"The First China Art Triennale" Exhibition Planning Memory, Contemporary Artists, the 4th issue

2002

Peng De

At the beginning of the first Chinese Triennale, Sky Nine Earth Eight was asked to be taken away by a section chief of Guangzhou Cultural Bureau during the inspection for the reason that it looks similar to a gambling device. The next day, when Luo Zhongli and Xu Jiang went to view the paintings at Art Museum College, the inspector followed to observe their reaction. Xu Jiang was very surprised to hear that Zuo Zhengyao's work was going to be removed: "Is there any problem? It's nice. It has been exhibited at our school." Xu Jiang can be seen at almost all the most important modern art exhibitions. Besides the truth that his paintings belong to the academic avant-garde, the curators also have tacit motives to invite him to restrict those unenlightened inspectors. Afterwards, the curator added a big red cross in the work, and changed the title from Sky Nine Earth Eight to No Gambling Series to be permitted to exhibit.