China Daily Global Edition (USA)
DIGITAL INSPIRATION
The internet-based artist from Los Angeles, Parker Ito, is staging a solo show in Beijing. Deng Zhangyu reports.
An internet-based artist from the United States called Parker Ito is staging his first solo show at Beijing’s Art Now Gallery. The exhibition, which opened earlier this month, is also his first show in Asia. His works have, however, been exhibited frequently in the US and Europe.
The show, titled #17, features 10 large paintings focused on flowers, and one trailer-like video featuring a cartoon image of a man in a hat, common in Ito’s previous works.
The current show’s title is to denote that it is the 31-year-old artist’s 17th solo show around the world.
So far, the young Los Angeles-based artist has exhibited in many well-known galleries including the White Cube in London, and his works are collected by many art institutions and museums, including the Whitney Museum in New York.
In his works, Ito explores the power of the internet and digital technology on traditional art.
His works consist of paintings, photos, sculptures, installations and videos.
Ito earlier used many assistants in his art production, which was seen as controversial. But that has changed now. Huang Liaoyuan, curator of the Beijing show and owner of the gallery, says he was drawn to Ito after seeing his works in Los Angeles last year.
“Earlier, he had nearly 30 assistants. But he fired them all and now produces works on his own,” says Huang.
To produce the paintings on display at the exhibition, Ito started out by taking photos of daily items and printed the pictures using an outdated printer and flawed software to add imperfections to the prints. He then added his touches to the prints.
Huang says that all these works on show have been bought by Chinese collectors and art institutions.
Before the show, Ito’s works were bought by the Yuz Museum in Shanghai owned by Chinese-Indonesian collector Budi Tek, and the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, established by a young Chinese collector Lu Xun.
Olivia Barrett, Ito’s wife who also has a gallery in Los Angeles, is the artist’s spokeswoman.
She said at the exhibition opening that Ito does not like to be photographed or talk to media because of his personality and partly because of an unpleasant experience with media several years ago.
Speaking about the video work, she explains that it is a kind of comparison between reality and the virtual world.
The cartoon image of a man in a hat is a mascot of a company in Los Angeles and is a common sight on the city’s freeways.
“When you drive, the image pops up just like things suddenly emerging on the internet,” says Barrett.
Ito’s recent works mainly focus on flowers. For instance, he draws flowers on many of his paintings at the show. His wife says Ito loves flowers. After years of trying various art forms on vast subjects, the artist now wants to concentrate on a theme, says Barrett.
Barrett says the couple will attend art fairs in Shanghai in November since Chinese collectors seem to be interested in Ito’s works.