Person in the Scenery I

作品賞析

This work is the first in the series “People in the Scenery” by artist Chang Xuo-Yu. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the news of wild animals wandering the streets of cities because of the reduced human activity made her realize how human beings have been compressing nature’s living space. Hence the inspiration for this series. In this painting, we see a natural, undeveloped waterfront, except for a single abrupt chimney that seems quite out of place. Although no people are visible here, the traces of man-made destruction cannot be erased. Chang first incised the composition into the wooden board, and then gradually painted over it. The traces of the movements of the carving knife hint at human intervention in the environment. The background is thinly painted, so the grain and texture of the wooden planks are still faintly visible. It is as if a last effort was made to protect the original landscape from being covered.