Wim Delvoye’s “Walt Disney” solo exhibition runs from March 10 to May 12 at the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery. Wim Delvoye (born in Belgium in 1965) is one of today’s most representative European artists, known for his humorous, playful, satirical, vulgar, and archaic object-sculpture works that challenge middle-class aesthetic refinement within the thought-provoking realm of Dadaist kitsch. From his early feces-colored tile series, through his most famous “feces machines” (where excrement becomes the artwork) in 1994 and 2002, to his current pigs (symbols of capitalism? social icons), Gothic cathedrals, and stained glass series, his work consistently resonates with a cynical yet utopian despair.

This solo exhibition features four major series: Gothic Cathedrals, Tattooed Pigs, Tattoo Sketches, and Pig Videos. Delvoye favors imagery of folk life, preferring to construct his meticulously crafted works through traditional handicrafts. The Gothic Cathedral series exemplifies this approach; alongside his famous mechanical arms (2003) and cement mixer (2002), these pieces serve as excellent examples of object-sculpture masterpieces. These works are scaled-down or life-sized versions of everyday objects, refined to perfection under the skilled hands of superior artisans (commissioned from Indonesian craft factories). This rigorous and perfect miniature Gothic cathedral is carved from steel plates, featuring symmetrical geometric architectural structures such as flying buttresses, circular rose windows, and bell towers, along with mesmerizing colorful glass panels themed around excrement and pigs. These elements reinforce the symbolism of medieval vanitas paintings.

The Tattoo Sketches series explores tattoos, once cultural body decorations for marginalized groups, now popular among young consumers as a fashion trend. Since the mid-1990s (such as his 1994 “Pigs” series where tattoos were applied to pig skin), Delvoye has adopted these exquisite, decorative tattoo patterns as his medium. These elegant line drawings and texts have become Delvoye’s new painting language. Centered on Disney cartoon imagery, this series transforms mass culture images with humor and wit, making tattoos Delvoye’s new form of painting. The striking Tattooed Pig installation features five pigs standing and squatting around a central core. Each pig bears Disney cartoon characters tattooed onto its skin, allowing viewers to closely admire the intricately carved laser-tattooed images of mermaids, Peter Pan, Snow White, and others. Here, the pig serves as both the support for the painting and the object itself, functioning as an artwork within the spatial installation of painting and object, while the tattoo becomes the new painting.

The Pig Video installation projects footage simultaneously across three walls, showing tattooed pigs living in their pens. This recalls Delvoye’s 1997 solo exhibition at the Middelheim Museum of Sculpture in Antwerp, Belgium, where he displayed four live tattooed pigs; these records effectively became his video works. The documentation for this latest video project stems from globalization: Delvoye commissioned the breeding of twenty imported European pigs near Beijing, China. Once fattened, the pigs were administered sedatives weekly and tattooed with Disney cartoons or Chinese legendary images. Ironically, these pigs did not enter the Chinese pork market—where every part is edible, pigskin holds high economic value, and fat pigs symbolize wealth or sexual temptation—but instead transformed into high-end artworks circulating in the global capitalist market. The five pigs and videos exhibited here are products of this project. As the text notes: “Pigs are like artworks, tattoos are the new painting, and raising pigs mimics the art market of capitalism.”