Where Does A Painting End?

Research Seminar Series 2024/25

Where Does A Painting End?

Date: 30 October 2024 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:00-6:30pm
Venue: CPD 2.58, Centennial Campus, HKU (free seating)
Speaker: Prof. Yeewan Koon

Abstract

This presentation is of an ongoing project examining the conceit of a copy and pictorial wit in the Ming dynasty, a time when a sophisticated art market for forgeries and originals was forming. By interrogating traditional paradigms of understanding copies, this paper considers how artists employed emulative strategies to reflect on how paintings – as artifact and as image – inhabit their own social and cultural worlds. It asks what is the implication of a “double-looking” that demands acknowledging the presence of original artworks (and not of a former artist) within the replicant? Challenging the biases of historical lineages in our current art canon, the speaker proposes that copies were instrumental in the making of visual knowledge and, more importantly, reveal what happens when copies escape time.

Speaker

Prof. Yeewan Koon is the Chair of the Department of Art History and Associate Dean (Global) at The University of Hong Kong. Her primary research focuses on Ming and Qing art history, with projects that re-evaluate established canonical narratives for diverse perspectives and alternative methodologies. Additionally, she is active in contemporary art, contributing to publications and curatorial projects at institutions such as Asia Society and Gwangju Biennale. Her current research project is a thematic study of Chinese export paintings.