Public Grain

2004

Harlan & Weaver

Culture

China, 21th Century

Medium

color etching and aquatint

Support

Chine collé on wove paper

Measurements

Platemark: 71 x 62 cm (27 15/16 x 24 7/16 in.); Sheet: 92.5 x 72.6 cm (36 7/16 x 28 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Judith and James A. Saks 2005.257

Impression

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

Chinese-born, New York-based artist Yun-Fei Ji works in the style and format of classical Chinese landscape painting, combining it with contemporary references. Here villagers have gathered large baskets of grain, but foreboding images, such as skeletons or ghosts wearing headdresses at left, and strange hybrid creatures at right, imply imbalance in the world. The artist’s memories from his childhood in Maoist China surface in the form of a portrait of the communist leader, and a red banner, signifying communist propaganda of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). During that time, the government transformed the agrarian economy through wide-scale industrialization, displacing farm communities into
collectives for the production of steel.

A vertically oriented color etching and aquatint depicts two towering, woven grain bins in the center. Figures with light skin tones congregate among baskets and a portrait of a man. A translucent pink banner with red characters stretches across the structures. In the foreground, flowering trees with white blossoms rise from dark, craggy landforms. Fine, etched lines and soft washes of color define the figures against a neutral background.

Public Grain

2004

Yun-Fei Ji, Harlan & Weaver

(Chinese, b. 1963)

China, 21th Century

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