The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Public Grain

Public Grain

2004
(Chinese, b. 1963)
China, 21th Century
color etching and aquatint
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.)
Gift of Judith and James A. Saks 2005.257
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.
  • ?-2005
    Judith and James A. Saks, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2005-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • New Narratives: Contemporary Works on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2023-April 14, 2024).
    Ji Yunfei: Last Days of Village Wen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-July 31, 2016).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 12, 2016 - July 31, 2016); “Ji Yunfei: Last Days of Village Wen”
  • {{cite web|title=Public Grain|url=false|author=Yun-Fei Ji, Harlan & Weaver|year=2004|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.257