Chrysanthemums And Rock by Pu Hua

Gao Rong

Calling herself “a sculptor who uses embroidery,” Gao Rong (高蓉) turns this traditional craft on its head, utilizing it to give remarkable specificity to her painstaking recreations of the places and things that have defined her life. She credits two women for shaping her practice: her grandmother, who, in keeping with Chinese tradition, taught her how to embroider; and Tracey Emin, whose own embroidered pieces exemplified how the medium could be pushed beyond decoration. By overlaying intricately embroidered fabric onto padded metal armatures, Gao creates convincingly lifelike sculptures that range from satirical (designer handbags stained with lipstick or food) to lyrical (an exact replica of her grandparents’ traditional Mongolian home). As she describes, “Embroidery helps me to display the extraordinary qualities that exist even in the simplest objects. In this way, I am offering a critique of the world I live in.”