Unknown Island

(section of panels 3-5)

Unknown Island  (2008) by Guan Wei

Acrylic on linen, 240cm x 450cm  in five panels

Collector: Carrillo Gantner

Guan Wei and his wife Liu Pin have been our friends for over two decades. Over this period, they have lived between Sydney and Beijing. As well as their Beijing apartment, Guan Wei has always had a large studio in the suburbs out towards the Capitol Airport where most of his major works have been created. When we visited Beijing, we always loved to visit the studio to see his current work, whether it be painting, sculpture or ceramics.

We visited Guan Wei at this studio in September 2008. This work was hanging on the studio wall. I felt an instant connection to it. For Guan Wei, I think the title “Unknown Island” is a reference to Australia, but it could equally be to the land beyond the seas that the Indigenous men in the painting’s foreground are imagining.

I see the Indigenous men, with their back to the Australian landscape, looking out over the sea which is a rich source of food – they are spearing fish and catching them from the small boat – but also a source of great danger from the sea monsters and the cyclonic winds that can arise to create wild seas. I have always imagined the men were looking north in the direction that Guan Wei himself had taken to return to China across the perilous oceans. Their silhouettes give them a strength and dignity as confident owners of this land.

Carrillo Gantner

(Professor Carrillo Gantner AC is Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts & Culture, a former actor, director and founder of Playbox Theatre, and the Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Beijing from 1985-1987.)