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My practice has long been concerned with the act of reproduction—copying, re-tracing, commodifying, and forging. These processes mirror Lan’s investigation of diasporic iconography from my childhood homes in tandem with the globalized desires that drive their replication. My use of oil painting on canvas follows this pattern, by intentionally displacing the original paper-based ink artwork through a shift in materiality.
During the most isolating periods of the pandemic, the only ways that I could see new artwork was through the last books they borrowed from the library and the Internet. Cellphone photos of my parents and grandparents living rooms were some of the only reminders of home, where the first references for the Migratory Changes series hung. While browsing the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s online collection, I noticed a significant part of the Asian Art Collection had unidentified artists. One of the most prominent pieces on the website is titled The Garden Estate, which bears a fake signature from Liu Songnian. The Met speculates that this seventeenth century forgery of a twelfth century artist was made “to satisfy market demand for old paintings.” Sandwiched between discourses of cultural authenticity and unspoken stories of the generational violence underlying migration, the digital distortion echoes the images’ difficult journey, rendered even less legible through the decontextualization that happens when entering Western museum collections.
After Liu Songnian
oil on canvas
36” x 72”
2023
The reference for this painting is credited to Liu Songnian, but was discovered to be a 17th century forgery of a 13th century scroll painting.
After Wu Long
oil on canvas
36” x 24”
2023
After Liu Songnian ii
Oil on canvas
30” x 40”
2023
Migratory Changes
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2020.
Migratory Changes II
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021
Pictures of Toisan
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021
Migratory Changes VII
Oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2023
installation view at Bradley Ertaskiran , photo by Paul Litherland
Migratory Changes VI
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021
Photo by Paul Litherland
installation view at Bradley Ertaskiran , photo by Paul Litherland
installation view at Bradley Ertaskiran , photo by Paul Litherland
installation view at Bradley Ertaskiran , photo by Paul Litherland
Migratory Changes V
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021
photo by Paul Litherland
Migratory Changes III
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021.
Migratory Changes IV
oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, 2021.