Paintings

UNMASK is an art group consisting of three artists, who have different perspectives of art, but who feed off each other, debate and make concessions until a unique logic is accepted by all of them. It makes them different from other artists as they place greater emphasis on individuality and coexistence, which are the foundation of their cooperation. This also allows for greater flexibility when implementing an artistic process and enables all of them to exert their specific talents. Subconsciously they are reluctant to make a clear distinction between art and design, but they are fully aware that the intrinsic value of artworks does not completely rely on aesthetical forms. Sometimes they determine a theme, before considering any forms and in other series like in the “Transparency Series” they formulate design logic before gaining an expected result through continuous validation. The fashionable elements in their works help convey their intention and express their emotion. However the human form, including both the body and its social status, is the key element of their artworks. Influenced by their research into classical Chinese and Western sculpture but at the same time striving for their vision of the “human”, they started to conceive every human as a mini universe. In their 2006 “Transparency Series” they used their own body characteristics to create human forms like classical sculpture and then purposely deleted the redundant parts, including gender and ethnic identity, by removing the defects of the sculpture in a two-dimensional way. Finally they got some varied and fragile bodies with internal and external parts that corresponded to each other. Putting these bodies randomly in a certain space formed an environment which was unbalanced, delicate and highly unexpected. In their latest “ 0° Degree Series” humanoid creatures gather in a void space, forming an isolated and virtual ecosystem, surrounded by a shell that shapes the panorama but is also a way of creating self-protection. The self-containing space is isolated from, if not contradictory to the outside world, forming an independent and virtual environment. The impact of globalization is slow but steady on Unmask. It is represented in the virtual look of their works, but is also present in every aspect of their lives.