Chinese Landscape Tattoo No. 2

1999

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

In his 1999 photographic series Chinese Landscape Tattoo, Huang covers his torso and arms with traditional landscape scenes, presenting his “reincarnation” of literati-style painting. The composition, modeled in ink and colors on a white ground by Huang’s wife, the artist Zhang Tiemei (b. 1968), follows the natural form of Huang’s body. In the photos, the artist’s face is cropped away and Huang’s anonymous torso becomes an emblem of the Chinese everyman who cannot be separated from his cultural heritage, which, like his racial identity, is as indelible as a tattoo.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

References

Title: Chinese Landscape Tattoo No. 2
Artist: Huang Yan (Chinese, born 1966)
Date: 1999
Culture: China
Medium: Chromogenic print
Dimensions: Image: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Lent by a private collection, New York
Curatorial Department: Asian Art