Between a rock and a tall pine: The ‘grotesque’ as an expression of irony and identity crisis in Chinese art

Abstract

Abstract I would like to suggest that the genre of the ‘grotesque’ represents a recurrent strategy in the way Chinese artists deal with major changes in the political, social and economic arenas. This article will discuss resonances between the contemporary and the historic, as corresponding epochals of turbulent times, as social commentary, and as a critique of art. The use of the term ‘grotesque’ refers to such strategies employed by artists that have stepped out of the zone of established conventions and acceptability, through exaggeration, distortion and sometimes visceral shock, with irony as a salient quality, by challenging convention and the framework of the time. We will draw on the ‘Eccentrics’ of the Ming dynasty, who dealt with disillusionment using grotesque caricatures of traditionally idealized subjects. The main example is Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), and discussion will be supported by art criticisms of distinguished Chinese art historians James Cahill and Andrew Plak. For the contemporary period, we will discuss grotesque strategies based on modernist tactics by way of creative destruction, to circumvent, ameliorate and negotiate between the past and the present. The grotesque is once again predicated upon exaggerated and expressionistic styles as well as graphic and gratuitous depictions of violence. I will be discussing Qiu Zhijie’s Copying the Orchid Pavilion Preface a Thousand Times (1986–1997) and Cao Fei’s Haze and Fog (2013).