XX, Li Ming

Artwork Overview

Li Ming, XX
Li Ming, XX
Li Ming
XX
2009
XX, 2009
Where object was made: China
Material/technique: single-channel video; 5 minutes 17 seconds
Credit line: Museum purchase: Shirley Cundiff Haines and Jordan L. Haines Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2012.0037.01-6
Not on display
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Exhibition Label, Jun-2013: This video begins with two young men sitting back to back on a rock in an open field. In the distance is the gentle hum of a busy road that snakes along the picturesque West Lake in Hangzhou, China. Quietly, the men gently acknowledge one another with gentle head nods. Then, they begin. Calmly at first, they attempt to exchange shirts. In their struggle, they become more entangled. Their naked torsos are intertwined in an uncomfortable, absurdist union. Their comic discomfort—compounded by ambiguous sexual tension—presses deep into the unspoken psychological complexities of everyday relationships. This performance has a therapeutic edge. The emotional energy eventually resolves itself, and the two exhausted bodies now wearing stretched-out shirts return, full cycle, to stasis.