Innocent Woman

Collective Efforts

• The performance art Made in Germany, Quality of China ends with this painting called Collective efforts. In her studio that is remodeled on a former workshop of BMW, Lan Jiny gathered eighteen German artists and art devotees, according to her prearranged sketch, each copying a specified pattern on a canvas measuring 100 x 70cm. Then the eighteen canvas were pieced together to make two paintings, each, measuring 300 x 210cm, made up of nine canvas. One of the paintings is touched up whereas the other uglified. In the end these two modified paintings are juxtaposed to form the final Collective efforts.

TI SI TA

The performance art Artist - Ti si ta, based on a certain social event, implies in an ironical way those avant-garde artists' situation in present-day China. They have to put up with restrictions from top to bottom, slanders from bottom to top and jealousies from their peers. Playing eight roles, i.e., "a protector of intellectual property rights", "a safeguard for the national economic interests", "a defender for family moral principles", "an absolute scholar", "an elegant petty bourgeoisie", "a smart businessman", “a commoner trying to put the pain in oblivion", and "an implicated artist", Lan Jiny, in eight pair of shoes with different inscriptions, like "thief", "traitor", "rogue", "being idle", "corrupting public morals", "a fool", " touching the tender spot" and  "spoiler", kicks in a symbolic way the portrait of a nude male artist she has painted on a wood door. Then she destroys the portrait with her "axe shoes" called "unwarranted", concluding this black humor that plays on the Chinese pronunciation of "artist"— ah –ti- si- ta (literally meaning "oh, kick him to death").