GU YI
Unit 3 Exhibition
Photos from the exhibition
Summer exhibition "New epoch" 120*150cm, oil on canvas
I have to admit that in the study of human-animal relations, reducing the status of humans is a good way to make humans reflect on their social status. Through technique, layout, color, and symbolism, I strongly convey the complexity of the human-animal relationship and provoke reflection on human identity.
Technique
Through the delicate light and shadow treatment of the character's heads in the work, especially the sense of light reflection inside the glass box, I enhanced the sense of suffocation of the characters trapped in the closed space. The texture of the head is smooth, highlighting a cold feeling that echoes the glass material and contrasts with the rough or illusory animal elements around it.
For the vivid treatment of animalized hands in the background, I treated the texture of their skin or hair more roughly and the brush strokes were obvious. The smooth skin of the figure forms a sharp contrast, highlighting the differences between humans and animals in form, and also showing the technical control of different textures.
The hybrid images in the background, although they appear to be secondary, are suspended in the form of thin paper, adding to the sense of layer. As part of the works I have created in the past, they are integrated into the current painting, making the whole work have a coherence, reconstructing or reflecting on the previous visual narrative.
Layout and composition
I put the head of the character in a glass box in the center of the picture. This closed space makes the character appear helpless and isolated, with a feeling of being watched, studied or dissected. The geometric shape and clean boundaries of the glass box make the presence of the characters more prominent, and also emphasize that humans are trapped in a self-constructed "identity framework." I added the intrusion of external elements into the picture, and the animalistic arms extending from the top of the picture tried to touch the figures, but because of the isolation of the glass, this contact seemed hopeless. This detail symbolizes the boundary between humans and animals, suggesting a relationship that wants to break through but is blocked. The hybrid in the upper right corner shows a sense of unease and weirdness through a twisted body posture, while the stationary head shows a certain calm or numb emotion. Through this dynamic and static contrast, the tension between humans and animals is further strengthened.
Color analysis
I use a strong contrast of green and red in the background of the picture, and this collision of warm and cold tones symbolizes the conflict and opposition between nature (green) and human civilization or life (red). The blue color in the glass box brings a cold feeling, enhancing the atmosphere of isolation and imprisonment of the characters.
Thought and symbolism
Through this work, I enclosed the characters in glass boxes, suggesting the fragility of human dominance. While humans appear to be in a "control" position, the attempts of hybrids and animalized hands to touch or intrude reveal the interdependent and constantly entangled relationship between humans and animals. The images of hybrids break the boundaries between humans and animals, and they represent a mixed, ambiguous identity that challenges traditional anthropocentric thinking. This visual representation prompts the viewer to consider the relationship between humans and animals, as well as the human understanding of our own identity - how much of us are "human" and how much of us are "animal"? The hybrid and suspended images suggest multiple levels of identity. By creating these allobodies, I try to make the audience reflect on whether their own identity is really fixed and independent, or in a constantly changing and ambiguous state. And this process is a metaphor for the fluidity and uncertainty of human identity.