Hungry Ghost Rubric

1996

 

Hungry Ghost Rubric is narrated through the mythology of the Demon Girl, an appropriated phantom character from Chinese popular culture, and the mythology of Chinoiserie interior decoration. The installation integrates and insinuates itself into the portentous Arts and Crafts interior of Gairloch House at Oakville Galleries. The Demon Girl is represented by the substance dang gui, a pungent medicinal herb used to sooth menstrual pain. The herb is imbedded into the walls and into the ornamentation, taking on the forms of extended strands of hair and tongues, powerful superphysical traits possessed by a metaphysical being. These bodily residues interrupt the elaborate surface decoration and describe the insistent presence of a spiritual and chemical body.

 

 


 


 

media: latex, acrylic, gouache, ground dang gui herb, paper, ink
dimensions: installation 1500 sq. ft
photos: Isaac Applebaum

 

Curated by Marnie Fleming for Gairloch House, Oakville Galleries.