Chun Shao
The Drowning
Year: 2022
Media: Mixed media installation
Materials: Silicone fabrics, TPU fabrics, epoxy resins, synthetic hairs, pearls, beauty supplies, metal wires, tubes, electronic supplies.
Dimensions: Flexible
Description:
The Drowning presents a series of E-textile sculptures. Inspired by the painting - Ophelia by John Everett Millais, this work creates a water pond-like space. The painting depicts a pictorial announcement of her death. However, the semi-awakening face or the loosely holding hands surrounded by freshly-picked flowers revealed her complicated feelings and the deep longing for love and life. Juxtaposition these unresolved but vicious sentiments with the mysterious nature of Internet-found objects. Shao Chun explores “new” hybridized forms of beings intertwining the sensation of alive/dead, digital/organic, and strategic/emotional.
Applying different hand-sewing and knotting techniques, the artist transforms mundane, decorative, cosmetic elements into a hanging structure of artificial vines, branches, and webs. Moreover, equipped with various kinds of electronics, this work resembles the ambient of a secret hidden pond, fulfilled with multiple layers of insect-like noises, intricate twists of liquid flows, and rhythmic movements of breezes. The viewers experience an abstract yet detail-oriented post-digital living habitat.