Arcylic colour on canvas, Dimension variable, from 51 x 25 cm to 76 to 38 cm, 2006 - 2007

Local Brand (Wiki Version) is a painting series based on the names of popular figures or global brands in “minor” languages found in the internet site Wikipedia, beyond the perception of Chinese and/or English speaking people, for example, Ikea in Arabic, Spider-man in Dhivehi (dialect in Maldives) or Microsoft in Hindi. It demonstrates the rarely conceived “local” need of these global names despite the questionable information from the popular website. Languages written mainly in Latin alphabets are not chosen as they are too pronounceable . Korean and Japanese scripts are just too popular in Hong Kong. It challenges the idea of globalization in the bankruptcy of the East-Meet-West cliché and the fall of Anglo-Chinese pride in the Post-Handover years of Hong Kong. Painting is a conventional medium of seduction that decays the meaning of writing.

My elaboration about this new painting series can be read here in Chinese & English (pdf file).