Heather Straka: The Asian (Floor Talk)

Heather Straka, recipient of the 2009 Kaipara Foundation Wallace Art Award and Frances Hodgkins Fellow 2008, will be at Rotorua Museum to discuss her first major solo exhibition, The Asian.

For this project, Straka sent her contemporary version of an early 20th century Shanghai poster girl to be replicated fifty-nine times by fifty-nine Chinese artisans working from the Dafen Oil Painting Village in the Longgang District of Shenzhen.

As the commissioning artist, Straka not only duplicated aspects of the Shanghai poster girl tradition, but also concealed her hand by displaying all 60 paintings together, in a salon-style hang, without distinguishing her original.

The Asian brings into question the relationship between the original and replica.

Straka is an artist who has built a reputation for her ability to seamlessly fuse appropriated ‘sitters’ from historic paintings into her art. Her works are influenced by contemporary imagery and concerns relating to sexual identity and cultural politics.

Entry to this event is included with admission to the Museum, which is free for Rotorua residents with proof of residency.

Image: Heather Straka: The Asian, 2009, oil on canvas. Courtesy Heather Straka.

Event listed by joannadoherty

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