I’m deeply impressed by Ni Weihua’s works. From the expression of his works, it’s obviously inappropriate to define him as a mere photographer. In today’s media revolution where images are common in our daily life, his practice has posed an unavoidable question whether we shall insist on taking photos just for the sake of photography. I’ve written an article on insistent. From Ni’s usual way of expression, rather than today’s expression, he is an artist who uses images as a way to express ideas. What surges within him are beyond simple images, because he is not a photographer who captures peculiar images in the street and then pieces them together in front of a computer at home. What he attempts to present is mindset and his personal evaluation of aggressive urbanization. Image is just a proper way for him to express his ideas.
It’s interesting for Ni to name his work “Landscape Wall”. “Landscape” itself is an aesthetic concept, people tend to associate it with traditional sentiment and thoughts. However, it’s Ni Weihua who has found the real landscape among daily urban scenes. The walls built around construction sites have blocked the sight of pedestrians, hiding the construction sites. Besides, beautiful sceneries are also depicted on them for the purposes of “decoration”. Actually, “decoration” itself is a strange symbol. In Ni’s eyes, when cities are suddenly separated by “decorated” walls, pedestrians who walk in front of those “landscape walls” have become a kind of “antagonism”, “mocking” the decoration of the “landscape walls”. Of course, “mocking” is exactly the attitude of the artist. He has “discovered” the “mocking”, which finds expression in his works by means of a black humor.
Ni Weihua is contemporary with me. I emphasize that because as contemporaries, we have gone through the extreme time of revolution and understand the turmoil and cruelty of “fighting with people”. Only we can understand the “antagonism” hidden in the images. Because of Ni’s life experience, when he has chosen “landscape wall” as a key word, he has made a sharp contrast between the passers-by and the background of the “landscape wall” so as to express the power of such a key word. He intentionally incorporates those irrelevant images to the landscape wall, creating a kind of “tension between different social classes”. In other words, he creates a conflict between foreground and background. By doing so, he has expressed his views and surprised others, and then they will gain “insights” into his works. During their appreciation of these images, they then have “insights” into the “antagonism” implied in the contrast.
From the perspective of vision, I think Ni has put forward a question of views, rather than photography and combination. Actually, his works are closely associated with devices. He could employ three dimensions rather than two dimensions to show his ideas in his works if he wants to do so. Ni’s works already include a logic “process of observation” that takes a period of time. That process itself is an organic part of his works. To be specific, in “Landscape Wall”, walls and people in the front are a paradox. They form a relation which I refer to as “tension between different social classes”. It is by no means exaggerated. Actually, there is consciousness of “antagonism” in Ni’s works. For example, in one of his works, the theme is a babysitter who holds a child in her arm. Behind her is a kitchen with typical petty bourgeois sentiments, where stands an elegant petty bourgeoisie woman, drinking and feeling bored. This is the “conscious” arrangement of the artist to express antagonism in the image. So, for Ni, there is antagonism between the “landscape wall” and the people, which is also his theme. This theme can not be achieved by capturing images. Though sometimes Ni employs that technique, it’s not his style.
In my opinion, with his photography, Ni attempts to present an unsurprising but common fact through his long-term observation of the society. As a result, we can not approach his works from a traditional perspective of photography. Ni tells us clearly through his own photography: His works tell us something which originated from his observation and classification-the relationship between “landscape wall” and “city dwellers”. He tries hard to find a subject corresponding with that relationship of “tension and antagonism”, which exactly shows his attitude towards the current Chinese society.
On one hand, we are faced with a bizarre reality in terms of vision. I even believe that China has the most peculiar landscapes in the world. In other words, there’s no other place in the world that can provide more wonders than China in term of visual richness. I have studied photographs by Marc Riboud from 1990 to 2000. I found that as a Frenchman, he was also fascinated by China’s peculiar landscapes. His photographs are filled with lots of peculiar symbols. Though they are captured, they also share some key elements shown in Ni’s works. When Marc captured photos, he discovered all kinds of slogans, which constitute a feature of Chinese social landscapes. However, Marc employs the old technique, a typical Magnum way of capturing images. Now, faced with the same landscape, Ni Weihua can’t employ the pure photography technique of capturing images for his work “Landscape Wall”. This is what makes Ni special. He tries to signify and imply the “peculiar scenery” in China with the language of contemporary art, the contents of which are not only bizarre, but also thought-provoking. It’s obvious that Ni doesn’t strive for a precise description of those contents. Rather, he creates his works with one of those elements-“tension and antagonism”, which is also the theme of “Landscape Wall”.
As a result, Ni’s works have prompted us to wonder what’s Chinese dream? Is it as beautiful as we have depicted? Or does it have a sense of black humor?
To conclude, from the perspective of photography, Ni’s works represent a change that appeared just several years ago. It is completely different from the “documentary photography” and “conceptual photography”. Instead, it’s a method of combining different visual methods for a concept. As for Ni’s achievements in this regard, we might be able to tell clearly in a few years time.
Nov.10,2012,Shanghai