Love Will Tear Us Apart

作品賞析

This large-scale oil painting was inspired by artist Kao Ya-Ting’s personal experience. Her husband gave her some potted flowers like the one in the painting for Valentine’s Day two years in a row. The second time, she couldn’t help but confess that she didn’t actually like this kind of flower, which led to some unhappiness between the couple. The painting is dominated by cool blue-violet tones, interspersed with fluorescent hues to create an unfocused visual sense. The repetitive depiction of withered, drooping petals and the play of shadowy light and shadow create an atmosphere tucked between sleep and wakefulness. For Kao, painting is a process that lets her dismantle and reassemble her own emotional memories, and re-experience her inner experiences; the layers of oil paint carry the traces of her repeated thoughts and vague yet real perceptual experiences.