Sui JianguoDiscovering His Own Voice

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1、Sui JianguoDiscovering His Own VoiceSUI Jianguos studio complex on the out-skirtsof Beijing would be the envy of any sculptor anywhere inthe world.It is comprised of two large two-story joinedbuildings，each in the shape of a 50 80 rectangle，and each open to the second story and lit with skylights.On

2、e space functions as Jianguo s office and library.In the middle of this expansive room sits a long，massive wooden-topped，iron-legged table on wheels.Itis covered with computers，printers，and high-techequipment.Behind it，taking up three quarters of asingle wall from floor to ceiling，are bookshelvescom

3、pletely filled with magazines and catalogs.Aroundthe room there are three more modern-styled work tableseach holding stacks of pencil drawings，printouts ofcomputer renderings，and scale models of ongoingprojects.At the far end of the room in one corner there is acontrasting setting of Art Deco-styled

4、 leather sofas，clubchairs，and antique Chinese furniture.On the walls inthis corner hang drawings dating back to the 1980s andposters for a number of Jianguos exhibitions around theworld.The adjoining building is accessed through twohuge metal doors that open into a large work space.Thisis clearly th

5、e production studio；there are oversizedplaster and clay models of classical figurativesculptures，a life-sized human skeleton，and whatlooks like dinosaur vertebra hanging from a ceilingwinch.Assistants sitting at tables are busy fi ling sheetmetal pieces and assembling them into maquettes.Occupying t

6、he center of the room is an eightfoot-talliron ball，a companion to a 12-foot model that formedpart of an installation entitled Motion/Tension that wasexhibited in September，2009 at the Today ArtMuseum，Beijing.The combination of classically-influenced sculpture and modern abstract work seems ratheran

7、achronistic but couldnt be more representative ofJianguo s broad-ranging interests as an artist.In fact，itis what makes it difficult to place him in comparisonartistically and chronologically to other artists of hisgeneration.To a Western audience，he is perhaps bestknown for his Legacy Mantle series

8、.“Everyone refers to these works as Mao jackets，”Jianguo says，“but they were infl uenced by SunYatsens original design known as the Zhongshan suit.Ivisited Sun Yat-sen s hometown in Guangdong Provincein 1996 and took home a brochure on the history of thesuit，which of course became identified with Ma

9、oduring the cultural revolution.A year later I got theidea of sculpting the empty suit jacket when I wasvisiting Australia and heard people joke that all Chinesewore the same clothes and ate the same food！Themistake about artists of my generation is believing thatwe were only infl uenced by the cult

10、ural revolution.We were aware of history before that time and there weremany cultural icons from which to draw infl uence.”Jianguo received a Masters degree from the CentralAcademy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1989 and went on tobecome a most infl uential director of the Department ofSculpture at the

11、Academy，a position he has recentlyrelinquished.He acknowledges that he lived through“the most interesting of times artistically”but didntdiscover his own“voice”until 2005，when his workbecame more conceptual and he realized that thegeneration of students he was teaching needed to developtheir own lan

12、guage.Today Jianguo is pushing Chinese sculpture further，exploring ideas involving time and space and howaudiences interact with art in a series he calls The Shapeof Time.However，he has not abandoned one of hisearly series that references the slogan“Made in China.”In fact，he wants to patent the use of it：“Throughoutthe 1960s，everything was Made in Japan；in the1970s Made in Taiwan；and in the 1980s Made inChina.We are now capitalists and this is the mosticonographic symbol we have.”