Thousand-Armed Guanyin

In 1997 Huang Yong Ping was invited to participate in ‘Skulptur Projekte’ in Münster, Germany. While doing research in the city, Huang came across an astonishing statue of Christ in Münster Cathedral. The statue lost both arms during WWII and has remained so until today. A line scribed next to the statue read: ‘Your hands are my hands’ (ICH HABE KEINE ANDEREN HÄNDE ALS DIE EUEREN). Responding to the armless Christ, Huang decided to create Thousand-Armed Guanyin, A Buddhist deity.

The work also bears a strong connection to Marcel Duchamp’s 1914 ready-made Bottle Rack. In the work, Guan-yin’s arms are placed on a steel structure which is itself an enlarged version of the Bottle Rack – two figures are in conflict yet complement one another: ‘I have “re-produced” the famous work in Western art history into an Oriental Buddhist Guan-yin. The sense of detachment and indifference associated with the ready-made Bottle Rack is complicated and shrouded by various figures and symbols’. (Huang Yong Ping)

For the early version of Thousand-Armed Guanyin in Münster, Huang Yong Ping only succeeded in completing fifty hands due to limited conditions at that time. In the 2012 Shanghai Biennale, an idea conceived fifteen years ago was finally got fully realised, Thousand-Armed Guanyin with one thousand hands holding various objects, making references to religion, art history, and reality.