Face I 1996
Face II 1996
Face III 1997
Installation comprising 3 video projections
Dimensions variable
Collection: The artist

Li Yongbin's video works, Face I, Face II and Face III, are large projections of his own face. In Face I a still image of an old woman’s face is projected onto a moving image of the artist's face. In Face II the artist’s face is reflected in a basin of moving Chinese ink. In Face III the artist has filmed his face reflected in a heat-distorted perspex mirror. These haunting self-portraits emerge from the blackness and hover like hallucinations. They disturb with their quiet but powerful transformations and provoke the viewer to reflect upon the artworks as psychological responses to contemporary experience. Li Yongbin's video works have been made with very simple means, like the work of many Chinese video artists who are without access to sophisticated film making equipment. Yet their simplicity highlights their power and highlights the creativity of an artist who has come to the medium relatively recently.

Artist's statement:

Sometimes, the function of the 'true world' - that world you feel in the deep recesses of our heart - is to cast doubts on your reality. But once reality is placed in doubt, the world you are in and your very existence comes dangerously close to being denied. Your 'true world' then will also turn out to be fictitious. To escape this awkward condition, to provide a basis for the doubts, and to touch the 'true world', this is the reason for my work.