W Tank（2017），Acrylic on canvas，W Tank D10-01 120 × 300 cm、W Tank D10-02 100 × 300 cm，Courtesy of the artist

Wang Luyan is a conceptual Chinese artist and one of the founders of New Measurement Group, a collective that explores the nature of art and the subjectivity of the artist through experimental projects and theory.

In Wang’s work, utilitarian everyday items, tools and weapons are transformed into objects that prove irrational and dangerous for their potential users. In fact, they do the exact opposite of what they should normally do. A prominent concept in his work is an allegorical treatment of self-destruction: its action or activation becomes superfluous or even dangerous for the user.

The W Tank D08-01 is equipped with artillery facing both forwards and backwards, the shells shooting in both directions at once—pulling the trigger at the enemy amounts to pulling the trigger on yourself. The image is a simplified, essential “diagram of war logic”—killing is not a relationship between killing and killed, but between killing and killing.