What
Selected drawings
Year
2010
Info
The monochrome blue and green drawings, comprise a suite of ink works entitled, Re-Imaginings. The work references the iconic delft blue colour of Chinoiserie that has originated from the 18th century. The images and style from Re-Imaginings references in part, the Rococo design of the French artist, Jean Pillement’s engravings from A New Book of Chinese Ornaments, as well as from the more fantastical etchings of Victorien Sardou from the 19th century. For Pien's drawings, a carefully diluted ink mixture allows the colour to slightly bleed, mimicking the effect of hand-painted ceramic glazes. Although the 19th century drawings are floral and patterned, Pien's series of works are replete with hybridized and interconnected creatures. Here, they subtly reference the caricaturization of "Orientals" in the late 1800's to the early 1900's while celebrating the persistent defiance of difference.


