Before working on this series, I have done quite a lot of paintings as an extension of my interpretations of sculptures and a lot of sculptures as an extension of my interpretations of paintings. After repeated attempts, I learned the concept that an object can be a painting, and a painting can also be an object.
Building on this concept of cross-medium, I started my painting experiment with a series of objects. Recycle stations, second-hand markets, and various places in life turn into art clubs or color palettes under this concept. Choosing objects is like selecting colors, and choosing shapes is like selecting brush strokes. How to remove the original multi-faceted meanings and attributes of these objects, and then simply transform them into paints or brush strokes for my creation, become a very interesting creative process. I combined this concept with my long-established painting concepts, as well as the highly perceptive composition mode, to display cross-media painting on three-dimensional canvases extending from the wall to the ground by placing, pasting, and combining objects. My three-dimensional abstract paintings, which combine painting, installation, and sculpture, offer a new perspective for the viewers to see familiar objects by viewing objects from their initial features or to find their own interpretations from the arrangements.
The series of works—Kindergarten is an extension of this style of object painting. One of its unique features is that this series of works breaks away from the canvas. It uses an installation or a sculpture as well as site-specific art to provide a field and framework for transforming the form, so that the viewers can have a dialogue with the object, thereby redefining the form, and generating new vocabulary from its pictorial composition.
Another unique feature is that this series of works use a kindergarten to build an atmosphere that allows the viewers to go back to the purest and most childish state to deconstruct the works. Such an atmosphere frees the viewers’ instinct for interpretation, and feel the freedom of a certain pure and innocent age. Each installation is a facility for exploration, and also a process of re-understanding objects.
In the whole scene, there are two paintings of letters based on kindergarten teaching posters. The letters are Phoenician, as a symbol for the return to a simple origin and the breadth of shape extension, so that the viewers can use the most original shapes to interpret images. At the same time, the pronunciation of Phoenician characters is not determined by letters, but the combinations of letters form vocabulary, which also corresponds to the vocabulary generated between objects. The text NetragredniK in the dark blue painting is the name of this work Kindergarten presented from right to left. The text itself represents the concept of free exploration in kindergartens. The words “Social Sciences major liberal division” and “Science & Engineering major scientific division” in the beige painting are simply a restatement of the educational framework in my country.
