ARTIST STATEMENT - ‘Graces’ Series
Artist Statement - ‘Graces’ Series The portrayal of the female nude within the context of art history has a long tradition of idealizing the female body as a subject of art. The tradition of figurative sculpture has strived to immortalize the ideal female form; portrait painting has explored countless styles of depicting women as muses; photography has become the most dominant media in shaping trends of beauty in contemporary culture. If beauty is a cultural conception, what could be a better way to understand a culture and a time than examining such phenomenon? The ‘Graces’ series challenges the familiar and stereotypical idealization of the female body by combining bodies of actual Asian women with western classical goddess heads. The digitally altered skin texture to marble-like smoothness further intensifies the illusive power of these figures. Each ‘Grace’ is captured in the midst of an everyday act, as opposed to an idealized pose of a classical sculpture. Furthermore, each image depicts a specific cultural gesture commonly seen in contemporary Asian society. These ‘graces’ are in essence, a metaphorical depiction of current cultural dynamics and characteristics of the Asian urban culture. At the same time, the intentional positioning of the figures against unspecified space and setting invites open interpretations of the ‘reality’ of these images according to the perception of each viewer.The ‘Graces’ series deconstructs the practice of figurative sculpture and portrait photography through a subversive manipulation of perception and reality. These hybrid figures exist in an illusive realm of the actual with ideal, past and present, and the oriental and occidental, simultaneously embodying all of these contradictions. They reflect challenges and dilemmas of today’s global societies.
Artist Statement - ‘Graces’ Series The portrayal of the female nude within the context of art history has a long tradition of idealizing the female body as a subject of art. The tradition of figurative sculpture has strived to immortalize the ideal female form; portrait painting has explored countless styles of depicting women as muses; photography has become the most dominant media in shaping trends of beauty in contemporary culture. If beauty is a cultural conception, what could be a better way to understand a culture and a time than examining such phenomenon? The ‘Graces’ series challenges the familiar and stereotypical idealization of the female body by combining bodies of actual Asian women with western classical goddess heads. The digitally altered skin texture to marble-like smoothness further intensifies the illusive power of these figures. Each ‘Grace’ is captured in the midst of an everyday act, as opposed to an idealized pose of a classical sculpture. Furthermore, each image depicts a specific cultural gesture commonly seen in contemporary Asian society. These ‘graces’ are in essence, a metaphorical depiction of current cultural dynamics and characteristics of the Asian urban culture. At the same time, the intentional positioning of the figures against unspecified space and setting invites open interpretations of the ‘reality’ of these images according to the perception of each viewer.The ‘Graces’ series deconstructs the practice of figurative sculpture and portrait photography through a subversive manipulation of perception and reality. These hybrid figures exist in an illusive realm of the actual with ideal, past and present, and the oriental and occidental, simultaneously embodying all of these contradictions. They reflect challenges and dilemmas of today’s global societies.
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