Ma Qiusha

You (Kaleidoscope no.2), 2013

The Chinese artist Ma Qiusha studied Digital Media Arts at the CAFA in Beijing, and Electronic Integrated Arts in the USA. You (Kaleidoscope No. 2) appeals to personal memories and sensations—explicitly those of the viewers—and hints at a potential for participation. When one looks more closely, the subject matter of the artwork—a solidly linear, urban architecture—becomes a surreal and dreamlike depiction. The artist is not concerned with real architectures; instead, her depictions are based upon indistinct memory images. To give form to these memory images, she works with reflective paper, which she cuts to size and sticks to a basic structure that is architectonic, and is painted in watercolors to create shimmering ‘window surfaces.’ These surfaces can be read as a lifeless, aesthetically perfected skin. One cannot imagine any human life existing behind this skin.