Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Luyan) For example, Wang Luyan's re-formed bicycle project Bicycle 1995 and 1996 Bicycle, and Wang Jian Wei's Circulation - sowing and harvesting (1 993) and Export - import (1 995) are all direct presentations. For the last ten years or so, Gu Dexi n (Beijing) has consistently used materials of everyday use, for example plastic, and he constantly uses the themes of certain days, months and years. He never explains his works. I n h is work of the last two years, he has added another important material: animal flesh . I n these new works, the viewer can better appreciate the flavour of his oeuvre, which releases the strong desire of the i ndividual state of being, looking back on the social state of being. I ndividual psychology soliloquises the individual state of bei ng , or maybe these artists betray the hopes of their works. I often consciously stand behind matters to learn certain things hidden underneath the surface of matters, those so called 'mysterious things' . Therefore , I couldn 't become a 'cultural' artist concerned with larger social problems, even less could I become a stereotypical 'scientific researcher'. My perception of art is always revealed in the form of an 'internal soliloquy'. (Zhang Xiaogang , Sichuan). Zhang 's series 'Bloodline' (1 994-96) is inspired by old photographic collections of private families. He uses individual psychology to decorate the individual state of bei ng , wh ilst also dissembling the social ecology. The works of Shi Yong (Shanghai), Amplified site: The cross echo of personal living space (1 995) and Lin Tianmiao (resident in the Un ited States), The spread of winding (1 995) , strengthen the experimentation and l earn ing of the i nd ividual state of being and psychology. Using materialist forms of subsistence, these works g l impse and look back at the significance of individual existence, wh ich includes that of the artists themselves. The integration and separation of today's social and individual psychology and state of being enriches the present state of Chinese contemporary art as well as people's everyday lives 66