more than his soul in his photos. Usually in China, only toddlers get away with sauntering about with their keisters out, especially in front of cops. To push the envelope, Hei Yue smacks his bum 123 times. Maybe his photos would work better as .gifs. Regardless, the point of all the rear action is to ask, “Who has the right to discipline and punish?”

“I first got the idea from the split pants we Chinese kids all wear, with the butt hanging out, when we are little. Also, parents spank kids on the butt to discipline them. But now that I’m an adult, the only one who has the right to spank me is myself.”

That’s telling them, Hei Yue. No government or its law enforcers have the right to spank you. They probably have the right to lock you up for indecency, though.

The Incarnations exhibit runs from January 17^th to March 12^th at the Paris Beijing Photo Gallery.

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