Distorted — Solo Exhibition of James Ming-Hsueh Lee
Time | 2015/09/07- 2015/10/16
Venue | 1st Floor Lobby of Taishin Holdings Building
The exhibition is free of charge.
Artist Lee Ming-Hsueh’s work centers on transforming “ordinary” objects in life, such as “donuts,” “French fries,” “tennis racket,” “dustpans and brooms,”etc., in terms of their size, site or function. He, then, incorporates his unique personal interpretations into these “works,” which have become fairly unordinary.
Lee contemplates on “desires” that are implanted into the daily life and explores the “desiring of other’s objects of desire.” Through his re-interpretation and transformation of the objects found in the daily surroundings, he investigates into the established meanings and values, reexamining and reflecting upon the habitual understanding of things indoctrinated by the media, education and society. Through reversing how the objects are used, transforming their appearances or people’s perceptions of them, the artist is able to offer interpretations that are refreshing and amusing, creating a relaxing feeling in life despite its possible bitterness.
The Chinese exhibition title, “NuNu,” is derived from the English word, “distorted.” At the same time, the character Nu also implies multiply from “twisted,” “crooked” to “bent” and “curve.” The multiplying meanings of Nu also shed light on the artist’s wit and sense of humor. The artist perceives all kinds of desire in our daily life as the alienated and distorted reality. As the artist attempts to re-distort the meanings of the already alienated works, he urges the audience to reflect upon the essence of life, to respond and listen to the true voice within, and to appreciate and discover the potential of contemporary art.
Artist Statement
I like to re-interpret the objects found in the daily surroundings, search for the hybrid possibilities buried under their surfaces, and with a penetrating sense of humor, intervene in the rigidified system of meaning and association, reversing the surface meanings that are readily available. My work often discusses alienated, distorted values and beliefs in the attempt to reflect on certain life experience; it allows the works to become a site, where meanings are entwined, transformed and joined to derive different production of meaning and aesthetic interpretation.
Artist — LEE Ming-Hsueh
Lee obtained his Ph.D (Doctor of Philosophy) from Loughborough University, UK, and has won the grand prize of Taipei Art Award in 2005. He is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Design, Yuan Ze University.
Artwork Introduction
■ Love — Hearts
Cutting the originally heart-shaped leaves in square, it implies entering into a rational state; nevertheless, it cannot stop the unending budding of the heart-shaped leaves.
■ Marriage — Whispers
The work unites the successful team of a dustpan and a broom that gazes upon another union of their kind, which represents the substitute of contracted desire in society.
■ Power — French Friends
The shadow of power always lurks in the background. McDonald French fries, which have become a symbol of the American chained store, are said to be a Belgian invention, and has nothing to do with France.
■ Power — Hammer
Hammer is a symbol of labor, implementation and power. Through transforming the joint and turning the hammer into movable parts, the tool used to fix nails becomes fixed by the nail.
■ Money — Tree of Alchemy
The basic principle of producing coins is that coins’ content value should not exceed their face value to avoiding them being melted down. The work, Tree of Alchemy, re-constructs the look of the one-dollar coin in bronze and piles them up to discuss the possibility of value exchange. Moreover, by regularly joining newly cast bronze sculptures, the coins will keep piling and growing up during the length of the exhibition.
■ Appetite — Sugar Ring
The work enlarges donuts and sprinkles small model figures on the pink icing like colorful hundreds and thousands, turning donuts into a metaphor of empty desires, a seductive allurement as well as a cautionary stop sign.
■ Participation — Hm
Disabling the legs of a folding chair with cement so that it cannot be opened, the repeatedly established key factor to “a seat” is consequently imprisoned and eliminated.
