12/17/2020

The series of paintings, Contemporary Commonality, is my expression of representative images of the old generation (the 80s, 90s, and even the older generation when the technology was not developed as now) versus the younger generation.

I recall in the period of my 3-months quarantining, the only way for me to communicate and get connected with friends and family is through network and social media. As technology getting more advanced, as well as imagining how the world has become so different comparing to 15 years ago, I start realizing how technology has unimaginable great impacts on us.

During the quarantine, I watched a dialogue between Chen Danqing and reporters on questions about contemporary youth and “Sketch test leads art to a dead end!” The biggest problem contemporary youth has is that our personalities are affected by the internet, and our thoughts are becoming more alike; Comparing to people in the 80s, 90s, our personalities are not as extraordinary as the older generations when the network was not so well-developed. These days we share and receive similar data and media. Every output on the internet we comprehend has an close setting of thoughts. The world with a well-developed network eliminates differences in many aspects which diminished our personal identity, and it provokes less unique personalities among contemporary youth.

With the given concept, I start to realize that it is an ongoing problem. I start thinking about one’s “self-definition”. I then create a series of 6 abstract paintings with the sizing of 20 to 40 inches to represent the images of the older generation when everyone was different in terms of thoughts and personalities, contrasting with images of the new generation, which is us nowadays. To show that our personal identities are of more resemblance attributing to the internet.

So, while we are in this looping game, how do we stay sober and be conscious that this can be a problem? And when all of us are being influenced, what could we do about it?