.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
As a fine art major, Ran Huang graduated with top marks in his class from Birmingham City University Faculty of Arts, Design and Media in 2004. Three years later, he earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Goldsmiths College, London. The title of The Next Round is True Life was prompted by a line in the movie Syriana. In this video work, 27 minutes and 23 seconds in length, Ran Huang delves into the inevitably banal and stagnant fen of contemporary culture and politics. London is the set for this work’s shooting, in a scene where three middle-aged male lead actors stand before the video’s black background, wearing white shirts and passing to and fro and chewing the same piece of bubble gum until all flavour has been extracted from this worn-out white wad.
Is this attempt to blow bubbles with a tasteless blob of bubble gum thoughtful, undaunted, frustrated, simply seeking out new ideas, or just playing a trick? The three hired actors treat the matter - which is tedious, repetitive and time-consuming - with a gravely severe professionalism, while the black background serves to rivet viewers’ eyes entirely onto the bodies of the white-shirted men, who appear either singly or two at a time, unexpectedly imparting to the video screen a classical touch. The artist attributes the appeal of this video to its highly forceful discourse. ‘Video most often seems more like a painting to me - with a pictorial meaning - and so animating this picture through performance is even more important.’
The pure black background arrangement focuses on the action of the relay itself, with the three persons’ act of sharing this piece of gum becoming a carrier of communication. Although this communication is repeated over and over, yet its signification (taste) bespeaks a gradual waning and dwindling away, and ultimately only stills of the exchange remain. All a fairs are in real time: there is no promise of the future, here, no shadow of the past. Through this creation, Ran Huang hopes to provide a means of resolving the as-yet unresolved contingencies inherent within the nature of contemporary reality. “I am keenly interested in ethics, this fundamental conundrum of the human race. All manner of issues touching on politics and culture lurk behind this notion of ethics. However, this work does not implicate any particular phenomenon, but addresses the conceptual issues surrounding its hidden nature … I think my creation in some way is trying to induce ‘belief’. This I think is an even more powerful a fair. Although I myself profess no faith, yet this work holds a quality akin to religion: it is never concerned with whether it imparts an understanding in the real sense, but rather merely bids you not to doubt its own profoundly-held beliefs.”
For almost half an hour, the three men pass on and masticate the same piece of bubble gum, which is a revolting activity for both actors and audience. From the very start when the bubble gum is still sweet, until it has taken on the mingled ‘characteristics’ of several different persons and finally has no taste left at all, the artist jumbles all of this mingled together, and this eccentric juxtaposition occasions viewers even more food for thought, since it intercedes between reasonable and unreasonable and the verisimilitude this image forms causes people to question our common standards and system of values.
Is this attempt to blow bubbles with a tasteless blob of bubble gum thoughtful, undaunted, frustrated, simply seeking out new ideas, or just playing a trick? The three hired actors treat the matter - which is tedious, repetitive and time-consuming - with a gravely severe professionalism, while the black background serves to rivet viewers’ eyes entirely onto the bodies of the white-shirted men, who appear either singly or two at a time, unexpectedly imparting to the video screen a classical touch. The artist attributes the appeal of this video to its highly forceful discourse. ‘Video most often seems more like a painting to me - with a pictorial meaning - and so animating this picture through performance is even more important.’
The pure black background arrangement focuses on the action of the relay itself, with the three persons’ act of sharing this piece of gum becoming a carrier of communication. Although this communication is repeated over and over, yet its signification (taste) bespeaks a gradual waning and dwindling away, and ultimately only stills of the exchange remain. All a fairs are in real time: there is no promise of the future, here, no shadow of the past. Through this creation, Ran Huang hopes to provide a means of resolving the as-yet unresolved contingencies inherent within the nature of contemporary reality. “I am keenly interested in ethics, this fundamental conundrum of the human race. All manner of issues touching on politics and culture lurk behind this notion of ethics. However, this work does not implicate any particular phenomenon, but addresses the conceptual issues surrounding its hidden nature … I think my creation in some way is trying to induce ‘belief’. This I think is an even more powerful a fair. Although I myself profess no faith, yet this work holds a quality akin to religion: it is never concerned with whether it imparts an understanding in the real sense, but rather merely bids you not to doubt its own profoundly-held beliefs.”
For almost half an hour, the three men pass on and masticate the same piece of bubble gum, which is a revolting activity for both actors and audience. From the very start when the bubble gum is still sweet, until it has taken on the mingled ‘characteristics’ of several different persons and finally has no taste left at all, the artist jumbles all of this mingled together, and this eccentric juxtaposition occasions viewers even more food for thought, since it intercedes between reasonable and unreasonable and the verisimilitude this image forms causes people to question our common standards and system of values.