ZHENG GUOGU – PHOTOWORKS 1993-2016
2019-05-06Zheng Guogu was born in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, China. He grew up when the impact of the Cultural Revolution was waning as the country opened its door to an increasingly globalized world. As a result of this profound shift, Zheng Guogu had access to the cultures of the West and Hong Kong through television, pirated Hollywood films and computer games. This early exposure to Western media, culture and consumerism played a key role in shaping the artist’s worldview and artistic practice.
During the 1990s, Zheng Guogu began to experiment with photography as his primary medium. One of his best-known works from this early period is My Teacher (1993). In this work, Zheng Guogu sits next to a homeless man close to his own age in the middle of the street as they both laugh full-heartedly. Zheng Guogu encountered this man while in Yangjiang and spent over six months observing his behavior, fascinated by his disregard for societal norms. Zheng Guogu continued to experiment with photography in works such as My Bride (1994) and Honeymoon (1995). In these works, he demonstrated that the camera can be used to capture a seemingly truthful image of an entirely fictitious event, similar to the ways in which images in mass media culture sell a false sense of reality.
Opposite – The Vagarious Life of Yangjiang Youth No.16, 1996
Exhibition runs through to May 18th, 2019
Eli Klein Gallery
398 West Street
New York
10014 NY
