The word “lines” broadly refers to both the appearance and the basic structure of the pieces on display and can therefore be used to semantically analyze and deconstruct a piece externally and internally. “Lines” strengthen visual and semantic reminders, so that viewers in the real world can look at works that resemble branches and flowerpots and know with certainty that “although the piece has a natural façade, it is based on a non-natural construct,” a realization that causes hesitation when reflecting on one’s basic understanding of the work. However, it is this hesitation that frees viewers from the real world and allows them to re-examine possible messages in the work separate from formal meaning.

Marvin-Minto Fang is particularly adept at this type of transformation and uses his art to challenge the set ways in which people view and think about things. The works shown in this exhibition are flowerpot sculptures made from countless pieces of plywood. The permanence of flowerpot life is established through the use of reconstituted and different combinations of lines. An overview of the creative career of Marvin-Minto Fang reveals that the motifs of “life and nature” have played a central role in his work. This is how Fang casts light on the long standing desire for and exploration of eternity in human history. The accumulation, agglomeration and dispersal of lines offer the possibility of two-way openness in objects that, despite not existing in the real world, live forever in the world of ideas through the tacit understanding of viewers.

Image: © Minto Fang, Gallery 100