I bought a painting the other day. Liu Fei paints, among other things, bald women. Now why he should want to paint bald women in vaguely retro clothing and stick guns in their hands, I'm not sure. But I thought it looked cool and strangely erotic. This might be a sure sign of my inherent decadence but if so, so be it.
Liu Fei's one of the "contemporary Chinese artists" that are so popular in the west. I suspect the collectors read critiques of Communism and Human Rights issues into the paintings. But from the Chinese part of the world it isn't quite as simple as that. For a start the laughing faces so popular in contemporary Chinese art may imply irony, but they also implies a lofty indifference to all things, politics included. And the politics that come out of the barrel of this gun are just as likely to endorse Mao's revolution as to suggest it was perhaps a tad harsh on the bourgeoisie. After all, what is more bourgeois than painting and it should be noticed that the painting is not traditional Chinese but a western style realism, with of course Chinese characteristics. The very thing that Mao and his cultural revolution spawned. We might find echoes of the Russian propaganda poster that inspired a lot of revolutionary art in China, and has now turned into a Walholish creation of an object ascribed with value to be traded in a very lucrative market place.
That said, one should not under-estimate the mere appeal of "coolness" as the soul intention of the artist. In Chinese art decoration, mood, and an unostentatious simplicity are often valued above complicated symbolism and narrative, and those who read too much into it all are dismissed as pretentious and strangely missing the point. And the point is, this is what I do, like it or not.
Frankly though, the most alarming thing about this photograph is that I look so old. And worse, even if I dyed my hair, like all the guys do in Hong Kong, I would still look old. I don't feel old. I have the emotions of a sixteen year old and quite a bit of the energy. So awash with what must be the oldest adolescent hormones on the planet I find bald women with guns a turn on. Though not, as some no doubt do, exclusively. I now await all offers with my usual interest, and the proviso that there be an orderly and patient queue formed.