The Last Painting
5-27 May 2011
Artist special function, Thursday 5 May, 5-7 pm
Snow White Gallery
UNITEC, Building 1, Gate 1
Carrington Rd. Mt. Albert, Auckland
Yi-Hsin Tzeng, a New York-based Taiwanese artist, is currently having her artist-in-residency at Unitec, funded by Asia New Zealand Foundation and Taipei International Artist Village. At the end of her residency, she is going to present two video works at Snow White Gallery, Unitec for Auckland audience in May.
The first piece is “The Last Painting.” She made this piece when she relocated herself to the States. The experience of living in the Southern part of America makes the artist realize that she is an Asian for the first time in her whole life. Coming from a restrict painting training background, the argument about “the death of painting” provides her a chance to search “what does painting mean for her? Therefore, she uses her last painting to portray the image of “people of colours,” challenge the traditional Asian female image and conventional way of watching a painting.
The second piece is “Pretending Conversation.” After arriving New Zealand, the iconic Maori culture catches her attention immediately and connects her unusual background, being a darker-skin tone Asian girl, whom are always mistaken as an aborigine person in Taiwan. Through the help of Maori Development Centre at Unitec, she designs a special conversation with a Maori female student. During the talk, the artist only speaks her mother language, Mandarin and the other girl responds only in Maori. Without any script, rehearsal or translation, they talk about nothing or everything. Because of the language barrier, they need to pretend that they have the ability to enjoy and carry the conversation. Therefore, talking becomes a kind of reflection, which honestly projects what talkers assume, imagine or expect about the other person. For example, the artist kept talking about her viewpoint about being the Other, Maori culture/ people; meanwhile, the Maori girl kept talking about her life, friends and family. The opacity of conversation not only generates the misunderstanding and assumption but also accidentally reveals the stereotype, contrast and the truth. Please come to see how the small talk goes funny, absurd, and aggressive.
