Shi Jinsong

Shi Jinsong (born 1969, Dangyang County Hubei Province, China) is a Chinese artist based in Wuhan and Beijing. He studied at Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in China where he majored in sculpture and mastered an array of traditional styles and techniques. He graduated in 1994.

He is particularly known for his first solo exhibition in the United States at Chambers Fine Art in New York Na Zha Baby Boutique exhibition, a series of stainless steel sculptures depicting baby accessories—rattle, cot, stroller, etc.—made from razor-sharp blades (Na Zha is a child warrior deity in Chinese mythology). He is violent and sly and flamboyantly dressed in flaming trousers with fireball feet. Today, he is associated with lottery, gambling, and the high life and is the star of a cartoon TV show. Shi Jinsong humorously depicts Na Zha in his exhibition as the “new face of Mothercare.” Shi describes Na Zha as “a supernatural youthful hero who always recovers and refuses to grow up. He has three heads, nine eyes and eight arms, with blue clouds coming from his mouth, flamed wheels under his feet, and all kinds of powerful weapons in his hands. He needs only to shout for clouds to turn into rain. He cuts his own flesh and commits suicide to save his father, fights the dragon king, and overturns the universe.” This is the Na Zha portrayed in Shi’s artwork. Chambers Fine Art described this work as a "dialogue, at once menacing and ironic, between the forms of mythic Chinese culture and modern day globalization". He returned to this theme for his Secret Book of Cool Weapons, which portrayed corporate logos such as the Nike Swoosh as martial arts weapons.

Shi has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including Shanghai Cool: Creative Reproduction at the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Mahjong at Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland, Alors, La Chine? at the Pompidou Center in Paris, and Too Much Flavour at Chambers Fine Art in New York.