Someone: Wow you’re so easy to talk to! I feel like our personalities fit so well together!
Me: thanks i made this one special just for you
Wu Zei (乌贼) by Huang Yong Ping (黄永砯). Mediterranean exhibition, Monaco Oceanographic Museum (red). 2010. What About The Art?, Qatar Museums Gallery Al Riwaq (white). 2016.
Huang Yong Ping is a Franco-Chinese artist who rose to prominence as a contemporary, avant-garde artist. He began his artistic pursuits as a self-taught student, becoming influenced by artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Beuys. In 1986, Huang founded the Xiamen Dada (厦门达达) group alongside other Chinese artists similarly aligned to his postmodern philosophies, collectively cultivating a controversial and provocative art practice.
The meaning of Huang’s installation coalesces in his naming of the work - “Wu Zei” is the Chinese name for the cuttlefish, but the ideogram “Wu” can represent darkness or blackness, while “Zei” conveys the idea of corruption or betrayal. In enhancing his work with semiology, Huang draws attention double possibilities of darkness in water - marine ink and oil pollution; on renewal and corruption.
Photos courtesy of Wen-You Cai of Cai Studios and Monaco Oceanographic Museum.
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“A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort.”— Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects (via chalamets)
