Artistic Style
Shi’s main material is large amounts of stainless steel. This gives his artwork a gleaming, polished, and cold look with razor sharp edges. Shi is known for his childcare products and weaponry. In 2002, his exhibition Secret Book of Cool Weapons transformed common corporate logos into an array of ancient weaponry. Despite his heavy portrayal of machines in his work, Shi is not interested in modern day machinery. Many details and additions seen on his pieces do not even offer any practical use. Shi adds his own experience and direction to his artwork, giving it a sense of rebellion and contradiction to humanity and morals. This sets his work apart from the typical art of contemporary China. Shi moved out of the explorative stage of form and language, saying that “language is of suspicious nature, especially that with characteristics such as the attractive logo of brands as seen in the commercial market.” The mechanical form depicted in Shi’s artwork is a metaphor for real life experience. While Shi’s work is not intended to give off a message, he observes social norms and customs with a neutral perspective and then creates a twisted analysis of it. Shi has a very broad mentality, believing that every thing has many surfaces and directions from which to view it. This includes his artistic materials such as steel and charcoal. Shi enjoys exploring different kinds of physical forces, including artificial, natural, and unnamed.
Read more about this topic: Shi Jinsong
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