Editor’s Lettter: Shape-shifting
By Elaine W. Ng
CARL CHENG, Anthropocene Landscape 2, 2006, printed circuit boards and rivets on aluminum, 152.4 × 152.4 cm. Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles.
Whether adopting pseudonyms, exaggerating personas, or inventing alter-egos, artists have been leading imagined existences throughout time in order to tease out the fine lines that divide fiction and reality. There are many para-fictional approaches to art-making today, as hiding one’s identity can engender pluralistic and ambiguous forms of expression. Wearing a mask can conceal but also reveal.
