All works © mak2 2024

Palace of Love

《華麗愛火四射》

TAO ART

2023.02.18—04.15

"TAO ART is delighted to present Palace of Love, the first solo show of Mak Ying Tung 2 (Mak2 for short) in Taipei, expanding on her iconic series Home Sweet Home. Within a virtual environment,  the artist created a space with royalty-inspired designs, though the execution is clumsy and  exaggerated on purpose. This hybrid of life simulation game and reality dating shows suggests that  humans are unwitting consumers in social interactions, paying unconsciously with “emotional  labour”. The discrepancy between reality and projected fantasy reflects a sense of inner  dissatisfaction that is prevalent. Her black humor carries within it a demonstration of her intuitive  understanding of the contemporary human condition.

 

Home Sweet Home began in 2019, employing the popular life simulation game “The Sims” as both  its conceptual foundation and a compositional tool. Each painting is a triptych, each part produced  by an anonymous artist and purchased via the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao before be ing pieced together. In each painting, the inconsistency between the original image that the artist  has in mind and the final result is evident when the time-consuming labour is divided up and en trusted to others. Mak2’s artistic practice reveals the systemic problems of contemporary art produc tion, at the same time puts forward a unique solution with creativity. "

For more info:

https://taoartspace.com/palaceoflove-mak2/