![A Street View of Shanghai, 2007](/sites/default/files/styles/max_1300x1300/public/2021-09/5904.PG2017_8_014.jpg?itok=5GsnNx0X)
A Street View of Shanghai, 2007
Chen Bolan
China, b. 1955
A Street View of Shanghai, 2007
Oil on canvas
Promised gift of the Foundation Ink
This oil painting was based on a photograph in the 1920s or ’30s. Capturing a mundane moment, the scene shows rickshaws from behind as they move up the street. Shop banners blow in the wind, the characters on them barely legible. Mimicking the out-of-focus effect of an old black-and-white photograph, the painting evokes a sense of nostalgia. The blurriness contributes to the sensation of an ephemeral moment eluding the viewer like a faded memory.
© Chen Bolan, photo: Maurice Aeschimann, Geneva