Since When 2010
J.C. Kuo
郭振昌
Production date
2010
Object Detail
Media
oil paint, collage and artificial gemstones on canvas
Measurements
200 x 390 cm, triptych
Notes
Kuo’s dramatic triptych reveals the influence of American Pop Art, which he encountered in the USA in the mid to late 1970s. Here he juxtaposes traditional Taiwanese deities with imagery redolent of mass media, advertising and, specifically, fashion photography in a manner recalling the monumental billboard paintings of James Rosenquist. In this work, a temple guardian, or door god, looms threateningly over a seductive redhead while his counterpart is offered a ripe apple by a pink witch. Below them lurks the grey silhouette of the Shou Xing, a deity who controls the life span of mortal beings. Butterflies—symbols of long life and young love—flit across the composition, which is embellished by cascades of children’s stickers: Snow White, Mickey Mouse, dinosaurs, jewels and racing cars. The effect is a glorious visual cacophany that is simultaneously dazzling and dark, energetic and incoherent, representing the condition of hypermodernity. Kuo treats the robed figures of fierce gods as flat, decorative elements and further emphasises his east/west, high/low mash-up by embellishing the surface of each canvas with commercial stickers, and the false ‘luxe’ of glittery fake jewels.
Accession number
2012.043