15 January – 5 May 2009
Wen Wu turns the gaze of her ancient Greek male homosexual alter ego onto emo boys for her First Step exhibition at Chinese Arts Centre.
Wen Wu is a London based painter who grew up and was educated in Qing Dao, China. Wu is interested in beauty and the constructs of beauty. Her previous works have drawn influence from the western depictions of beauty in magazines of the 40s and 50s which were available to Wu during her time at university.
The title ‘Eat, drink, man, man’ comes from an old Chinese phrase ‘Eat, drink, man, woman’, which shows the two basic desires of a human being – Eating and Sex. For her First Step exhibition Wen Wu has changed the title from ‘man, woman’ to ‘man, man’. This rational, even aesthetic notion, comes from the persona of her alter ego, a middle aged ancient Greek Male, into which she transforms herself whenever she begins her periods of artistic practice. It is her homosexual alter ego that has this ‘fantasy of the fine youths’ that runs through her works.
Inspired by the late nineteenth century portraits of Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas), Oscar Wilde’s gay lover, Wu has developed from exploring the feminine ideal to portrayals of beautiful young men. Her latest work employs the gaze of an alter ego developed from the historically accurate yet taboo breaking Greek myth of Ganymede. Ganymede is interpreted to have been the male lover of Zeus and depictions from ancient times through to the Baroque have shown Ganymede to be a beautiful young man raptured by an eagle (Zeus). From this unique perspective Wen creates oil paintings which convey a fascination with the beauty of young men.
As part of her latest series, Wen shows a painting of cooked beef being sliced by a knife. The meat though succulent and delicious can also be seen as violent and erotic. The surrounding paintings appear homoerotic and in their ambiguity they suggest an unseen pleasure. Wen feels sexual expression is similar to the intimate expression of enjoying delicious food and the paintings suggest the links between the two experiences.
Wen Wu was born in Qingdao, China in 1978. She graduated in 2001 with a Fine Art degree from Qinghua University, Beijing. She moved to London in 2004 and achieved a MA in Fine Art in 2005 at the London Metropolitan University.
