Crazy Bird-4 鵟-5, 2018

Gelatin silver print, airlaid paper, ink, acrylic, glass paint, fluorescent pigment, pigment for Chinese painting, stamp, acrylics, hot melt adhesive, resin, pinned with alloy nails and brass pins, edition paper clay, elmwood frame, teakwood frame
Set of 10 pieces, overall 255 x 55 x 8cm
Writing the Chinese characters 'The Ruler of Light (zhí guāng zhě)' on the series of works titled Crazy Bird, the members of Birdhead claim to be capable of manipulating light, and chant the light’s contribution to photography. They use the word meanings as invisible elements to express emotions in their works. For example, the name 'Passions Bloom Ambitions (qíng fàng zhì dàng)', which comes from Chinese poet Cao Zhi's poem, illustrates a free state of creation. Putting the Chinese characters of seasons and solar terms on images seems to be the records of time, but in fact it is praise for the natural rules and vitality. Apart from calligraphy, some of the words take the form of Chinese traditional seal in the series Crazy Bird. The exquisite pieces, which are less than 30 centimeters in length, were not made by Birdhead until 2017. Bucking the trend of large contemporary artworks, they challenge the limitation of spatial experience. Seemingly free sketches and hand scrawls directly reflect the artists’ flash of insight. The images, characters and materials convey a sense of innocence and purity as if they are the cream on the desserts made of paper clay, while the combination between the stiff materials, like sewing parts of two photographs with paper clips, shows the artists’ deliberate creation. Courtesy ShanghART.