In addendum to the project on the American West, these works take the Chinese landscape as their subject and they try to enfold some of the traditions of Chinese painting and Chinese art practice to further explore photographic representation of the landscape. The same techniques of motion and slow shutter speeds were applied in capturing the images, but they were photographed using the (Western) portrait orientation in reference to certain styles of Chinese painting. Each of the works displays a photograph, flanked by an equal sized body of text. This text is in part influenced by the Chinese practice of attaching a colophon to a painting, and the western method of bibliographic referencing. The text contains a multitude of references connected to the adjacent landscape in an attempt to broaden the way that the image can communicate. These references may be strong, weak or even spurious and highlight how the landscape often becomes a blank canvas upon which we the viewer may project the most tenuous or contrived meanings. The sheer number of references begs the use of a tiny font, which, when viewing the work as a whole presents a blurring of both image and text, further hampering the works ability to communicate with a specific voice.
Ross Kelly, China #1, 2014, Archival Inkjet print and Bibliographical Notes, 34" x 43"
Ross Kelly, China #2, 2014, Archival Inkjet print and Bibliographical Notes, 34" x 43"
Ross Kelly, China #3, 2014, Archival Inkjet print and Bibliographical Notes, 34" x 43"