This work’s title is a hybrid of historical wit and modern tragedy: the satirical petition of the dwarf Dongfang Shuo and the fierce vengeance of Lu Xun's Meijian Chi. In this long, folding scroll, the artist transmutes the bitter realities of "self-abasement" and "psychological martyrdom" into vibrant, carnivalesque animal fables.
Crocodiles, rabid dogs, and grotesque fowl dance amidst colors so saturated they verge on the psychedelic. The wordplay scattered throughout—puns on "Hungry Fish" and absurd proclamations like "Peeing like a Dog"—resemble the rambling soliloquies of a drunkard, capturing the raw, chaotic essence of survival through a lens of black humor.
Fu Baoyi (born 2001 in Zhuji, Zhejiang; based in Hangzhou) works across multiple media to deconstruct established modes of perception through humor and irony. His practice examines the alienation and reconstruction of traditional culture and ethical systems within contemporary contexts. Focusing on cultural symbols emerging from China’s social transformation—such as martial arts, folk traditions, and internet memes—as well as reimagined narratives from premodern zhiguai (accounts of the strange) literature in relation to modern history, Fu employs absurd visual narratives to reveal the tensions between collective and individual identity.
Influenced by internet subcultures and youth communities, his recent works adopt sharp, nonsensical metaphors to critique consumerism and the illusory nature of historical narratives. Using everyday imagery as a vehicle, Fu further interrogates the relationship between individual expression and lived reality.
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