Artwork Description

Title: Raincoat No.1
Artist: Wu Jianjun (吴建军)
Date: 2008
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 78.7 x 51.2 in (200 x 130 cm)

Artwork Identification
Raincoat No.1 presents a haunting, amorphous figure dissolving into swirling layers of incandescent green, orange, and yellow. The Title: hints at a hidden narrative—perhaps a body shielded, veiled, or suspended in a moment of flux. The subject’s expression seems submerged beneath the surface, caught between emergence and disintegration.

Artistic Style and Influences
This painting exemplifies Wu Jianjun’s signature approach, in which the body is neither wholly representational nor abstract but exists in a state of energetic ambiguity. His use of radiant color transitions mimics thermal imaging, evoking internal emotion rather than surface appearance. Echoes of Francis Bacon’s psychological disfigurement and Gerhard Richter’s blurred realism resonate here, though Wu's aesthetic remains deeply rooted in his own introspective vocabulary.

Historical Context
Painted in 2008, Raincoat No.1 aligns with a post-millennium surge in Chinese contemporary painting focused on identity, psychological tension, and corporeality. Wu Jianjun's work from this period moves beyond political critique, diving instead into universal experiences of transformation, loss, and the fragility of the human form.

Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation
The painting is in very good condition. The canvas remains structurally sound with no visible deterioration or restoration needed.

Artistic Significance
Raincoat No.1 is an archetypal work in Wu Jianjun’s powerful visual lexicon. Its seductive yet unsettling aura invites viewers to confront the instability of form and identity. The figure, cloaked in metaphor, becomes a vessel of psychological tension. It is a compelling entry in Wu’s body-focused series, reaffirming his place among the most visceral and emotionally charged voices in contemporary Chinese painting.