Taiwan 2020/05/01

作品賞析

Artist Huang Hai-Hsin’s straightforward, sincere paintings keenly outline the absurdities and drama of daily life. The work depicts a press conference from the time of the pandemic. The five seated officials look as if they fully sense the serious atmosphere. The oval-shaped sign-language insert on the right side of the screen and the time mark in the rectangular gray block at the lower left reveal to us that the scene before us is only a TV broadcast image. When the COVID-19 pandemic was disrupting everyone’s daily lives, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held press conferences every day to broadcast the latest developments on pandemic precautions. However, in the most eye-catching position in the screen, a whole row of watermelons is set on a table. It turns out that this was a placement marketing technique that the Ministry of Health and Welfare used to increase the popularity of watermelons. Even during a crisis, they were still promoting surplus agricultural products. Huang Hai-Hsin thus used her paintbrush to record the innate kindness and humor in Taiwanese people.