Double Grounded Paintings
Has John Young succeeded in using his bicultural heritage for cultural synthesis in his artworks?
John Young illustrated a development of his understanding towards “culture” and this is shown by the evolution of his works. Regardless the Double Grounded Paintings Young started to do since the 1990s, or recent works like Safety Zone and The Macau Days, most of the works included the idea of multiculturalism. His works developed from representing biculturalism in some of his Double Grounded Paintings, consists of painting series like Transcultural Works (1993-2006), The Persian Paintings (2003-2004), to symbolizing multiculturalism in recent paintings, The Macau Days (2012) and Safety Zone (2010-2012). Young reflected the idea of cultural synthesis …show more content…
For instance, if the viewer doesn’t understand the cultural context or background information that’s shown in the artwork, how is the interpretation going to support what the artist is trying to convey? For example, Young’s method of juxtaposition of images or subjects within his artworks leaves the meaning to open interpretation and may be pointed to be an provocation, depending on who the viewer is, as it is controversial and slightly vague, since the paintings could be easily mistaken as a miscegenated piece of artwork, which is a term, used when cultures (or people) cross link but ruins the bases of both cultures. For example, the background of the painting, The Forgotten Message 2004 (from The Persian Painting series), is another digital printed ancient Asian painting with angel-like figures. And layered on top of this digital print are paintings of subjects like a naked woman with fairy wings, as well as landscape objects such as birds and clouds. There may be a connection between the background and the subjects due to the presence of angel-like wings, though why the figure needs to be naked? It seems as if the intent of Young’s message is corrupted because of the subject matters chosen in the painting. On the other hand, the background could be symbolising Asian traditions, while the images painted onto it reflect the western traditions and the idea of contemporary art– especially the use of naked figures, which has a meaning of purification in western art since the Renaissance
John Young illustrated a development of his understanding towards “culture” and this is shown by the evolution of his works. Regardless the Double Grounded Paintings Young started to do since the 1990s, or recent works like Safety Zone and The Macau Days, most of the works included the idea of multiculturalism. His works developed from representing biculturalism in some of his Double Grounded Paintings, consists of painting series like Transcultural Works (1993-2006), The Persian Paintings (2003-2004), to symbolizing multiculturalism in recent paintings, The Macau Days (2012) and Safety Zone (2010-2012). Young reflected the idea of cultural synthesis …show more content…
For instance, if the viewer doesn’t understand the cultural context or background information that’s shown in the artwork, how is the interpretation going to support what the artist is trying to convey? For example, Young’s method of juxtaposition of images or subjects within his artworks leaves the meaning to open interpretation and may be pointed to be an provocation, depending on who the viewer is, as it is controversial and slightly vague, since the paintings could be easily mistaken as a miscegenated piece of artwork, which is a term, used when cultures (or people) cross link but ruins the bases of both cultures. For example, the background of the painting, The Forgotten Message 2004 (from The Persian Painting series), is another digital printed ancient Asian painting with angel-like figures. And layered on top of this digital print are paintings of subjects like a naked woman with fairy wings, as well as landscape objects such as birds and clouds. There may be a connection between the background and the subjects due to the presence of angel-like wings, though why the figure needs to be naked? It seems as if the intent of Young’s message is corrupted because of the subject matters chosen in the painting. On the other hand, the background could be symbolising Asian traditions, while the images painted onto it reflect the western traditions and the idea of contemporary art– especially the use of naked figures, which has a meaning of purification in western art since the Renaissance