The Road to Survival

作品賞析

Artist CHEN Yong-yu believes that every creature has its own unique rules for survival. In this series of themed paintings, he examines the incredible hardiness of the cockroach, using it as a source of ideas. In The Road to Survival, CHEN first divides the scene into 15 panels, creating each one into a drain cover of a different form. He exaggerates the layering with an ink wash technique, building up different levels, and lastly adds cockroaches in different postures. In this piece he subverts the public’s perception of the cockroach, showing the world from a new perspective, one filled with intrigue and imagination. In the artist’s eyes, the cockroach can adapt to any unforgiving environment; its gritty determination to live reflects the lengths that modern humans will go to survive.