Run #00017 // Feb 21, 2011 - Feb 27, 2011
Luke Chueh
Inside Out
Edition Size: 50
15 x 20 Giclee on 330gsm 100% Archival Cotton Paper
Luke Chueh is turning several things inside out - and doing so with a deliberately understated style that prompts thought in the viewer after (of course) the immediate smile. The notion of change, transformation, or metamorphosis is in this instance given an ironic twist, since it is obvious from the discarded elements in the picture that our ursine friend is not really changing one bit. Chueh might be alluding directly or indirectly here to the traditional matryoshka or babushka dolls of Russia - carved "nesting" figures that separate one after another until a final figure remains. If so, it is a metaphorically rich allusion and one that leads to a myriad number of questions. Are we ever really different after we shed our skins or change our minds? If not, is the process a futile one or one that at least permits us the comforting illusion that a "new" sameness is preferable to a stagnant one? There is neither frown nor smile visible on the fellow's face(s), so the answers (if truly needed) must come from us.
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