Site 8: Zunyi, Guizhou Province

Collective Painting – Little Swallow (Zhao Wei)

August 9

The Long March curatorial team had originally decided to organize a Long March Event to take place at Zunyi, in which the experts and scholars in town for the meeting, the members of the Zunyi Artists’ Association, and ordinary viewers of the exhibition would create a massive “leader portrait.” The original image would be enlarged and separated into many small squares, and the participants would each paint a square in the style and color of propaganda painting. All the painters working together would create a complete image, and the fruit of their labor would be exhibited in the local art museum. This activity would memorialize the groups of artists who produced “leader portraits” in China’s socialist past, and recall enlightenment-style artistic education. In producing a leader portrait, the Long March could discuss new forms of revolutionary memory and education in a cultural background quite different from that of the original portraits.

After reaching Zunyi, in order to more deeply connect with universally idolatrized cultural symbols, instead of merely borrowing images from revolutionary culture which may have lost their relevance, the curatorial team decided to use the image of a pop or movie or pop star instead of a leader. The decision came down to Leonardo DiCaprio or Chinese starlet Zhao Wei, and in the end, Zhao Wei was chosen.

In their original scheming, the curators had hoped that by creating the painting outdoors, they would attract a huge number of onlookers, some of whom would partake of the creative process themselves. But because the work was temporarily moved inside, there were far fewer viewers than anticipated. Guan Yuda and other Guizhou artists pretended to be specially employed for the project, and assisted in drawing some interested passersby.

Still, the expected plan whereby interested amateurs would be naturally attracted to the project changed into one whereby they were specially invited. Security guards and workers from the construction site near the Fenghuang Mountain Culture Center, along with little girls reading the newspaper by the entrance became part of the painting ranks. Zhao Wei was the idol of these young girls.

Dividing and painting was quite easy, but piecing the work together required more effort. As the masses moved, chaos became inevitable. Each person took a piece of the original photo and a large sheet of paper, but often lost the number of their piece upon completing work. Qiu Zhijie, on-site managers and artists from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Li Chuan and others prepared the portrait of Zhao Wei and assembled it into a giant image.

The curatorial crew and comrades climbed a steep slope to reach the peak of the city, overlooking the mountain landscape and streets below. This is where the annual Red Army dance takes place. Women from mixed generations – the oldest dressed in traditional costume, the youngest dressed in jeans and sweaters – dance together while a thirteen year-old boy plays a traditional wooden flute in the center. The women dance before lush mountains juxtaposed with the city below, and framed by a monumental fifty-foot high Cultural Revolution-era bronze sculpture. During the dance, the curatorial crew erected a Long March flag that bore the New English Calligraphy logo designed by Xu Bing. After the dance, Lu Jie distributed propaganda to the dancers. Town officials quickly intervened so Lu Jie quickly collected the propaganda and the troops headed back to Lijiang.