'Royal Flush, Let Them Eat Cake' (detail)Size: 80 x 50 x 77cm
Medium: Hand carved wooden frame (floral) with wooden lathe base
Edition: 20 + 4 AP
Qu Guangci fashions a fanciful and whimsical creation redolent of 18th Century rococco a la chinoiserie in this work, in which the traditional arabesques, curlicues, shells and scrolls associated with that style array themselves as if by sorcery into a reinterpretation of that school that decries all the empty fanfare and vainglory of this world. From tank to base, this piece is a bonanza of sharp lines contrasting with lacey detail. This work manifests every grounds for leaving its creator feeling flushed with pride: carved from a single block of wood from a butterscotch tree and crowned by a seat of breathtakingly flamboyant sugar-and-whipped-cream floral extravagance standing out in radiant relief, this throne of convenience stirs the gastric functions, while remonstrating against the very epicurean excess that spawned it. Qu Guangci thus plunges out the stopped up drain of dispirited depiction, disinfects the scum-skimmed bowl of banality with dreamy detachment, derisively and decisively pushes the lid down on dowdy display, and then flushes it loudly away.
They say that you are what you eat and that what goes in must come back out again. The proof of this pudding is embodied in this whimsical confection of caramel fudge, whose ultimate message is that, ultimately, everything is sludge.This masterful oeuvre by Qu Guangci must dispel once and for all any domestic disputes over whether the seat should remain up or down.
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