Ed Pien

       

Taiwanese Canadian artist Ed Pien (1958) expresses deep human fears in his work. Grotesque creatures are cropping up in his drawings; demons, spirits and ghosts. Thus he continues an age-old tradition in Western and Asian art, the representation of hell.

During a journey through China he discovered the cut-out drawing, especially used in clichéd images for tourists there. Pien took over this technique in order to create utterly delicate and complex representations of trees and woods, in which human figures are concealed. Recently he also covers the paper with reflecting material, causing a mysterious glitter in the image. Apart from these cut-out works he also makes traditional drawings. Recently he made a series of works in blue ink inspired by  eighteenth century chinoiseries. In Ed Pien’s drawings these elegant decorations with bamboo plants, birds and pagodas develop into rampant growths of voluptuous plants and exotic creatures spreading fancifully over the paper.