Enclosed within the private atmosphere of a cloying fog, one yearns for a breeze that would disclose the landscape and relieve a sense of isolation. Floating along the walls of a long corridor, a series of painted panels arranged in the form of a “Pingfeng” folded screen carry the visitor through a subtle color gradient, ranging from clear sky blue to a darkening greyscale of atmospheric pollutants. Offering protection from drafts of wind, the screens are traditionally painted with landscapes, sometimes seen through mist. Atmospheric Pollution Series foregrounds the visual density of the air itself by intensifying its hues within monochromatic disks, whose saturated centres seem to evaporate outwards towards imperceptible limits, as though the pigments had been delivered to the screens by the wind itself. Seeking to bring the image into focus, one’s gaze sinks instead into its evanescent surface. The effect is dizzying. Isolating the visual delight of being immersed in a cloud from the intoxicating effects of breathing heavily polluted air, the series evoke smog engulfing global cities. In its mesmerizing aesthetic ambiguity, the work sustains a space of contemplation within our troubled atmosphere.
Dehlia Hannah, philosopher.
12th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art Museum. Curator Cuauhtémoc Medina.
