Untitled (MFA project)

Site specific installation, 88 banners each 54"x72",
encompassing the exhibition hall that's 292 ' x 78 ' x 29 ', 2005

This is a site/show specific installation for my MFA thesis show at the Herbst Pavilion of the Fort Mason. I made one banner for each participant in the show. The participant's name is printed in yellow on a red background. The back of each banner is in translucent white color. Each banner is hung above the corresponding participant's booth. The banners are arranged in four columns and 22 rows, reflecting the layout of the exhibition space on the ground. Thus one will be able to get to a particular artist's booth by following the banner.

It tries to operate at two levels. First, it comments on the social aspect of the graduation show - the celebratory nature of the vernissage, the massive number of participants, the naming mentality, and the trade show nature of the exhibition. Secondly, it directly intervenes and comments on the architectural space of the Herbst pavilion. The area under the ceiling is a visually very busy space. The installation attempts to bring an order to it.

The effect of 'an army of artists waiting to go out' has an uncanny semblemce to the workers in the Communist China, where I grew up.

Press Coverage
Inside San Francisco Art Institute, May 27, 2005 Vol. 1 No. 4
Artists Magazine, June, 2005, Taiwan