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Description
The Work of Lantian D.
One of the most basic things to understand about Lantian D.’s work is that it is born out of an acute awareness of the weaknesses inherent in contemporary art. The sorry state of the contemporary artworld is even the theme of one her earliest paintings, Crime and Punishment, which contains some suggestive depictions of artists and intellectuals who may bear some responsibility for the present situation: Jacques Derrida, Marcel Duchamp, Tracy Emin, Michel Foucault, Clement Greenberg, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Charles Saatchi, and Andy Warhol are all depicted as witch-like creatures from one of Francisco Goya’s black paintings, alongside contemporary works by the Chapman brothers, Ron Mueck, and so on. A more recent portrait touches upon the same theme. Decline portrays a young boy guarding the precious Wallace collection of European art in London. The moth on the window behind the boy suggests that the collection is like an old garment that is no longer worn: tucked away in a stuffy environment, and out of tune with the surrounding culture, which, as the title suggests, is in decline.
Publication Date
5-2018
Publisher
Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University
City
Hong Kong
Artist Biography
Lantian D. was born in China. After studying commerce and filmmaking in Sydney, she moved to London to study Chinese art history, after which she devoted herself to painting full time. In less than five years, Lantian has been selected for multiple major art competitions in the UK, including the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, several annual exhibitions of the Royal Societies (RP, ROI, RBA, SWA), the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize at the Mall Galleries, and the National Open Art competition at the Royal College of Art. In 2016, she won the Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture, the major prize of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Lantian also received two grants from the Canadian Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation for promising young artists.
Residence Period
January - May 2018
Exhibition Period
25 Apr 2018 - 18 May 2018
Exhibition Venue
Leung Fong Oi Wan Art Gallery, 2/F Patrick Lee Wan Keung Academic Building, Lingnan University
Closing Ceremony
16:00 - 19:00, 18 May 2018
Disciplines
Interdisciplinary Arts and Media | Painting | Visual Studies
Recommended Citation
Lantian D. (2018). Hortus Conclusus 囚. Hong Kong: Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University.