Wu Jian'an, "Mask - Green Pine," 2018

In the hands of Wu Jian’an, traditional Chinese mediums become the means of exploring an idiosyncratic range of iconographic source material culled from all over the world. One of the two contemporary artists who represented China at the 2017 Venice Biennale, Wu Jian’an has emerged as one of the most thoughtful artists of his generation, using a wide range of materials to explore the philosophical and political boundaries of the visual arts.

Drawing from his mastery of paper-cut techniques, this work "Mask - Green Pine," is one of a series of monumental installation pieces crafted from vibrantly painted buffalo hides. Like previous works that use Chinese folklore to explore links between humanity and nature, Wu Jian'an's masks confront the viewer with what he describes as "pressure from the future," and question the relationship between humans and the animal world.

Buffalo hide, baking varnish, and acrylic.