I have noticed that my human head sculptures are becoming increasingly scary and shocking. The reason that I continue to shock people is that most of my themes are very disturbing and even controversial sometimes. If you remember the crying baby head, "Mom, it hurts", the sculpture is not only to mourn for the lives lost in the earthquake, but to raise the question of disasters caused by human as well. The 80 kids buried under the ruins of the kindergarden did not died because of the earthquake, they died because of the terrible quality of the concrete which was used to build the kindergarden and because of the corrupted government officials who wanted to get profit in the construction!
Now, this one has a broader theme about the society in general. After making "Mom, it hurts", I became very intrigued by extreme facial expressions and the stories behind them. I chose to make this shocked old man's head to represent the constant stress and confusion people feel in today's society. How frequently are you shocked by the daily news? When you read the newspaper and saw the American soldier who shot 16 Afghan civilians and the young black boy in Florida who was killed just because he was wearing a hoodie and happened to be black, you have probably made the same face as the sculpture.
The "accidents" of the individuals reveals the hidden problems in our society. The job of the artist, I believe, is not necessarily to provide an answer, but to ask the question and raise people's awareness of things we still have to work on.
This sculpture is made of paper clay with a newspaper core. It took me about two months to complete this sculpture and I hope it makes you think.
If the sculpture makes you uncomfortable and frown, I have succeeded.
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