Hsu Wei Ying, Forest Trails, 2015

Ink and copper powder on silk 
90 x 90 cm
Condition: Very good

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The Nest Lady series by Hsu Wei-Ying (Taiwanese, b. 1980) carries the essence of Eastern painting while offering a diverse and layered visual experience in both content and form. What might appear as ordinary figures and landscapes instead creates an unfamiliar visual sensation. The figures wear formal attire from human culture while carrying bird nests on their heads, walking through an unnatural version of nature. These images act as symbols that convey layered messages—both within the composition and through the viewer’s interpretation—making the artwork a multi-meaning construct.

Formally, the works are created on painting silk, a material with natural transparency, and are framed in ways that enhance its unique qualities. Elements like clothing and open spaces often retain the silk’s original state, allowing the material to express its own distinct characteristics. As the exhibition environment changes, the transparent silk interacts with light and walls, producing a spatial experience unlike traditional painting. The figures are rendered with meticulous hand-painting techniques, offering a clear and precise representation of the human form. In contrast, the natural elements are printed using printmaking tools, creating a mechanical, detached quality that distances them from their original meaning.

This blend of different materials and techniques creates a visual experience that feels both unfamiliar and yet deeply rooted in an Eastern aesthetic. The contrast between figures and their environment challenges conventional ways of seeing and thinking. In terms of artistic approach, if the figures represent painting, the natural landscapes represent making, and the untouched silk serves as ready-made. These three methods reflect different levels of distance between the artist and the work, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship with the image.

(Photographed in March 2025)