DSL Collection

By Gu Zhenqing

Pretending to be innocent was he only choice left for Cui Xiuwen after she began her artistic creation in the form of a personal blog.
 
Since then, the image of this pretty, innocent Chinese Lolita has been secured as the projected female model in the hearts of many artists. Cui Xiuwen always uses assumption as the criterion for choosing the image of her character on video  first assuming that the audience is able to accept as well as respond to her work; and secondly assuming the composition of her viewers to be adult males, with Caucasian males as the majority, with the presumption that they are all of them voyeurs, or at least potential voyeurs. Thus, facing her intended global audience, she methodically reveals the naked female body, in flesh and in spirit, with the condition that she must be accepted as a female artist, hailing from a China in the eyes of white males, where sexual relationships are mysterious and enigmatic. With the symbolic background of red-lacquered doors and walls, Cui acts out the pitiful form and appearance of her Chinese Lolita, constantly recreates and flaunts the different faces of this bewitching personality, and at times, even reveals the shrewdness of a mature woman. The numerous digital interpretations of her image as an innocent young woman have become her magical tool to bring to life all the different identities. Yet psychologically, whether this image can uphold the formalistic, both timid and bold character of her body and mind, and her ideological sensitivity to the gender war  only her audience would be able to tell. After years of painstaking search for self through different media including painting, performance and video, and eventually gaining overnight fame with her video work  Heaven and Earth, Cui Xiuwen has finally cultivated an astute power of judgment acquired from both sensuous and intellectual experiences.

In this consumerist society, even 'contemporary art' requires a target audience. Once the demand is defined, the demand and supply system will be able to run a smooth, healthy cycle. As long as Cui Xiuwen continues to walk the international stage in the name of the Chinese female artist, it will always be for the interest of her own target audience.