Rong Rong at Chambers Fine Art - Brief Article

Art in America, July, 2001 by Jonathan Goodman

Beijing-based photographer Rong Rong belongs to an influential generation of contemporary Chinese artists. Born in Fujian province in 1968, he began his studies in painting but changed to photography. Poverty was an obstacle---it took the artist three years of work in his father's grocery to save enough money to buy a camera--but he prevailed. He moved to Beijing and became part of a mostly underground art world. Living on the outskirts of Beijing in what was called the East Village, he became known for his strong photographs of the performances of such artists as Zhang Huan. In the urban environment, where so much architectural change has occurred, Rong Rong commenced a ruins series in which he documented the dilapidated buildings and their traces of human occupation.

Rong Rong's lyrical images of rubble and solitary walls are poignant examples of a lost world, and something more, as well. In 1996 No. 1 (1) Beijing (1996), he focuses on a bare wall with a crossed steel support; placed along a vertical element are snapshots of glamorous women, including Marilyn Monroe. In this and other pictures in the series, the artist documents the physical transformation of Beijing; that the beautiful women caught by modern depictive means are Western as well as Asian also intimates a social transition.

While the exhibition included three images from the ruins series, the main focus was on new work, a wedding gown series in which Rong Rong poses with a female companion in romantic scenes that also question gender roles in a patriarchal culture. These large black-and-white photos (approximately 3 feet square) are partly hand-dyed; the color, usually applied to the couple, sharply contrasts with the often bleak black-and-white scene. In 1997 No. 4 (1) Beijing (1997), two figures wearing dresses, each with an arm around the other, face a wall. It is possible to distinguish Rong Rong from his female friend by his masculine arms, even though he is wearing a Western-style golden gown. In 1997 No. 4 (2) Beijing (1997), he stands in a corner, embracing his companion, who wears a white dress. The woman's figure eclipses most of the artist's body, but one can see that he wears the same gold dress as in 1997 No. 4 (1). Next to the couple is a windowless opening, through which dead branches and a crumbling building are visible.

Rong Rong is working symbolically in these images. A Western wedding dress (affordable only for the wealthy in China) is an emblem of different mores. In 1999 No. 8 (2) Beijing (1999), Rong Rong lies on a rock, a mountain looming above him and his naked body partially covered by a white dress. He and the dress are touched with color; everything else is in black and white. In addition to its studied vulnerability, the image speaks of the way that Western influence, now pervasive in China, is impinging on ancient traditions.