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M+, Hong Kong, © David Diao
David Diao 刁德謙
Da Hen Li cycle—Demolish 2 大亨里：拆二
2008
David Diao’s Demolish 2 is part of a cycle of works entitled Da Hen Li. Created between 2007 and 2008, the series unearths Diao’s memories of the Da Hen Li house, his childhood home in Chengdu, China. Diao lived at Da Hen Li until the age of six, when he emigrated to Hong Kong, shortly before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Thirty years later, upon returning to his home town for the first time, Diao discovered that his former family residence had recently been razed to the ground, leaving almost no record of its existence. Comprising paintings of various sizes and media, including hand-drawn and ruled floor plans, silk-screened property deeds, laser-printed sketches, and texts in English and Chinese, the cycle is the artist’s attempt to trace his childhood through a personal recollection of Da Hen Li’s spaces.
Demolish 2 is a painting with the Chinese character chai, which means ‘to tear open’ or ‘to demolish’. Rendered with black spray paint, the word lies within a large red circle covering the green canvas. The painting recalls graffiti-like indications commonly seen in China to denote buildings scheduled for demolition. The work and the character depicted refer to the history of Da Hen Li, which was torn down by the authorities before Diao’s return, as well as to the To Construct paintings from the cycle, which refer to the house’s construction.
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