#Air#Swag
Tianzhuo Chen
陈天灼
Production date
2015
Object Detail
Media
wool
Measurements
500 x 420 cm
Notes
The hashtag-titled #Air#Swag continues Chen’s deliberate mash-ups of street art, circus, Japanese and American popular culture (the South Park character, Eric Cartman, makes an appearance), Buddhist and Hindu iconography, carnival sideshow and queer visual culture to make new and glorious hybrids. Here, splayed like a tiger-skin rug, we see the internal organs of a cartoon-like figure. This is a modern morality tale in the shape of a flying carpet. The prone male figure shows off its “swag”, or style, with a hip-hop gold chain and the Jumpman logo of Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, but its exposed ribs, grimacing face and surrounding clouds suggest the time for such posturing is past.
Accession number
2016.146