Anachronistic Chinoiserie - Fragrance Habor | 2025 | Digital painting | 40 x 45 in.

Anachronistic Chinoiserie - Sanssouci Park Germany | 2025 | Digital painting \ 40 x 58 in.

The Chinesisches Haus in Sanssouci Park, Germany, was designed by Johann Gottfried Büring between 1755 and 1764. The pavilion is an iconic example of 18th-century European chinoiserie—a blend of ornamental Rococo elements and stylized Chinese architectural motifs. My reinterpretation brings this legacy into dialogue with contemporary visual culture and identity.

The name “Hong Kong” meaning “Fragrant Harbour,” is believed to originate from the historic incense trade, when agarwood—valued for its rich fragrance—was stored and exported from its harbors. In this piece, the Hong Kong skyline forms the backdrop, with a blooming Bauhinia tree (the city’s official flower) to the side. The silhouette figure holds a seed from the Aquilaria tree, the source of agarwood, connecting memory, place, and the sensory traces of cultural history.

 

Chinoiserie is the evocation of Chinese motifs and techniques in Western art, furniture, and architecture, especially in the 18th century. The featureless silhouette figures of “reVisit Chinoiserie,” clothed in traditional costume and Elizabethan ruff, capture the fusion of different cultures and influences that took place in Hong Kong. Chinoiserie has become a discipline in its own right. As a separate art form, it actually can reinforce and strengthen the stand-alone its value of Eastern and Western portions. Hong Kong is a place of continuous transition and cultural amalgamation. Just as Chinoiserie has emerged with its own distinctive character, so to the people of Hong Kong struggle to create an individuality, originality, and identity of their own, stronger and more vital as a union fashioned from their diversity.

reVisit Chinoiserie | 2023 | Ink, acrylic, fiber paste on printed linen | Two panel: 118 x 54 in. each | Overall dimension 118 x 108 in. (300 x 274 cm)

Set against the backdrop of New York’s Central Park, featuring the iconic Bow Bridge and the recognizable twin towers of The San Remo, a luxury apartment building. In this work, however, the luxurious space lies not within the ornate birdcage but outside of it - suggesting a quiet commentary on freedom, domesticity, and the illusion of privilege.

Anachronistic Chinoiserie - Central Park New York | 2025 | Digital painting | 40 x 56 in.

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