As capitalism
has been adopted by the far east and especially
China with an almost comic-book-like lack of nuance,
so too have modernist occidental works of art become
known there and subject to unsubtle emulation.
Such new types of representation and lack thereof
must raise Asian eyebrows as much as their attempts
at commercialization of techniques and images curl
western lips. What does the recycling and
commodification of famous and infamous art in its
transit to the east and back again, mean?
The artist intends to
investigate and comment in her
series Mutualistic Relationships. Are we, as Milton
Friedman or Friedrich Hayek might lecture us, better off embracing a
deluge of products that are simply more efficient to
'manufacture' elsewhere? Or, alternatively,
could it lead to a devaluation of the true products of
creation? Does it lead to anomie? By "borrowing",
re-casting, and re-working the 'borrowed' images, the artist
merely participates in this boomerang of cross-cultural
feedback. Or does she? Some of the most intriguing art
doesn't furnish the answer to the questions it raises, and
here the conclusions are strictly in the mind of the
beholder.
The artist has taken paintings from a factory in China, and
cut and woven them with ones she has "copied."
The two paintings are then intertwined - for better or worse
- like our respective cultures.
