Born 1942
Lives Xi’an
Odd and Even Numerals Equivalent in the Hetu Book
1990
Ink on paper
200x128cm
Courtesy Long March Space
Guo Fengyi owes her career as an artist to the healing powers of Qigong. After being forced to retire early in 1987 owing to ill health, she took up the therapeutic art and was rewarded by a series of visions that she felt compelled to commit to paper. These finely wrought renderings in pen and ink are like biomorphic talismans of an alien religion; her iconic figures range from deities to zodiac incarnations, offering an amalgam of the historic and mythic. Princess Wencheng (2005) is a four-metre-high, double-headed female resplendent in feathers and finery, with a head of cascading curls and a setting-sun-style headdress. The spirituality of Guo’s oeuvre lends credibility to the notion of art as a means of redemption. (BB)
