Artwork Description

Title: Hungry Witness
Artist: He Gong 何工
Date: n.d.
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 26.8 x 33.7 in (68 x 85.5 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Hungry Witness is a striking acrylic on paper by He Gong, a pioneer of contemporary Chinese expressionism. Executed entirely in black and white, the composition features a haunting close-up of a bespectacled male figure with intense, staring eyes—rendered in a flurry of textured impasto and bold, gestural brushwork. The portrait emerges from a nightmarish background teeming with spectral faces and swirling patterns, evoking both witness and memory in a single, compressed psychological space.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Gong He’s work is steeped in existential inquiry, employing a stark monochrome palette and expressionistic handling of the medium to probe memory, trauma, and historical consciousness. His distinctive style—at once raw, surreal, and symbolically charged—has roots in postwar expressionism, ink traditions, and politically inflected visual language. The intensity of his portraits is often likened to the emotional gravitas of Käthe Kollwitz or the psychological tension of Francis Bacon, yet his visual dialect is entirely his own.

3. Historical Context
Born in 1955 in Chongqing, He Gong experienced the Cultural Revolution firsthand as a "sent-down youth" forced into years of rural labor. These formative experiences forged his deep skepticism toward political dogma and profoundly shaped his artistic sensibility. After studying at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and becoming one of the first Chinese artists to study in the U.S. with government support, He Gong embraced black-and-white painting as a means of evoking raw truth and historical reflection. Hungry Witness encapsulates this personal and collective reckoning, speaking to the fraught legacy of 20th-century China.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The acrylic surface remains stable, with no flaking or loss to the dense brushwork. The paper is flat and well-preserved, with no signs of discoloration, creasing, or foxing. Archival framing is recommended to preserve the material integrity of the piece.

6. Artistic Significance
Hungry Witness is a compelling example of He Gong’s mature practice, exemplifying his ability to channel individual trauma and cultural history into deeply affecting visual form. With a career spanning decades and exhibitions across China and internationally, He Gong is recognized for his contributions to post-Cultural Revolution art. This work stands as both personal testament and universal symbol—capturing the enduring resonance of witness, memory, and resilience in the face of erasure.