Treasure
1999
A commission for the 1% integrated art and architecture program. The work sits at the entrance of the Chinese hospital located on Viger street in Montreal Chinatown. It consists of four screen printed panels and a Chinese character in the basin. The two central panels contain a black and white reproduction of a classical Chinese painting flanked by images of blue sky and white clouds.
This installation attempts to bring the exterior into the interior where the residents; seniors who are ambulatory, seldom venture beyond the grounds. The work seeks to honor two pillars of Chinese culture: classical painting of times past and the elders of present day. As the popular saying goes, “家有一老如有一宝” which translates as, “To have an elder in the family is to have a treasure.”
Source of Chinese landscape painting Buddhist Temples amid Autumn Mountains by an unidentified artist (circa 14th and 15th century).
