Artwork Appreciation
HOU I-Ting’s artworks are investigations of diversity and co-existence between the visualized context of body and cultural symbols through public spaces. Market Gate-Crane Pavilion is inspired by the 1945 painting Shichangkou of LI Shih-Chiao, an artist who was active during Japanese Rule of Taiwan. This artwork recreates the conflicting aesthetic between a Shanghai girl and her surrounding environment. The Nishi Honganji Temple in Mengjia is used as the background of the photograph, while the artist wears an embroidered costume to create a unique aesthetic of anachronism. Icons and symbols of different cultures are inserted into an environment frequented by common people to investigate diverse co-existence of different cultural symbols from different times when the original stream of iconology has been severed.