Asia

Hong Hao

Page 2123, The New World Physical Map

2000

Page 2123, The New World Physical Map, 2000

Selected Scripture is a series of silkscreen prints that Hong Hao has been working on since the 1980s. The series includes 37 prints to date, each of which resemble pages of an ancient open cartography book. In this series, the artist reflects on the authoritative influence of ancient books that shape dominant understandings of the world. The artist states that he specifically chose the book format because of the authority the form commands, as the highly controlled production of scientific publications is a signifier of accuracy and truth. In The New World Physical Map, the artist inverts the color of the oceans with that of the continents, creating a reversed perspective of the relationship between land and sea; the known and the unknown; and human society and nature. This world map, reinvented by the artist, calls attention to a particular understanding of the global order, and reshapes conventional perspectives of the world. The work invites viewers to question the relationship between knowledge and truth, and its effects on cognition.

Spanning photography, painting, installation, as well as behavior and performance art, Hong Hao’s artistic exploration is informed by the many cultural, political, and economic shifts in his lifetime. The artist’s work is generally concerned with the expansion of capitalist consumption in China, human relationships with possessions, and the implications of excess in a communist state. Since the 1980s, Hong Hao has created a series of silkscreens that deconstruct and reconstruct the world map according to his personal responses and intimate experiences with the various phenomena and problems resulting from China's rapid development of capital and material goods.

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Hong Hao Page 2123, The New World Physical Map

Hong Hao

Page 2123, The New World Physical Map