Liverpool artwork of the day – Friday March 30 2007. ‘Miners! 800 Metres No.8’ 2006 by Yang Shaobin in ‘The Real Thing: Contemporary Art From China’ at Tate Liverpool March 30 – June 10 2007
One of a series of huge paintings by Yang Shaobin, it looks quite photographic here but in the gallery you can see they are oil on canvas, very striking images.
He says “When I returned to the coalmine again after an absence of so many years, the situation is little short of dire. There were fatal accidents in thirty mines in 2005 alone, and there is no small number of children and women amongst the fatal victims whose lives the mines claim. I worry about the current speed of development and expansion of market consumption.
I can only marvel at the vitality of these workers, and the life force demonstrated by their children”