N°3: 4×5 black and white film, silver bromide emulsion test print, collages on plywood with canvas, artificial hair.
N°4: 4 x 5 black and white film, collages on canvas silver bromide emulsion print with gauze and artificial hair.
Study N°2
Photography and mixed media, 120 x 90 cm, village of Shangyuan, Beijing, 2010.
The female nude, always treated with the utmost respect, occupies a central place in Gao Bo’s work. In the Studies, the photographer only reveals the body of the woman so that it can be covered up once more, in the space of the work, with medical gauze that evokes both the veil of a young bride and her shroud. This laying-bare goes hand in hand with distanciation, and we make out, more than we actually see, signs of femininity. The body of this headless anonymous woman seems to come from a mysterious afterworld that could be the realm of dreams or death. Hair, the traditional attribute of femininity, frames and encroaches upon the photograph, evoking a dark, unfinished, burnt tapestry. It forms a veil of modesty that the artist draws over the damaged body of this dreamed-of or deceased woman—a vibrant ghost that haunts Gao Bo’s work.
Study N°3
Photography and mixed media, 140 x 110 cm, village of Shangyuan, Beijing, 2009
Study N°4
Photography and mixed media, 125 x 100 cm, village of Shangyuan, Beijing, 2010. Private collection.