Jeff
Chien-Hsing Liao’s New York: Assembled
Realities at The Museum of the City of New York features forty large-scale
panoramic images of the urban landscape of the concrete jungle. The work displays
the city’s allure but, aside from displaying technological innovations in
photography, Liao’s conceptual content appears lacking.
Duffy Square, Times Square, Manhattan, 2011.
JEFF CHIEN-HSING LIAO/MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
By
digitally stitching together over 200 images of an iconic location in each work,
Liao aims to capture the movement and vitality of The Big Apple. The final
product becomes a hyper-real image that is impossible for the artist to capture
from one angle. One marvels at the crisp images that display Liao’s technical
prowess with photo editing software. The photographs’ content, however, could illustrate
more complex subjects than pedestrians and buildings. It is uncertain if the
work could be considered significant if shown outside the context of a space
devoted to New York City.
Feast of San Gennaro, Little Italy, 2011.
JEFF CHIEN-HSING LIAO/COURTESY OF MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
As
technology continues to develop and infiltrate culture, Liao has adapted his artistic
practice to create work that has that “wow” factor. Like the work of Jeff Koons
or Takashi Murakami, Liao’s work displays technological advancement playing
to humans’ attraction to bright, eye-catching imagery. If one attempts to peel
back the work’s shiny exterior, little information exists to inform the viewer
or alter the romanticized view of The City that Never Sleeps.
Spot on! You nailed it. Besides the depiction of contemporary street life in NYC and his technical skill, what else can we take away from these images? I come up blank. I do disagree with one question you raise. I do think these works would still be considered significant outside of this context. New York is mythologized and his works play with and off of that fetish. I agree that he needs to be more articulate about his work. Whether he has any further justification does not come across to me either.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good review. I enjoy your question of whether it would be considered significant if shown outside a space devoted to New York City (my opinionated answer is "no" unless it is shown in a sister city). Your analysis and questioning of its concept is good, instead of just focusing on the aesthetics. I would look out for spelling mistakes (it's Takashi, not Takahashi) but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good review. I enjoy your question of whether it would be considered significant if shown outside a space devoted to New York City (my opinionated answer is "no" unless it is shown in a sister city). Your analysis and questioning of its concept is good, instead of just focusing on the aesthetics. I would look out for spelling mistakes (it's Takashi, not Takahashi) but that's about it.
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