Pien often finds himself foraging through library stacks in search of material for future projects. He recently came across a copy of the famed Chinese volume, Guideways through Mountain and Seas (“Guideways”) which contains a number of 16th century woodcut images. This epic book is the catalyst for the piece, Stranger in a Strange Land. According to editor and translator Richard E. Strassberg, Guideways consists in fact of several books “stitched together” by different scholars and biographers with some writings dating back as early as the fourth century B.C.E.  Included is a wide range of information from plants and their medicinal uses to descriptions of metals and minerals. Pien is drawn to the book’s account of some 500 gods, heroes, monsters, demons and other exotic creatures. Strassberg suggests that Guideways “fulfils the need for a reference work that could answer…questions about the denizens of both the Chinese and non-Chinese worlds.” P3.

Stranger in a Strange Land comprises images of hybrid and strange creatures. They are curious, grotesque, playful and attractive all at the same time. The images are based on the artist's imagination but are inspired by the “strikingly unusual denizens” found throughout Guideways. The figures that populate Stranger in a Strange Land are carefully combined and composed in landscape settings to suggest that they are interacting with each other. The implied narrative potential allows the viewers to become active participants in making interpretations as well as constructing their own stories. This work exemplifies how research is vital and fundamental to Pien's art process. Access to books and libraries for referencing and sourcing histories and other invaluable information allows him to gain a better understanding of the present from a variety of historical and cultural perspectives; in turn, this helps him create work with greater clarity and depth.

Stranger in a Strange Land addresses preconceived notions of difference and explores possible ways of being in the world. Most importantly, it celebrates the human imagination and the powerful role of storytelling through images, oral history, and books.

Stranger in a Strange Land “Aperture” Project - Commissioned public art banners, Central Library, Vancouver 2006