Sketch for "Bubbles of Yum" series

Sketch for Bubbles of Yum series

Sketch for "Bubbles of Yum" series (2001) by Guo Jian

Oil on canvas, 46.5cm x 34cm

Collector: Linda Jaivin

I met Guo Jian briefly around 1989 and then became good friends with him after he moved to Australia in the early 1990's. As a young man Guo Jian served in the People’s Liberation Army. A number of his paintings revel in a kind of military fetishism, in which, for example, the uniformed, heroically stern, thigh-baring ballerinas of the “revolutionary model ballet” Red Detachment of Women take centre stage in soldiers’ fantasies.

This painting sketch belongs to Guo Jian’s ‘Bubble Yum’ series. I love the eroticism, playfulness and subversiveness of this work. A naked, voluptuous young woman casts a sidelong gaze, covering her breasts with her arms but leaving bare her soft belly and the little triangle of hair between her legs. She wears only a military helmet. Bubbles float up around her. The background is a bubblegum pink, with which the helmet provides a startling contrast – hardness, discipline and war versus softness, languor, and joy. I find her adorable.

Linda Jaivin

(Linda Jaivin is an internationally published Australian author, translator, essayist and specialist writer on China, whose works include the critically acclaimed "The Shortest History of China.")

CLICK HERE to listen to Linda's commentary on Guo Jian and his painting.

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