|
|
Picasso:
"Self-Portrait,"(1906), Philadelphia, Museum of Art;
"Les Demoiselles D'Avignon," 1907, Museum of Modern Art, New York;
"Young Faun Dancing,"(1946), Antibes;
"Woman with a Hat,"(1935), National Museum of Modern Art, Paris;
"Guernica,"(1937), Madrid
Van Gogh:
"Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe,"(1889), private collection;
"Sleeping Room of the Artist in Arles,"(1888), Laren Coll. V.W. van Gogh |
|
Chen has played a supergame with Gogh's famous Sleeping Room of the Artist in Arles by
making it a rambunctious haven for Picasso icons. As
if he were decorating a Taiwanese temple, he has filled every inch of space with symbols,
even opening the bedroom windows to allow the space of sky to be filled with intruders.
This delightful jumble needs to
be taken apart like a Chinese puzzle.
It is doubtful that any painting could
be more saturated with Picasso memorabilia: they sleep in the bed, stand in the
foreground, sit on the chair, repose on the table, are traced on the floor, hang from the
walls, fill the window.
This extraordinary piece will
never cease to beguile, as the viewer plays with the images. Even after every icon has been identified, the
cunning and bravado of importations, manipulations, and juxtapositions will continue to
torment.
|
|
|
