anenst

Gifts. Acrylic 30”x40”. The only painting I made in 2017 🤟 A playful riff on Chinese cultural symbols. “Gifts” conveys endowments, inheritances, blessings - as well as the throw-away, souvenir quality of visual clichés. There’s the familiar Chinatown iconography of kitschy opulence, the urban legends of New-Money excess from the 00s onwards, the sheen of cheap, oriental materialism that coats every watered-down, abridged-for-America cultural rite. But I still remember Harbin in the 90s: the residual socialism, the nationalist rhetoric, the values of humility, courage, and self-sacrifice that pervaded pre-K education. There’s a tougher core within Chinese heritage, one that’s always been more about suffering than about fortune cookies, yet also one that my family left behind in search of greener pastures and easier Californian living. All of these disparate elements hover just above consciousness when I think about where I’m from and who I am; removed by time and space, however, Chinese-ness dilutes into a superficial identity that I can hold up to look at, as if it were a postcard from someone else’s past. And that’s really what my painting is, I guess.

10: 1 Pathetic. When it comes to numbers, this one is real low.

9: 27 We’re seeing some progression here. not bad

8: 28 Even higher than 27, if you can believe it

7: 100 This used to be the highest number, but was dethroned a few years ago. Still pretty impressive though, especially if you’re into the retro aesthetic.

6: 200 Adding two 100′s together gets you this chunky beast, a really awe inspiring number.

5: 9,486 A pretty terrible number, but even the haters can’t deny the size of this one.

4: 12,345 Not physically big enough to make it to the top of this list, but how could we leave out such a good, no-nonsense number?

3: Mega 2 Mega numbers are much larger than their non-mega counterparts, being around 30ft tall each, earning this one a spot in the top 3.

2: 100,000 Sorry 100,000, you’re huge, but you only get 2nd place this time! Good effort though.

“Everyone has their own insecurities, regardless of how you look or how people perceive you, but sometimes people give their insecurities too much power. Defining beauty is simply a matter of opinion. For me, real beauty has very little to do with the structure of someone’s face or body.”

watch out if y'all only talk on their terms.

watch out if they get mad and will only listen or speak to you when THEY’RE ready.