Group portraits of plants

作品賞析

Artist Chang San-Hsueh likes plants, especially ferns, very much. He has planted hundreds of ferns on the balcony of his third-floor apartment. Some are native to Taiwan and others from abroad. Even though they come from different places, they have all found a home on his balcony, sheltered from the wind and rain. Chang began thinking about the relationship between plants and history, so he developed the “Shelter Island” series of paintings. One of these works is A Group Portrait of Plants. He recorded the plants on the balcony illuminated by light in the form of portraits. A ray of white light shines through the gaps between the ferns, causing the green leaves to show a multi-layered warm spectrum of color. He painted the background white to remove all interference. The green brushstrokes appear to have gone through a sorting process, layered so vividly, and he used a long, horizontal format evoking the feel of a handscroll in oriental calligraphy and painting.