天池山莊

While the series of shan shui paintings feature imitations of traditional Chinese ink paintings, the pieces are different in that they are finished with a fine-point pen (hard lines) rather than a calligraphy brush (soft strokes). The inked lines are layered on to the rough surface of paper, with shades of varying intensity, to simulate the visual effect of flatness through arrays of busy and comparably neurotic lines. In this way, the “pseudo landscapes” formulated through intensive labor evokes the tragic solemnness exemplified in Chinese literature: “the silkworm only stops weaving upon its death”. Gold leaves fill the empty space in the composition, possessing a charm typical of Buddhist wall paintings. The trees are covered in glitter in ways similar to children drawings, with finishing touches. I deliberately avoid traditional materials and methods such as inscriptions, seals, rice paper, moss dotting, traditional binding, brush strokes, and ink wash, etc. in the creation of this series. The resulting transformed remix style, which appears to be recognizable within traditional aesthetic parameters but cannot be truly identified, can be seen as an implicit rebellion against grand conventions. In an era of Chinese shanzhai, I use “pseudo landscapes” to imitate Chinese treasures, as a response to the hegemony of Chinese culture, hence titling them “Fake Landscape”.