Framed
Courtesy of the exhibitor:
About the work: The work Framed refers to a new technical aesthetic and personal drama, relating to the appearance of iPhones and smartphones which has changed values and daily experience totally. Shen Chaofang spent two years researching in preparation for this project, the medium of which lies somewhere between between movie and drama, video, and photograph. Technical aesthetics and convenient software give the artist an extensive platform in which to mix all knowledge systems, exploring the aesthetics of contradiction using the language and conventions of film. Shen's work refers to film language, the depiction of time and space in painting, disillusionment in contemporary society, sociology, law, faith, and psychology. This work Framed depicts women in various stages of undress, reflecting on their lives full of bitterness and absurdity. It also depicts Beijing World Park—an enormous theme park in Asia that takes up 680 acres—capturing the irony of its opulence and cheapness.
GongYueTu is a Tang Dynasty painting style that captures the leisure time of Chinese royalty, but this modern version not only sprawls over time and space, but is also an expression of the sham that results from greed. In Framed, the problem is corruption, not resplendence. This work questions the function of law, in particular as it relates to political struggle. The resplendent monuments in the park (the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower) are not real, just as true life is full of bitterness and contradiction. Beijing World Park has no relationship with real power; it's the epitome of contemporary China, and forces the artist to, as he describes, face his fate. It shows us the strange formation behind magnificent phenomena. This is a place that has lost touch with real economics, rights, equity. From the microcosm of the park, we see a country, a people, and a value system in despair.
