Duan Jianyu (b.1970) Crazy Shopping Bag No. 4

Duan Jianyu (b.1970) Crazy Shopping Bag No. 4 Fibreglass, acrylic, steel bars and furry ball, 2019, overall 1615 x 553 x 440mm (63 5/8 x 21 3/4 x 17 3/8in) Provenance: With Stephen Friedman Gallery, London *Please note that UK Import VAT of 5% is payable on the hammer price of this lot. This may not apply if the work is immediately exported. ***Duan Jianyu is a Chinese contemporary artist recognised for her distinctive combination of surrealism, humour and social observation. Born in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, she graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1995. Her multidisciplinary practice draws upon Chinese artistic traditions, Western art history, popular culture and the contradictions of contemporary Chinese society. Crazy Shopping Bag No. 4 (2019) exemplifies Duan’s interest in consumer culture and the psychology of desire. Created using fibreglass, acrylic, steel bars and a furry ball, this unique sculptural work measures approximately 161.5 cm in height. The work belongs to her Crazy Shopping Bag series, which considers the insatiable appetite for consumption in an age of online shopping. Duan has explained that the blobfish, whose appearance changes dramatically when brought to the surface, provided a visual metaphor for this excessive desire. Duan’s practice frequently juxtaposes the familiar with the absurd, using unexpected imagery to expose the social pressures and contradictions of modern life. Her work combines an accessible, often humorous visual language with more critical observations about contemporary society. Through Crazy Shopping Bag No. 4, she transforms the everyday act of shopping into a surreal reflection on appetite, excess and the seemingly limitless demands of consumer culture.

Estimate:£2,500

View all items fromForum AuctionsorLighting