Artist: Shi Jinsong

Title: Shades of Gray - The Wuhan Gray  

Material: Homemade wuhan grey paint,  mirror   

Size:  variable 

Year: 2013

Donated by Shi Jinsong

Lot. SA-24

Reserve: US$1,000

“They belong to the shades of gray of my youth…”

Shi Jinsong’s Shades of Gray was a collaborative performance and installation, exhibited during Art Basel Hong Kong in 2013, commissioned by Fine Arts Literature Art Center the New Space Gallery.

Shi Jinsong commissioned his 60 sculpture students in Wuhan to conceptualise their lives in the city – the particles and matter on which it is carried – the dust – and the colour which represents it. ‘Dust’ of various forms was collected, prepared and mixed to form an elemental paint representative of Wuhan itself. This was then applied in self portraits to “dressing mirrors” – a nostalgic object from Shi Jinsong’s childhood, which he recalls vividly as a fixture when locked at home.  The result displayed in entirety was more than just evidence of ‘the artist’s hand’ at work or even multiple artists, but documents process, material, manipulation and creation.