"Layers Of Flesh And Paint" (肉体层和涂抹)
// BLURB //
Still lives are so deeply rooted in Western art history that we can’t even imagine that painters don’t necessarily paint food. Sometimes they must... At least on the sly? In fact, the correct phrasing would be that artists don’t necessarily paint at all, but no matter what era or style we are considering, food has always had major role in it. In ancient Greece and Rome, vine and grapes were essential elements of images about bacchanals, while from the Renaissance onward, delicious subjects were filled with symbolic meaning. Now fast forward 500 years, photography was invented, and suddenly everything changed. Some think that depictive painting itself finally died somewhere in the 60s when artists turned to performative and installation-based art practices. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cansweren’t studies or symbolic objects anymore. They weren’t even paintings really and Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party was alluring the visitor right to the table, into the artwork. The most vivid example of the recontextualization of food, however, is probably when Zhang Huan smeared honey and fish oil on his body in a public toilet, nearly becoming one with it, just to almost lose his consciousness. Don’t worry, the artist still lives.
Still lives are so deeply rooted in Western art history that we can’t even imagine that painters don’t necessarily paint food. Sometimes they must... At least on the sly? In fact, the correct phrasing would be that artists don’t necessarily paint at all, but no matter what era or style we are considering, food has always had major role in it. In ancient Greece and Rome, vine and grapes were essential elements of images about bacchanals, while from the Renaissance onward, delicious subjects were filled with symbolic meaning. Now fast forward 500 years, photography was invented, and suddenly everything changed. Some think that depictive painting itself finally died somewhere in the 60s when artists turned to performative and installation-based art practices. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cansweren’t studies or symbolic objects anymore. They weren’t even paintings really and Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party was alluring the visitor right to the table, into the artwork. The most vivid example of the recontextualization of food, however, is probably when Zhang Huan smeared honey and fish oil on his body in a public toilet, nearly becoming one with it, just to almost lose his consciousness. Don’t worry, the artist still lives.
STATUS
SOLD. Private collection, Salt Lake City, Utah (USA).
SOLD. Private collection, Salt Lake City, Utah (USA).
EDITION, MEDIA, SIZE & WEIGHT
Unique Edition, Shanghai 2019
RGB LED display, acrylic painting on Plexiglass, paper collage, teakwood frame
102(W)×102(H)×5.5(D) cm // 33.3 kg
TECH SPECS
• 1×SLC SD Card
• 2×MWLPV20-5 (INPUT 100~240VAC@0.55A / OUTPUT 5V@3A)
• 4×ELN-30-5 (INPUT 100~240VAC@0.75A / OUTPUT 5V@5A)
• (9+1 spare)×RGB P5-2525-8S-HL1.0 / D180648
CRATE SIZE & WEIGHT
117(W)×117(H)×21(D) cm // 65.5 kg
EXPOSURE
“Who Needs Men Anyway?” at island6 Shanghai Main Space
CREDITS
Owen 欧文 (painting) • Yeung Sin Ching 杨倩菁 (production supervisor) • Thomas Charvériat (art direction & animation) • András Gál (blurb)
Unique Edition, Shanghai 2019
RGB LED display, acrylic painting on Plexiglass, paper collage, teakwood frame
102(W)×102(H)×5.5(D) cm // 33.3 kg
TECH SPECS
• 1×SLC SD Card
• 2×MWLPV20-5 (INPUT 100~240VAC@0.55A / OUTPUT 5V@3A)
• 4×ELN-30-5 (INPUT 100~240VAC@0.75A / OUTPUT 5V@5A)
• (9+1 spare)×RGB P5-2525-8S-HL1.0 / D180648
CRATE SIZE & WEIGHT
117(W)×117(H)×21(D) cm // 65.5 kg
EXPOSURE
“Who Needs Men Anyway?” at island6 Shanghai Main Space
CREDITS
Owen 欧文 (painting) • Yeung Sin Ching 杨倩菁 (production supervisor) • Thomas Charvériat (art direction & animation) • András Gál (blurb)
CLOSE-UPS
VIDEO
[DOWNLOAD VIDEO ↓]