Name/Title
Wu Song Ming, Two FiguresEntry/Object ID
014Description
This was probably one of the earliest prints I saw by Wu Song Ming, which would have been in an exhibit of Taiwanese printmakers at the gallery in Eslite Bookstore's flagship store near Dun Hua Road in Taipei. I recall that of all the work on display, Wu Song Ming's stood out not only for its graphic quality, but also for the powerful content of the image. In this small but intense print, Song Ming is investigating a theme that recurs throughout his later work: the nature of relationships. Two cocooned figures lie within the picture plane, one carved to appear black and one to appear white, not as racial markers but rather to bring questions to the viewer. Could this be two iterations of the same person, for example? The proximity of the hands, and the upward thrusting leg suggest some kind of intimacy, but we can't be sure. The lower figure gazes out at us with a tentative expression, while the head of the other figure tips downward, giving the entire figure a sensitive innocence.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Numbered, signed, and dated in pencil beneath the image, with the addition of two artist chops.Dimensions
Dimension Description
The image is about 9 x 14 inches, and the frame is about 17 x 22 inches.