Shi Jinsong makes objects that comment on the destructive forces of comodification, capitalist greed and consumer desire. Best known for his range of deadly baby products, the ?Na Zha Baby Boutique?, Shi's carriages, walker, rattles etc. are beautifully designed objects laced inside and out with a selection of lethal weaponry, primarily blades and needles. Na Zha is a precocious and outrageous figure in Chinese mythology, now better known as the god of gambling he symbolises the shifting priorities and dominance of product and marketing prevalent in contemporary society. Shi's sculptures which share Na Zha's name are highly seductive despite their unfortunate side-effects; they speak of the increasingly early age at which we have to start combating the effects of a world rampant with superficiality, immediate satisfaction and fear, and the unstoppable lure of the perfect designer product in which style always wins over substance.

Born in Danyang County, Hubei Province in 1969, Shi Jinsong enrolled at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, majoring in sculpture and mastering a gamut of traditional techniques. Under the influence of three powerful stimuli - radical socio-cultural change in China; a reading of Foucault's Madness and Civilization; and the birth of his first daughter - the artist began to investigate ideas of transformation and control. Featured in Alors La Chine, a groundbreaking survey of contemporary Chinese art mounted at the Centre Pompidou in 2003, his sculptural installation A Life of Sugar (2001) consisted of aspirational material objects made of sugar. Designed to melt over the course of the show, the impermanence of the objects served up a delicious critique of disposable consumer goods.

PROFILE

1969

?Born in Dangyang county, Hubei province, China

EDUCATION

1978

?Graduated from the Hubei Academy of Fine Art, Wuhan, China

?Presently Lives and works in Wuhan and Beijing, China

His Selected Exhibitions

1.Alors, La Chine?, Center Pompidou, Paris, France

2.Artificial Respiration, Sanhe Art Center, Beijing, China

3.Open Sky, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China

4.Too Much Flavour, 3H Art Center, Shanghai, China; Chambers Fine Art, New York, USARun, Jump, Crawl Walk, The East Modern Art Center, Beijing, China

5.Style of Paris vs. China, Paris, France

6.Re-Shuffle, Shenzhen Sculpture Academy, Shenzhen, China

7.The 2nd Exhibition of Chinese Sculptors, Xihu Art Museum, Hangzhou, ChinaBig Torino 2000: Biennial of Emerging Artists, Torino, Italy

8.China 46, Huoke Art Gallery, Shanghai, Taipei, and Melboume, AustraliaThe 2nd Annual Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China