LIAO GUOHE

In the Chinese landscape painting tradition artists often inscribed poetry next to their images to enhance the viewer’s experience of the work. Liao Guo He employs similar techniques of using text and titles to elaborate on his simple oil canvases but to completely different ends. In A Dirty Bastard Occupies the Sky, a weird muddy blob blocks the infinite vista of the sky replacing any metaphysical connotations that the heavens may inspire with a ridiculous hairball. In Immoral House, a seemingly innocent house becomes sordid through the use of language, and similarly in Sad Red, Bad Blue, words attribute color to an emotion and moral inclination. In this play between language and image, Liao often frustrates the viewer’s desire to have a transcendent experience with the painting, substituting, wit, failure and obtuseness in its stead.