E-Seqa Danqu
Second-hand paintings, cardboard boxes, glass jars, linseed oil, photo transparencies of historical paintings, stainless steel, lights; 18´ W x 24´ L x 18´ H
E-Seqa Danqu is a wry meditation on the art world’s systems of meaning, value, and self-regard. Installed as a tableau of thrift-store paintings encircling a stainless-steel examining table, the work presents glass jars filled with linseed oil, each containing a photo transparency of a well-known painting from Western art history. The effect is simultaneously reverent and clinical, transforming cultural icons into specimens preserved for inspection.
The title, chosen in a foreign language unfamiliar to viewers, underscores how language is often manipulated within the art market for economic gain and professional advancement. When curiosity leads one to ask its meaning—reflecting the broader attempt to decipher contemporary art’s opaque systems—they are told it signifies nothing, or simply “No Title.” This gesture highlights the arbitrary authority of language in assigning meaning and value.
A shifting price list, alternating between odd and even days, further underscores the instability of value and the mechanisms of exchange that govern the contemporary art market. Ultimately, E-Seqa Danqu mirrors the absurd and self-referential nature of the institutional art world, exposing a system where aesthetic standards are mutable, meaning circulates endlessly, and value remains perpetually contingent.