The series of potted plant - Strelitzia reginae

作品賞析

Artist Chen Kai-Ren excels at using humorous and playful expressive techniques to deconstruct everyday moments that elicit a smile yet are tinged with bitterness, revealing the joys and sorrows of ordinary life. In his artistic world, the “Inverted Man,” with his legs stretching upward, represents the reality of life. The flesh-shaped potted plant, resembling a piece of human skin tissue, symbolizes the world in which humans exist. The image of the upside-down figure, trapped in the epidermis, evokes a sense of helplessness, akin to being a fish on the chopping board. It appears both absurd and thought-provoking. The artist’s integration of the upside-down figure, epidermal elements, and potted plant imagery was inspired by his own love of gardening in middle age. The entire work, with its amusing appearance, profoundly expresses the middle-aged generation’s sense of helplessness when facing life’s limbo state, squeezed in like a sandwich. It is a joke about both himself and society.