Childhood for Sale

The series of works explores the difference between personal experience and the political environment. With my Chinese background, I have the opportunity to take a step back and examine the gap between public press and personal experience, the truths and falsehoods of both Eastern and Western press. The work encourage a understanding of global culture and contemporary political situations.

Childhood for Sale No.1

In Childhood For Sale Series. Each painting is a self portrait based on a photograph from my childhood. The pictorial space is reminiscent of a still-life or plein air painting, however, the appearance of a photographic flash reveals the image’s true origin. The flash is token in a fragment of past moment, in this case is the artist’s childhood.

Childhood for Sale No.2

The 90’s was an era of shifting policies in China, with the one child policy and China’s economic restructuring. The emergence of private firms changed the family structure: men were no longer dominant. the conflict between tradition and modernity tore many families apart, reflected in a high rate of divorce in the 90s.

Childhood for Sale No.3

Childhood is frequently a time of isolation. In the painting , a girl standing alone. The girl’s back is to the audience, as she looks into the unstable, airy and light atmosphere created by overlapping layers of uneven brush strokes. Image appears to be washed away just as memories fade.