Burial, 2024
80” H x 27” W x 18” D
Buddha lamp (bought from England), lightbulb, XPS foam, gypsum, paint, flocking
A Buddha lamp is placed within an oversized packaging tray, occupying the head portion of a figure-shaped compartment and leaving empty where the body should be. The tray mimics industrial packaging and presents the severed head as merchandise.
The severed Buddha head originated as loot and was subsequently consecrated as cultural artifacts by art museums. In the 1920s, the Hollywood Regency style declared the Buddha head as furniture for extravagant homes, tacking on a lampshade to create the Buddha lamp. Since then, Buddha heads have been mass-produced and its identity transformed from loot to product. Today, it can be found in home goods stores, appealing to the cosmopolitan home decorator while also used as a symbol of mindfulness. This market enforces self-appropriation for profit: Asian manufacturers produce Buddha heads primarily for the foreign home decor market and not for local religious use.
Burial draws a connection between the museum environment from which the severed Buddha's heads gained their status and how these objects are now created and consumed. The void left by an absent body recalls the violent history that this product originates from, however, this Buddha head cannot return to its body as there was none to begin with.
掩埋, 2024
80” 高 x 27” 寬 x 18” 長
佛頭燈 (買自英國), 聚苯乙烯泡沫板, 石膏, 油漆, 植絨
佛燈被放置在一個誇大的包裝托盤中，佔據著一個人形容器的頭部，並在身體應該在的地方留下空白。這個托盤模仿了工業包裝，並將被截斷的頭部呈現為商品。
被斷頭的佛像起源於文化掠奪，後來被藝術博物館封為文化藝術品。在1920年代，好萊塢Regency風格將佛像頭宣告為奢華家居的家具，並加上燈罩，創造出佛頭燈。從那時起，佛像頭已被大量生產，其身份從掠奪品轉變為產品。今天，它可以在家居用品店找到，吸引著時尚家居裝飾者，用作為室內或庭院營造祥和的氛圍。這個市場強調自我文化挪用以獲利：亞洲製造商主要為外國家居裝飾市場生產佛像頭，而不是當地的宗教用途。
掩埋將截斷的佛頭從其獲得地位的博物館環境與現在這些物品如何被創造和消費連接起來。一個缺失身體的空虛讓人回想起這個產品的暴力歷史，然而，這個佛頭無法回歸到它的身體，因為一開始就沒有身體。