Artwork Appreciation
HO Huey-Chih is an artist skilled at depicting still life with meticulous and complex brush strokes. She seeks her themes in the cuisine and utensils of daily use in Taiwan, filling her paintings with ordinary objects found randomly in everyday life. In Pride and Vainglory, the peacock feather at the bottom right is a metaphor to human obsession with outward appearances and beauty as well as inner pride and vainglory. The dices on top represent our greed, while fruits and vegetables such as water chestnuts, kumquat, and pumpkins symbolize the transient nature of events and of life itself. By employing meticulous brushwork and splendorous colors, HO Huey-Chih provides a most lavish still life composition that satisfies the viewers’ visual desires.