Lot 43: HONG DONGLU B. 1968 BIRTH

This work is the number four from an edition of eight

laser print, lenticular lightbox

Condition Note: The 5th Shanghai Biennial 2004, Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House, September 2004, p. 326

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EXHIBITED

China, Shanghai Museum of Art, The 5th Shanghai Biennial 2004, September 29-November 27, 2004
CATALOGUE NOTE

Cyber seems to be the most important word in the end of the century. Most of us spend our time living in the cyberspace constructed by Internet and virtual reality. In the future, new species of human are to be created by planting cyborg inside their bodies. I listen to electronic music, because techno music presents our culture, I play video games of fighting, and you can press re-start when you lose. We hang around in the electronic digital world, playing copies of reality that can always be repeated. The sound of computers is a natural sound. The tempo of electronic music confuses our sense of speed. My country is always in a state of mixed sound, and the culture is a hybrid of Chinese and western culture. Art bred is this land is both sophisticated and diverse. Everything we see is fluorescent. The characters from play station leap out of the monitor with crazily messed-up tempo, allowing us to imagine and therefore start to create our own myths.

Hong Donglu

Born in Zhanghua, Taiwan, Hong Donglu graduated from the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts Department of the Tainan National College of the Arts, Taiwan in 1999. He currently lives and works in Taipei. His works have been featured in many international exhibitions including: 48th Venice Biennale, 1999; Taipei Biennale, 2000; Art Basel, Switzerland, 2001; Pusan Biennale, Korea, 2002; 5th Shanghai Biennale, China, 2004; Fiction.Love: Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, 2004.

In 2004, the ABSOLUT collection's inclusion of Hong Donglu's work earned him the coveted spot as the first ever Taiwanese artist to work with the world-renowned spirits company on an advertisement named "Absolut Hung" Hong's mixed-media installations have captured the zeitgeist of today's youth through his reinterpretations of the latest popular icons and modes of expression of an urban youth culture, examining issues of the contemporary global culture in a way that the new generation can relate to. From his early period work inspired by such pop culture symbols from Japanese cartoon series and video games such as Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Street Fighter Chun Li, and Barbie, to recent self-conceived humanoid idols, all his creations employ striking vibrant colours, creating visually stimulating scenes that manifest the pleasure-seeking ideals of a new generation.

The present piece entered the 5^th Shanghai Biennale in 2004. This 3-D installation is a lenticular image printed on a light box hung on a wall. The lenticular image is made from several digital images that are put together; thus, the image changes when viewed at different angles. This illusory image depicts a cyber-doll sitting cross-legged like a meditating Bodhisattva in a 3D crystal bubble atop a purple lotus blossom. This iconized pop image superimposed on a religious image points to perhaps the religious idolization of popular icons in today's society. Hong is most ingenious for his use of innovative material to create a rich and complex symbol that raises deeper issues of contemporary culture and society.

180 by 140 by 20 cm. 70 7/8 by 55 1/8 by 7 7/8 in.