Like many of my cousins in China, his parents should be highly influenced by that era, but himself highly unlikely would be impacted by the restrictions by that time – either in life or in art.

On the contrary, it’s fairly easy to define what these figures long for. They long for food. They are slack-jawed and hollow-cheeked. And they all have the glassy-eyed look symptomatic of nutritional deficiencies. The drawings are chicly derivative of Egon Schiele’s renderings or concentration camp drawings.

And given that the subjects appear reasonably prosperous (ie. people who can feed themselves if they so choose), I find it difficult to see his art as anything other than a gratuitous glamorization of eating disorders. While I do admire the rendering skill, the color choices and the composition, I find the end results ultimately repugnant in many of these pieces.

So very hip. So very perverse.

http://1000days.douglasblaine.com/20081015/inward-from-outward/