| Bricks in China have a long history. The traditional golden brick was for royalty use only. Everything about the material and production was extremely meticulous. A fine golden brick had a melodious sound when tapped, smooth as silk when touched. That was why one golden brick was worth a fortune. The word “golden” didn’t mean the brick was golden in color, but referred to the sound it made. To ensure the quality, every brick was engraved with the year it was produced, where it was made, who supervised its production, who actually made it, and its dimensions. My Golden Brick series is different from the traditional golden brick. The bricks in my works are concrete bricks with photographs I took printed on them. | 
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Wen Fang is a Bejing-based artist.
Wen Fang, The Golden Brick: Mahjong, 2008. Courtesy of Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery.Bricks in China have a long history. The traditional golden brick was for royalty use only. Everything about the material and production was extremely meticulous. A fine golden brick had a melodious sound when tapped, smooth as silk when touched. That was why one golden brick was worth a fortune. The word “golden” didn’t mean the brick was golden in color, but referred to the sound it made. To ensure the quality, every brick was engraved with the year it was produced, where it was made, who supervised its production, who actually made it, and its dimensions.
My Golden Brick series is different from the traditional golden brick. The bricks in my works are concrete bricks with photographs I took printed on them. I chose concrete because it is the most commonly seen construction material in our time. It is about 100 years old. A hundred years may be long for a time like ours where we are constantly discarding something old and going after something new. I watch a city being renovated and demolished at the same time. I watch the gap between the rich and the poor widen. I watch people struggle to reach their dreams and compromise. Although I know this is just a game, just like our lives, I can’t help but weep. I take photos of what I see and put them on new golden bricks, turning them into Terracotta Figures of Civilian Workers in the Republic of China, into Mahjong, into many other installations.
When I was young, the teacher told us to “add bricks and tiles” to the construction of socialism (to make socialism stronger and better.) This is exactly what I did and will continue to do.
