Title: Emperor’s New Clothes (SOLD)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 36"W X 48"H
Year: 2008 |
Emperor’s official gown is one of the most popular antique collectable items amongst wealthy art collectors. One may easily find emperor’s gowns or paintings of emperor’s gown in antique shops on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong. The prices of these emperor’s gowns or even paintings of emperor’s gown are so high that not everyone can afford them.
The title of this painting is “Emperor’s New Clothes”. An expensive and lavishly decorated garment - the emperor’s gown is depicted at the most prominent centre place of the painting behind the old man (the emperor). The old man, who is wearing a sweatshirt, is placed at the foreground in front of the gown. An ordinary sweatshirt contrasts with the expensive garment at the background. One may interpret this painting is simply demonstrating the issue of rich and poor in Hong Kong, who can afford and who can’t.
There is also a hidden agenda for the painting. I am depicting the famous legendary children storybook “Emperor’s New Clothes” as the title of my painting. The moral of the story tells us about one of the weaknesses of human nature - pretentiousness. The Emperor pretended that he could see the Emperor’s new clothes because he couldn’t admit that he was not smart enough to see it. I use this as a metaphor for the pretentiousness you can find in this art world – how some so-called artists who can fool viewers and how some spectators who can pretend to understand these abstract meanings of art. The question is “Who is kidding whom?” |
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