Shi Jinsong explores the long history and ever-evolving present of China, all the while creating work that humorously challenges the contemporary art market and the roles of artists, viewers, and buyers. His work includes sculptures, installations, mixed-media compositions, ink-on-paper paintings, and digital and participatory projects. These are filled with references to China’s ancient belief systems, crafts, and aesthetics, cleverly tweaked by the artist. Using both natural and industrial materials, he has, for example, produced a set of nonfunctional furniture, with elongated, exquisitely delicate forms based on those of an earlier era. He has also updated traditional Chinese ink painting by featuring such mundane subjects as workers’ tools. Not content to keep the creative process all to himself, Shi has also provided gallery-goers with downloadable instructions, allowing them to bypass the market and reproduce his work.
