Lot Essay
Depicted with simplicity and lightheartedness, figures by Wu Yi are a cartoon-like and humorous play on the collective visual memory of China of the 1960s and 1970s. Absorbed in conversation, the two gun-carrying girls in Tete-a-Tete exemplify the romanticised image of girl soldiers commonly seen in Chinese propaganda posters, and yet they contain a contemporary expression that does not belong to any historical or cultural framework. In doing so, Wu's unassuming figure paintings bring spontaneity and intuition to the genre.