When putting the photos of a person during different periods in life together, it is easy to observe the changes in her appearance. Whether adversity or prosperity, good or bad mood, all could be revealed from the appearance. Sometimes the change is so dramatic that it almost turns out to be two different people.
The figure in ‘Definitely Him’ is a classmate of Geng Jianyi, and the figure in ‘Definitely Her’ is provided by one of Geng’s classmates. Geng has never known or seen this lady, and he guesses she might be the mother of his classmate. Around 1998, the artist has received these original certificate gradually. Work permit, Admission ticket, ID card of PRC, library card, Swimming card, Medical card, Teaching license, Graduation certificate. Geng Jianyi just had an idea about this work in that time, and had done a small-scale experimental work, which was not really completed. And, in Minsheng Art Museum exhibition in 2012, the work is created and presented completely in a true sense. After high precision scanning of every photo in the certificates, the artist re-amplified and printed unified 50 x 30 cm photos. The artist do not have specific display requirements. (At Minsheng Art Museum, the work is in age-based order, for this might be more easy for the audiences.)
These concepts do have connections with Geng Jianyi’s “Form” series. As always, Geng Jianyi has been focused on completing only half of the work, and introducing others to the built “structure”, maybe everyone’s result will be different. The most important two points in this series are, firstly, they are real event, shadow of the society; secondly, these are things tangled in Geng’s mind, just as he hopes to find the final answers in all his works.
Detail pictures:
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