Contemporary Chinese Art- another kind of view
DSL Collection
Person for Sale
More information on the works
More information on the works
ZHU FADONG
Person for Sale, 1995
Blue cotton jacket and fabric sign with acrylic and graphite framed under glass. Jacket: 26 x 30 in. (66 x 76.2 cm); Sign: 14 x 17 5/8 in. (35.6 x 45 cm). Signed and dated "Zhu Fadong 1995" lower right of frame.
"One of Zhu?s main artistic concerns is the plight of the millions of agricultural workers who illegally flock to China?s cities in search of manual jobs. Such jobs offer low wages and frequently appalling working conditions. In the 1994 performance Person for Sale, Zhu enacts the plight of the typical day laborer by going out dressed in a Mao suit, black leather shoes, and carrying a briefcase. On the back of his jacket was sewn a white cloth with red characters that red ?This person is for sale; please discuss price in person.? Zhu set out from his home in the northern district of Beijing everyday and walked in a different direction, visiting tourist attractions, a McDonald?s restaurant, the East Village experimental artist community, and even the labor market in the south where he mingled with his real-life counterparts. (H. Wu, Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, Chicago 2004, p. 141). The performance was recorded on video; the present lot features the actual clothing and sign that Zhu wore for the performance?s duration."
Phillips de Pury october 2007
PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist
LITERATURE W. Ai, ed., Black Cover Book, Beijing, 1994, p. 55-56 (illustrated); H. Wu, Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, Chicago, 2004, pp. 136 (illustrated), 140-141
Person for Sale, 1995
Blue cotton jacket and fabric sign with acrylic and graphite framed under glass. Jacket: 26 x 30 in. (66 x 76.2 cm); Sign: 14 x 17 5/8 in. (35.6 x 45 cm). Signed and dated "Zhu Fadong 1995" lower right of frame.
"One of Zhu?s main artistic concerns is the plight of the millions of agricultural workers who illegally flock to China?s cities in search of manual jobs. Such jobs offer low wages and frequently appalling working conditions. In the 1994 performance Person for Sale, Zhu enacts the plight of the typical day laborer by going out dressed in a Mao suit, black leather shoes, and carrying a briefcase. On the back of his jacket was sewn a white cloth with red characters that red ?This person is for sale; please discuss price in person.? Zhu set out from his home in the northern district of Beijing everyday and walked in a different direction, visiting tourist attractions, a McDonald?s restaurant, the East Village experimental artist community, and even the labor market in the south where he mingled with his real-life counterparts. (H. Wu, Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, Chicago 2004, p. 141). The performance was recorded on video; the present lot features the actual clothing and sign that Zhu wore for the performance?s duration."
Phillips de Pury october 2007
PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist
LITERATURE W. Ai, ed., Black Cover Book, Beijing, 1994, p. 55-56 (illustrated); H. Wu, Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, Chicago, 2004, pp. 136 (illustrated), 140-141
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Zhu Fadong
Blue cotton jacket and fabric sign with acrylic and graphite framed under glass. Jacket: 26 x 30 in. (66 x 76.2 cm); Sign: 14 x 17 5/8 in. (35.6 x 45 cm). Signed and dated
Blue cotton jacket and fabric sign with acrylic and graphite framed under glass. Jacket: 26 x 30 in. (66 x 76.2 cm); Sign: 14 x 17 5/8 in. (35.6 x 45 cm). Signed and dated