Surrealism- the first joint of MA Ke’s left index finger, Ma Ke, "The Section of Experimental Art at the 20th National Art Exhibition"

Writing functions as delivering and preserving information. Every word, phrase, and sentence has independent attributes and connotations. When combine these words, phrases and sentences, one can describe an image, and readers reconstruct the image based on their re-interpretations of these textual descriptions. Chinese characters themselves also contain imagery functions, as these “graphic letters” carry more functions than phonetic information, because they also deliver images at the same time.

The artist has long been interested in carefully observing his own body parts and recording in text in a surrealistic manner. This work is a description of the artist’s left index finger. From the contour line, to the shape of every joint, to the subtle changes of color and creases, the artist exclusively uses words to reject accurate descriptions provided by visual methods such as painting, video or photography. The detailed, extensive writings provide a surrealistic description/representation of a joint of his left index finger.