Photography is a new, emerging force in the development of contemporary art in
China. Chinaís leading photographers have made an astounding transition during the past decade,
from using photography as a socio-documentary tool to creating cutting-edge conceptual
photographic art, even as the general public pays less attention to its current
artistic photographers than to its more renowned contemporary painters. Nevertheless,
the art world is taking notice of this talented group of photographer-artists.
Among them is Bai Yiluo, an pioneer whose work presents a new, original view of the world.
Bai Yiluo is a genteel and modest person, and his early “calligraphic” work Fly Head Scrip reflects his character — there is a Chinese saying: the writing mirrors the
writer. In this work, in place of an ordinary artistís signature, Bai uses a humble red stamp with the two carved characters for jun zi (gentleman). This stamp is not a traditional seal, but rather a piece of ancient
Chinese tile (fired clay), already carved with the characters when he found the
tile while living in Luoyang. It serves in Fly Head Scrip like a traditional seal, after photographic and digital processing, humbly supporting
the entire work with its “gentleman” character.
Born into an ordinary working family at the end of the Cultural Revolution, Bai became addicted to painting and the carving of seals during his childhood. His formal education and art training were limited to junior high school, however,
when he was forced to become a worker at the Luoyang tractor factory. During this period of intense physical labor, drudgery, and weariness, Bai never dreamed that he would become an artist. He sought his own personal solace and relief in attending, in his limited spare
time, a painting course for workers that was sponsored by the tractor factory.
Later, combining his meager savings with those of a friend, Bai bought some of the most basic photographic devices available in his area and
took it upon himself to learn the mechanics, processes, and art of photography.
After Bai had taught himself photography, conceptual and avant-garde photography was introduced
to China, changing certain traditional concepts. Bai became one of the earliest experimental photographers. Two of his early pieces,
Flies and Pubic Hair, were exhibited in 2001 and 2002, drawing considerable attention in the world
of traditional photography. Flies is a 100 cm x 300 cm single picture, while Pubic Hair is a wide rectangle within which are installed 312 photographs, arranged in
eight rows, each portraying a single piece of hair. In addition to the use of
traditional photographic and digital technologies, Baiís concepts and presentation reflected the influence of the post-modernist features
of installation art. In these two works, Bai transforms the familiar object into a new image by amplifying the ordinary:
insects and pubic hair. With these images, he broke new artistic ground in China,
stretching the boundaries of the then-prevailing traditional and restricted views
about photographic art as mere documentary evidence of events and places. Bai presented his photographs as a new way to view and reflect upon the intricacies
and wonders in the world around us. “If the ordinary object displays some extraordinary
features when viewed through a special lens,” Bai once said about these two pieces, “Then maybe we all need such a lens in our
lives”.
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