Chinese Historical Figures

This large scale of portraits belongs to a monumental domain. Collecting close-up portraits taken during the Cultural Revolution, Xu Weixin enlarges them into immense figurative paintings. Apparently, the source of these photographs has its origins in an extraordinary and turbulent period of history. Xu transforms the monumentality in photographs and creates a new one in paintings. The portraits thus have dual monumentality implications: it is both individual autobiography and collective memory; private as well as national macro political domain; general preservation and also critical reflection. We must ask "how do the dual monumentality implications come to appear in Xu's works?" 真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真"真"真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真真