History, culture, pain and myth. Whilst coming from two very different visual schools, the work of Michael Armitage and Liu Wei is not too dissimilar at heart. In the Ralph Rugoff curated La vie moderne at the 13th Biennale de Lyon, both artists explore the contradictions that sit at the roots of their respective home countries.
Kenya and China have many differences — geographically, politically, economically — but they do not completely lack common ground, both often finding their global image to be loaded with the weight of history. Armitage uses many different traditional techniques to address colonialism and tribalism, whilst taking an often painful look at its present inequalities, while Wei considers the recent history of China and its rapid urban development.
Armitage’s Numbers (Mau Mau) is shown for the first time here, depicting (through Armitage’s signature veil of distractingly vibrant paint) a numbered and sandwich-boarded detainee leaving the courtroom, during the British government’s imprisonment and torture of Kenyan Mau Mau (Kikuyu freedom fighters) in colonial concentration camps. ‘Given the recent legal battle and this year’s victory of several Kenyan elders against the British Government, it felt particularly poignant that [this] painting was chosen,’ Armitage tells Elephant.
Despite this nod to history, there is also a level of discomfort between past and present, where history seemingly fails to inform the present of a better way. ‘The complexity of the freedom fighters’ situation feels like a familiar narrative today of many of the ongoing political disputes around the world, with several governments involved and the struggle for visibility of those that are most affected.’
Liu Wei’s work, Enigma (2014) is a large installation that is made up of many different, and often incohesive parts. Large metal frameworks, video projections and found objects create a space that, as a whole, is intended to express ‘ill-defined, outdated, authoritarian intentions.’ The layout of the installation draws the viewer in physically, as one must pass through it to get to the other side.
Michael Armitage and Lui Wei are showing with White Cube as part of the Biennale de Lyon until 3 January 2016
