Collection: Famous By Proxy

L’Epicerie Fine HK is delighted to present Ernest Chang’s new works in a new and much anticipated exhibition. After his part stirring, part thought-provoking solo show “Tear and Consume” in November 2018, in which guests were—as the title suggests—invited to tear up and interact physically with his works, Ernest Chang is set to provoke and inspire viewers again with his latest series “Famous By Proxy”. Fourteen acrylic silkscreen canvases, some featuring more than 12 layers of color, will be shown publicly for the
first time.

Chang evolved a great deal as an artist throughout a 10-month period of intensive research and creation for this new collection. The works on show this time represent the culmination of his artistic evolution towards more complexity in both subject matter as well as artistic process. Just as Chang explores new and more nuanced themes and processes, however, he also preserves the core motifs from his oeuvre inspired by comic book and manga characters. These central motifs can be seen as a thematic and artistic extension to his previous collection with Pokémon characters.

With Famous By Proxy, the artist’s goal is to create visual, cultural, and historical hybrids. The compositions in the works allude to the classical iconography of important European paintings since the Renaissance. At the same time, these works are populated by instantly recognizable characters lifted from contemporary mass culture originating from the U.S. and Japan.

The thematic and creative juxtaposition will offer viewers multiple “entry points” in interacting with the works. Those who are first drawn to the compositions by the dramatic poses and figurations borrowed from the Renaissance will have a window to reevaluate the pop cultural influence of the featured cartoon characters. Likewise, those first attracted by the familiar pop culture figures will be confronted by the continuing cultural significance of Western art history in the present day.