Jianan Hou
Seven Sins
2024
H 80 x W 60 cm
Acrylic on canvas
Unique
Everyone has habits of desire and greed. Diamonds and jewels can be mined from rocks, and seemingly ordinary rocks become coveted precious stones through the workings of capitalism and the exploitation of human labor. In this artwork, the seven boulders represent enveloped human desires as interpreted by consumerist societies. Just as a rock would sink to the bottom of the sea, so would our fleeting desires as commodities of consumerism, eventually leaving no trace but temporary ripples on the surface.
The work has been auctioned off during the Charity Auction on March 22nd 2025 and creatively loaned by the generous bidder for Design Trust Charity Exhibition: Transformational Exceptions.
About Jianan Hou
Hou Jianan was born in 1992 in Yanbian, Jilin. He received his undergraduate as well as postgraduate degree in oil painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Institution in 2014 and 2018 respectively. His practice explores the inflation of ephemeral desires cultivated by the visual and material excess enabled by contemporary accelerationist technology. Using fictional narratives as the foundation to his artworks, Hou constructs distorted scenes using familiar objects imbued with crisp digital textures, alluding to the infatuating yet fragile experience of artificial rushes.
