In the Sigg Collection exhibit in M+ Museum, one artwork by Duan Jianyu caught my eye immediately. Created in 2000, the artist invites the viewer to peek into an intimate scene as if through binoculars or facing mirrors. The drawn red curtains part to reveal two faceless, hairless female nudes, one of them playfully pinches the other’s nipple, recalling a scene in a famous French palace court painting from the 1500s named Gabrielle d’ Estrees et une de ses soeurs (Gabrielle d’Entrees and One of Her Sisters).
What led me into contemplation was their lack of facial features, symbolizing a loss of individuality. This intimate scene is being put onto a stage, as suggested by the red curtains. Who is viewing this? Whose perspective are we being led to? The scene depicted gave me a strong sense of voyeurism, as if the viewer is peering into a private moment or interaction. This sensation is further intensified by the circular framing, which creates a sense of focus and enclosure, drawing attention to the figures within.
Duan Jianyu is inviting us to consider that visual media, predominantly created by and for heterosexual men, frames and portrays women from a perspective that is inherently objectifying and voyeuristic. In other words, it represents the tendency for visual culture to depict women as objects of male desire due to the male gaze, catering to male fantasies and reinforcing traditional gender roles. With its reference to the 16th century French painting, this artwork hints at the timelessness of the male gaze and the fetishization of the female body throughout art history.
Juxtaposed against this intimate scene is the recognizable landscape from the Chinese twenty-yuan bill, a mundane symbol of everyday life and commerce. Duan spotlights the commodification of intimacy and sexuality and comments on the coexistence of the sacred and the profane in modern society.
Watching the stone fence closely, you would discover that the graffiti “Hey hello hi” are scrawled all across. It adds a sense of irreverence and defiance, echoing the “I was here” declarations of tourists asserting their presence in a world that often renders them anonymous and insignificant. The act of graffiti, often associated with rebellion and subversion, could be interpreted as a reclamation of agency and individuality in a society that often reduces individuals to mere objects or consumers. However, when it is put into a context of male gaze, the graffiti also gives me a sense of scornfulness and how people are refusing the acknowledge the serious problems of our society.
The crude floral patterns adorning the white outer frame lend a sense of ironic elegance, perhaps a nod to the enduring human desire to imbue even the most mundane or profane aspects of life with a veneer of beauty and sophistication.
