#ShanghaineseArtists

[island6artscenter]

The Shores Of Our Understanding

-ships and -isms aren’t going to do much for us now. Stewardship. Environmentalism. Leadership. Capitalism.  When you’re looking up at a wave from your 12th floor apartment, these words suddenly speak to a lazy and decadent past. They become concretely hollow. Language is fickle like this. Its meaning in relation to our circumstances can roll in suddenly, crashing against the shore of our understanding, washing away our worldview and leaving behind something wholly different, replacing the patio furniture of our modern sensibilities with the discarded tires of a new world order. Complacency in the way we use and understand language is the beginning of the end for any hope of linguistic salvation. The same type of complacency in art, however, is the beginning of the end for any hope of spiritual salvation. Art, in its transcendence of language, allows us to say what cannot be spoken. It allow us to transform screams of horror into something coherent. I think of Picasso’s Guernica and wonder of the meditations on suffering to come. I wonder if we deserve this.

281.7 x 71.6 cm | Shanghai | 2019

Media: Giclée print face-mounted to plexiglass on aluminum Dibond panel, aluminum frame

This artwork is available here: https://island6.org/theshoresofourunderstanding

AVAILABLE. Please contact info@island6.org for price inquiry.

[island6artscenter]

Behemoth 

“How about a dinner later tonight? Nah, I don’t have much time, I have to feed the mouse.” Or: “I’m sorry, the mouse is on the treadmill. Can’t waste that energy.” Maybe: “Oh, I’ve just sweetened up my meal, can we make it another day?” We’ve all encountered such excuses. Indeed, mechanized motion has changed our lives. Ever since the first human realized the only solution to hunger was through work, we relentlessly want to make others do that instead of us. Be them slaves, employees or machines, they are all driven by energy extracted from other sources, hence we have to feed them, pay them or plug them in. If only we had machines that operate indefinitely in perpetual motion. Imagine if Naum Gabo constructed the world or Alexander Calder had written the Holy Bible. The perspectives were unlimited, and space was a boundless playground. What would be the excuse in such rhythmic world? Would you have infinite energy to meet all the expectations from others or would gravity still try to pull you down?

Unique Edition.

102 x 102 cm | Shanghai | 2019

Media:   RGB LED display, Chinese papercut (Jian Zhi) on Plexiglass, paper collage, teakwood frame

This artwork is available here: https://island6.org/behemoth

AVAILABLE. Please contact info@island6.org for price inquiry.

[island6artscenter]

Picture Purr-fect

I don’t quite like water. I never have. It’s just a part of who I am I suppose, an identity marker of sorts. Did I mention that I love feathers—or rather, that I love to hate them? Meee-ow, enough about me! I’d like to know about you, pretty goldfish. Tell me about school, about your life growing up in the lilong, and the love you have for flowers that aren’t quite bloomed yet but surely will. I want to know your secrets, little goldfish, your desires, and what makes you tick and flow. If I’m being totally honest, I want to taste you. I want you inside of me, little goldfish, and I want you to enjoy it too. Am I being too forward? Was Achenbach too forward in his wanting for his muse? Some would say he wasn’t forward enough, and I don’t want our short time to be wasted. Come, little goldfish, let us join and go far away from the lights of this city.

Unique Edition.

88,3 x 88,3 cm | Shanghai | 2019

Media: RGB LED display, Chinese papercut (Jian Zhi) on Plexiglass, paper collage, teakwood frame

This artwork is available here: https://island6.org/picturepurr-fect

AVAILABLE. Please contact info@island6.org for price inquiry.