洪浩

my things

source: teachartwikiwikispaces

Contemporary artist Hong Hao was born in Beijing, China, 1965. He currently lives and works in Beijing and is a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
in Beijing. Hong Hao creates art to make personal connections to his own life as well as historical connections to his Chinese culture. In the digital photograph
collage My Things No. 6, Hao displays a wide collection of items from the cultural revolution. His use of technology and cultural history produces a powerful
composition on many different levels.

In My Things No. 6, Hong Hao presents us with a visual inventory of political propaganda from the cultural revolution. The composition is littered with scanned
images rearranged to express the meaning of what took place during 20th century China. Between the images black areas of negative space separate each
individual piece of propaganda with overlapping occurring sporadically throughout. At a distance the digital photographic collage works texturally with its
inclusion of a variety of materials. The red color of Mao’s communist China dominates Hao’s personal collection of items. Looking within the collage an
arrangement of books, open, closed, standing and flat, are scattered throughout. Among these books are various copies of Mao’s Talks at Yan’an Forum on
Literature and Art. A centrally located book that is opened depicts a map of China showing the eastern region, including Beijing and Shanghai. Other books
are opened to readings or illustrations connecting them to the cultural revolution. In addition to the books and illustrations are flyers with propaganda images
often found on posters that were spread throughout the country for the masses to read. The illustrations depict the characteristics commonly found among
the art of this period as set forth by Jiang Qing. Some examples of these characteristics can be found in the open book to bottom, just to the right of the
middle. On this page a soldier stands tall in a monumental way with the presence of red surrounding him. Other important components of this piece are the
arrangements of Mao badges grouped together and spread out to decorate the composition. The Mao badges represent the loyalty to the Communist party
of by the Chinese who once wore them.

Through My Things No. 6, Hong Hao is showing his viewers how past history and culture are an important part of China today. Like his collection of personal
items from the present seen in his previous collages in this series, Hao presents to us objects relating to consumerism in contemporary Chinese life. The
series continues after My Things No. 6 with collages of book keeping in the pieces titled My Things – Book Keeping of 06, 2006. The Book Keeping collages
comment on the great progress made through education and the growing Chinese economy since the time of Mao.

It is important to note that Hao graduated with a degree in printmaking, from the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, the year of the Tienanmen protests
(Leffingwell 1). He is known to play on the Duchampion theme of the nature of books, and the concept that knowledge is power (1). My Things No. 6 includes
many iconic images from the Cultural Revolution. Hao includes copies of Mao’s Red book, which was a staple item to own during the Cultural Revolution. In
fact, the Red Book almost served as a form of legitimacy papers to show that you were a supporter of Chairman Mao’s Communism. There are a lot of images
of propaganda posters, supporting farming and industry. There is a prophylactics package, a film box, and a Chinese/English business card for the Gagosian
gallery. Also included in the photo are many copies of Chinese style comic books, called lianhuan hua. Lianhuan hua means “linked pictures”, they are a
combination of pictures and text that usually portray tales of heroes. After the People’s Republic of China was founded they became a very popular form of
government propaganda to help establish new policies and regulations. However, in the year 1966 when the Cultural Revolution began, their
popularity faltered. Today, these comic books have become pricey collectibles. Hao included them in this photo to show that as a result of the Cultural
Revolution, intelligent and productive artistic items like the lianhuan hua were banned; that there was a loss of knowledge during this period that truly
debilitated the nation.

The collages share similar characteristics in how they are made and presented. All of the compositions are individually scanned and rearranged to make
a meaningful statement. The found objects in the compositions often overlap and are separated from on another with black areas of negative space, thus
treating all the materials with the same weight of meaning. Each piece in the series not only has specific references and meaning, but they relate to each
other to express what it means to be Chinese.

In conclusion, My Things No. 6 provides a historical glimpse into the ever important part of Chinese history, the cultural revolution. The collection of materials
in this piece is riddled with meaning from the time they were popular and influenced roles among the people in China to the present time of how the Chinese
live their life today in the post Mao era.
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source: artscenebeijing

Hong Hao is one of the most famous Chinese contemporary photography artists. Highly independent, Hong Hao does not form part of any school, but experiments with many different aspects of photography and print, including digital and computer-generated imagery. Subjects of Hong Hao’s work are general things and images flooded around us. These daily objects are skillfully deconstructed and then rebuilt to show another slightly uncomfortable, but nevertheless beautiful reality. A cynical sense of humor is laid through all of Hong Hao’s works.

In his most recent series, “My Things”, Hong Hao has scanned images of everyday items from his personal life and arranged them using a computer. There is no traditional photo taken by a camera. The objects are shown life-size and some represent over 20 years accumulation on the part of the artist, while others could have been part of that day’s lunch. Bringing order to what can often feel like the random chaos of China’s ever expanding consumer society, these micro universes invite a moment of intimacy, a glimpse into the life of the artist and self-reflection on the subjectivity on the subjectivity of daily life.
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source: mahoo

你是否真的认识事物？洪浩的新作“负部”系列提出了这一问题, “负部”是“我的东西”系列的思辨性延展，使我们发现原本可以确认的事物变的似是而非。这些新作将物品的“底部”扫描, 经过电脑技术的处理后进行一种形式排列, 从“负部”的角度呈现了我们日常生活中正在使用、消费的物品。这种呈现方式模糊了物品的功能属性, 将物品的形状/颜色进行纯形式化的提炼。这使我们熟识的事物产生出一种陌生感，并将问题转化到有关认识、知觉的哲学辨论上来，使我们思考有关“认识”这一个知觉活动的本质问题。同时最终呈现的这一“物体负部”集合, 一方面消解了“物”的个体特性, 同时也使我们发现, 在消费主义观念的催生下, 大量的日常消费品已经在逐渐的消解了文化辨认的可能性。