When Mao Tse Toeng came to power Coca Cola was promptly banned as the poisonous drink of the arch-enemy. Following his death, we have watched this symbol of the American consumer culture rapidly advance again to the new 'frontier' of the People's Republic of China. With the coming of economic pluralism and globalization in the 1990s it seems impossible to call a halt to this development. Wu Ershan, a former student of the Beijing Film Academy, has opted entirely for the new times. In his own words: "You eat Chinese food, but you drink Coke...You can't erase this reality." He is also crystal-clear about his choice of medium: "I never paint anymore. See, I hang my clothes on my old frames." In the wake of the rapid rise of video art in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou towards the end of the nineties this statement is valid for many other Chinese artists. Alongside his independent video art, Ershan Wu makes his living from advertising films and produces promos for MTV. He says that both worlds offer him the chance of building up a complex visual vocabulary which can be used in all kinds of ways. For the event Evolution@JAZZ, held in Beijing on 14 October 1999 he participated in an experimental interdisciplinary performance alongside the electronic musician Chen Dili, the installation artist Zhan Hui and the modern dance group led by Zeng Huanxing. He made two videos which were projected on Zhang Hui's installation. The videos, about 'crashing' and 'numbers', are part of a five-part series that investigates the reality of 'big words'. Both works have a strong visual orientation and the links with the MTV generation are obvious. "I am not a text-oriented person. My thoughts are more immediately visual." This visual power was already evident in his student project 'Looking around' (1998).
– Johan Pijnappel |
Wu Ershan, 1972, Beijing (China)
Lives and works in Beijing (China)
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