Qian Rong

“A Torch Illuminates the Local Snacks,” watercolor and ink on craft papers, 2010 “Spy Movies and Local Snacks, No.1,” watercolor and ink on paper, 2010

In this work I use painting, photographs, collage and other materials to emulate the look of old film posters. Food is closely related to our lives; we take delight searching out delicious food and enjoy it on a daily basis. History is habitually neglected but it is something that we must face. Food plays the part of a trail or bridge [which links the past and the future], which leads us to question and think about history. In this work, true is false and old and new are mixed together to create a sense of the absurd and narrow the gap between history and observation.
To consumed in our daily lives contains the strange smell of history – don’t forget distinguish and think deeply when you chew. History is not really very far away, in reality, many things can always be found in the shadow of history. The past lives and accompanies us but is often not perceived.
Many elements in this work bear a strange familiarity. Actually the food in this work, so-called delicacies are just popular everyday local dishes. This kind of food can been seen everywhere in huge quantities, just like the people themselves [also in large quantities]! Food acts as a kind of filler, an offering to the long river of history. But history is not eternal. The foods that our ancestors ate, we can still eat today: the methods of the past can still be used today.
What is history? History is right now. Reality is full of the debris of history. This is “Re-visioning History.”