Legend
Chen Wenbo
陈文波
Production date
2017
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
240 x 440 cm
Notes
Chuck Palahniuk wrote, "The unreal is more powerful than the real because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it." Chen Wenbo's Legend depicts a surrealist scene of an ideal and dream-like landscape, split violently by sharp and irregular zig-zagging waves. The peaceful forest, grassland, mirror-like lake and a warm sunglow are interrupted by pointed fragments with sparkly coloured linear strips, delivering a sense of unease and bewilderment. What lies under the scenic view cannot be known. It is also possible to ask whether there is a dreamland hidden beneath the interruption. Or, perhaps, the artist depicts our contemporary fragmented world. Legend challenges our comfortable sense that we can tell the difference between reality and illusion.
Accession number
2019.089