Focus No. 27. multimedia and photograph. 150 x 180 cm. 2003

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Focus No. 29. multimedia and photograph. 150 x 180 cm. 2003

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Focus. mixed media and photograph on canvas. 140 x 170 cm. 2004

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Focus IX A. 2006. 127 x 101.6 x 1.3 cm

Lithograph on double layers of handmade paper with stencil washed holes

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Focus. mixed media and photograph on canvas. 140 x 170 cm. 2004

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LIAN TIANMIAO lives and works out of Beijing creating predominantly installation pieces. She has made a career transforming silk, threads and textiles into elaborate works of art and also for her experimentation with photography and video. Her art has a textural and tactile nature that plays on the senses.

Her haunting monochrome portraits (presented above) feature androgynous faces, veiled with strands of thread sewn into the canvas. Printed on handmade paper, these works blend lithography, embossing, and the incorporation of embedded elements, lending them unique texture and dimensionality: “Arising from a culture that has traditionally been marked by the subordination of the individual to the collective, these works all reflect the emergence of hybrid new conceptions of selfhood and personal identity in contemporary China.”

The resulting works are haunting, delicate, and arresting.