Happy Life

Chen Wenling, Happy Life #8 (5/5), 2005, fiberglass and automotive paint

Location: Shwayder Art Building Lobby

The pig is a familiar subject in many of Chen Wenling’s sculptures. While in European folklore pigs are generally seen as gluttonous or devious, the Chinese pig commonly represents wealth and good fortune. Chen habitually mixes both Chinese and Western content and style elements in his works, as seen here. The gleeful tone of Happy Life #8 can be read as a celebration of wealth, but the portrayal of the pot-bellied farmer and his enormous sow also suggests the irony of the saying, “Ignorance is Bliss.”

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