Beauty, Charm, Joy 
Vacuum Forming Acrylic on Canvas 
8x10in.
2014

In this work, I prepared the canvas with 7 layers of acrylic gloss medium (this refers to a glazing technique, which is also called Flemish technique). The canvas represents vase; vases represent bodies (three racial types); bodies represent the three Graces (in Greek mythology of beauty, charm and joy); the three Graces represent tradition. Glass is a symbol of the fragility of life as well as a preconceived notion of beauty. The vase is a traditional still life subject and the female nude can also be seen as a still life. Unlike a lasting firm glass vase, these canvas vases will eventually become saggy and flappy, which symbolizes the human body ravaged away by time. Acrylic is plastic. The vacuum formed plastic is a manufacturing process for making commercial products along with a metaphor for cosmetic surgery and the manipulation of the body.

Unified cognitive beauty is brought about by globalization: we are dressed in the same clothes; we are buying the same products; we are acting in the same manner. I think in today’s art world, the artists in different regions are no longer producing artworks in their traditional methods that represent their unique cultures; everyone is using the same form. They do this in order to be accepted into the same art institutions; artists create works that speak in their second language. I do not intend in any way to bring back the tradition. I am only celebrating traditional paintings. The unifying trend is not necessarily better or worse. It simply is happening. As a society, we should question them before we accept them. To be aware is to be prepared.

Maybe by the end of the day, the world will be homogenized and we will only have one Grace instead of three.