© 2004, Michael S. Cherney
Interpretation
Starting with a 35 mm film frame, the artist eliminated all but a thin slice of the negative, which he digitally magnified by more than a hundred times. What is discovered and what is omitted prove to be equally important, and both oblige the viewer to look beyond the visible.
In this photographic album of rock-cut Buddhist and Daoist figures made during the tenth through the thirteenth centuries at Dazu, Sichuan province, Cherney sliced the original film frame in such a way that the distinction between the five deified figures on the right and the two secular donor figures on the left has been abrogated. Even more striking, the colossal recumbent Buddha behind them can no longer be seen—aside from the red color of his robes—so that, as in life, his spiritual presence must be sensed rather than literally seen.
Information
- Title
- Untitled, H3 (Dazu 山重集：大足), from the series Bounded by Mountains
- Object Number
- 2008-55
- Medium
- Album of 11 leaves; UltraChrome pigment inks on xuan paper, wood covers, and cloth-bound board cases
- Dates
- 2004
- Dimensions
- case overall 27.5 x 20.5 x 5 album overall (closed) 26.2 x 19 x 3.1 each image: 20.3 x 36 leaf (fully open): 26 x 37.8 cm accordian overall: 26.0 x 494.0 cm. (10 1/4 x 194 1/2 in.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art
- Materials
2003/4–2007 Qiu Mai (Michael Cherney), born 1969, sold to P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art (Princeton, NJ), 2007.
2007–2008 P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art (Princeton, NJ), by gift to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2008.
2007–2008 P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art (Princeton, NJ), by gift to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2008.
- Outside In: Chinese x American x Contemporary Art March 7 – June 7, 2009
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