Flip-Flop Reflex

mirror
Flip-flop Reflex, 2013
ink on mirror

This piece is about the human-environment dichotomy.  Instead of a brush I  used the bottom of the plastic sandal to apply the chinese ink. A silhouette of the forward slash symbol with an asterisk ‘/ * ’ is made on the mirror. The slash symbol is often used in place of complimentary opposites as in male/female, yin/yang.  In programming languages the ‘/*’ forward slash asterisk is used to mark an ending and beginning comment. Here the symbol is applied to refer to the comment of the artist as well as the duality of man and nature.

I use mirrors to provoke the viewer to focus between his individual existence (his reflection in the mirror, human foot prints) and his disappearance (the concealed image by the film of paint in reference to human pollution.) The more paint film on the mirror (pollution) the less one sees of oneself. But the less one sees of oneself the more one focuses on pollution.  Like male/female , yin/yang the two subjects of human appearance and pollution are intertwined.

 

 

 

 

This was a proposal for a shopping mall in the suburbs of Beijing. In the proposal there would be 12 stores with the painted mirrors. Visitors would be given a brochure/map to know where each one was located. The map/brochure would be designed to simulate a scavenger hunt. At the end of the 3 month installation each mirror art piece was to be raffled off to the visitors.Thereby, motivating the shoppers to chase themselves and follow the pollution around the mall. The artist’s subtle intervention in this public space was intended to confront consumers with their indirect contribution to pollution.