Liu Yi's 'Mahjong Game' takes aim at Motherland

Liu Yi, an artist based in Toronto, authored ‘The 2008 Beijing Mahjong Game’ in 2005. He exploits to the hilt, female sensuality in a power equation between the United States, Russia, China, Japan and Taiwan, where girls analogise the nations at a game of mahjong while exhibiting modesty levels that represent their respective positions.

The tattooed girl in pigtails is China, and on her left is a bare-naked Japan in full concentration. The U.S. is represented by the Caucasian in lingerie. She is looking to her left at a relatively young Taiwan who is apparently out of the game, but holds a fruit basket with a knife by her side. Russia prostrates herself in reckless abandon, engaging the proceedings from her viewpoint.

Naked Japan contrasts with an engaging China who is partially covered below her waist, indicating contingency options that others have to guess. In vulgar fashion, Russia exposes her smalls to the U.S. while reaching out to China who is cheating with some hidden tiles at her right hand, to which Russia deflects attention purposefully with her distracting pose, underscoring its enmity with the U.S. and surreptitious dealings with China who ignores her ancestor in the portrait, disdainfully staring down at her as she cheats.

Liu Yi takes aim at Motherland. As an affront to China, his message is Taiwan, who is relatively covered and ready to offer the winner fruits while looking to the U.S. for intervention if the situation warrants, although the hidden knife connotes her military power. 

‘The 2008 Beijing Mahjong Game’ is clever in theme and profound in composition and will probably go down as Liu Yi's magnus opus. The piece was his prelude to the Beijing Olympics and professional and amateur curators have over the years offered dissertations from this and from other perspectives.

A review by Tommy Peters

August 15^th 2010