“Cosmetric”
2014 | Cosmetic: eye shadow and lipstick, 8 papers, 8 white aluminium frames 80 x 110 cm, anti UV plexiglas
Taipei Biennial 2014
The Great Acceleration - Art in the Anthropocene
13 September 2014 - 4 January 2015
For the Taipei Biennial 2014, Kuo-Wei Lin presents two works that ponder the issues of friction, consumption and the amplification of material. In Cosmetric, he examines the visual thought matrix that underpins the use of cosmetics – embedded within the word “cosmetic” is the word “metric.” “Cosmetic” comes from the Greek kosmētikos, which is related to kosmein, meaning “to arrange,” and kosmos, meaning “order.”
This work consists of eight two-dimensional pieces, serving as a tableau hanging on a wall. Different cosmetics serve as the work’s pigments, rendered as a series of abstract images. This “rearranged” color chart shifts our vision to the intercrossing space of color and its materiality.
Kuo-Wei Lin’s intention is to underscore the thought processes that lie beneath the cosmetic layer, to explore what we perceive and conceive from this exchange of human encounter, questioning this interlocking projection, as well as human perception.
Commissioned by Taipei Biennial 2014
