Artwork Appreciation
In his “Deviant” series, the artist Lin Hou-Cheng expresses his ambivalence toward what in society is considered “normal” and “deviant,” as well as a sense of inner isolation. The work consists of several photographs taken in different places—a swimming pool, a forest, a gravel heap, or a riverbank, and in each stands a single, eye-catching figure, but it is hard to determine what he is doing. With his sharp compositions, dark tones, and mysterious light-shadow changes create a quiet but strange atmosphere. This also creates unlimited space for the viewer’s imagination to create a wonderful narrative for the images, while the pure visual tension gives rise to the expression of a sense of unease and repression. Lin Hou-Cheng uses such images as a medium for expressing feelings that are hard to express in words, and in so doing reveals the unique power and creative capacity of visual media.