COVID-19 PAINTINGS/ 2020

nO TOUCHING

LINJIE DENG

Now that we know that it’s bad to touch…….anything.

Throughout our day, we touch a lot of surfaces — doorknobs, elevator buttons, subway poles — and the New York Times say that viruses, including the new coronavirus, can linger for days. From any surface, microbes can piggyback on our fingertips and travel to our noses, mouths or eyes, all of which are entry portals for the virus.

For example, the virus is on my finger. I touch this table — the virus could now live here for two days. You come tomorrow, I’m gone, you touch that spot. Gov. Cuomo says: “In New York City, all that density, a lot of people are touching a lot of spots, right? Park bench, grocery counters. Just picture the city in daily life.”

It took the coronavirus outbreak to make us aware of just how often we reach for our faces after we touch a surface. It’s a very difficult habit to break because we all do it, and oftentimes we’re not even aware of it.

The Frightening Puzzle: How do we break a habit to stay alive when most of us didn’t know we had the habit?

As a visual artist, I’d like to use my painting to help you stop.

1. With the human hands as the focal point, the viewer sees those hands in a positive dynamic that approach, but do not contact, with each other. The symbol of death, as represented by the skull in the negative space, blocks the hands from completing their touch. The background is filled with the notion of “Survival”. The closest layer of painting to viewers is the title: NO TOUCHING.

2.The color Yellow is used to attract attention and express the warning of the virus’ danger to our everyday lives. The color Black is a universal symbol that symbolizes complexity and also represents death, mourning, magic, ferocity, disease. The two colors Black and Yellow together form a sharp visual contrast, with an explicit representation of the skull in the middle. For me, "survival" is a neutral word. So, for “survival” I use a middle-range color, Dark Yellow.

3.In the middle is a round black shape. It can probably be defined as they eye of the skull, it can also be seen as the shape of COVID-19.

COVID-19 has brought a stark reminder to society that the separation between life and death may be infinitesimally small. But we are also reminded how wonderful life and love can be and that we should respect and cherish it.

When you look at the NO TOUCHING painting, take a few steps back. You will have more understanding as to the various meanings of each level of the painting. Behind the hands is survival; and behind the survival is the bright glistening future as shiny as the color yellow. Crucial to our bright future now is: no touching. Thus, the various aspects of my composition.

NO TOUCHING is not only the chance for us to make that change, but also a weapon to fight the virus. 

PASSWORD

LINJIE DENG

Quarantines around the world have made people more reliant on Wi-Fi to communicate, work, learn and stay entertained. But one of the challenges of the Wi-Fi age is that speech articulated in one part of the world can spark mayhem in another.

A key factor in this is Wi-Fi, which during the last ten years have claimed a hold over the worlds and are shaping people’s judgments. Too often, these judgments are formed when the information provided is inaccurate, incomplete or even scandalous. As a popular saying has it, “While truth is still tying its shoelaces, rumor has already run a whole lap around the worlds.”

For example: “It’s all a hoax”

“Don’t wear masks”

“Chinese Virus”

“ More Americans Should Probably Wear Masks for Protection”

But Wi-Fi is simple a tool, a conduit which makes it easy for rumors to circulate. And who controls the tool? We do.

The world is not united. Every country for itself. Swirling in lies and rumors. And at this drastic hour with the virus hanging over the heads of every country on this planet, those dangerously irresponsible statements are highly counterproductive. The could even feel more menacing than the virus itself. So instead of using Wi-Fi to enable rumors that encourage “fear, division and hate.” Why not we use Wi-Fi to spread love? So I have to make this painting.

1. At the top of the painting is a Wi-Fi Logo interconnected to the heart. Then follows two lines of text, one large and small. Password and Spread Love Not Virus.

2. The red heart shows the warm, intimate feeling of love. The black Wi-Fi Logo represents technology and futurism. The contrast between the two change the viewer's perception of each of those familiar things. Can we use our hearts to make better use of technology? The bottom line in my art is the most critical part of the painting, albeit the smallest and lightest part. Pink represents the infinite love which gives power to the red heart by using the correct password.

3. I wanted the pink words to be more difficult to read, so the viewer has to stop and consider what message I am sending. These words are juxtaposed against the easy to read universally understood symbols of Wi-Fi and password. I have combined the visual elements in this painting to demonstrate that in the fast moving era of technology, we need to regularly stop and ask ourselves what messages we should share.

In the age of Wi-Fi, anywhere in the world, there is a challenge to sort fact from fiction on the Internet. We still don’t know how much damage COVID-19 will do, but we know a password to help vanquish the virus: SPREAD LOVE NOT VIRUS. 

NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU

LINJIE DENG

It is hard now, here in New York, everywhere really. I read the numbers online everyday and try to make sense of them. Seeing the triage tents and portable morgues on TV. Watching small businesses close. Millions suddenly without jobs. Even seeing friends from Instagram dying alone, without their loved ones because of the risk of infection. Photos of discarded blue and white latex gloves on the street. Insomnia. Choppers over the city at night. The Zoom gatherings that console but also remind that touch is beyond technology. I didn’t go outside in the past 60 days while I create this artwork. The sirens. The silence that makes the sirens louder.

Which brings me to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily press briefing on COVID-19, March 24th 2020.

"And we're going to get through it because we are New York, and because we've dealt with a lot of things, and because we are smart. You have to be smart to make it in New York. And we are resourceful, and we are showing how resourceful we are. And because we are united, and when you are united, there is nothing you can't do. And because we are New York tough. We are tough. You have to be tough. This place makes you tough. But it makes you tough in a good way. We're going to make it because I love New York, and I love New York because New York loves you.

"New York loves all of you. Black and white and brown and Asian and short and tall and gay and straight. New York loves everyone. That's why I love New York. It always has, it always will. And at the end of the day, my friends, even if it is a long day, and this is a long day, love wins. Always. And it will win again through this virus. Thank you."

I have been living in New York for 5 years. And I think New York is great. I love New York, and New York has always rewarded me with its love. But it’s the people who are here that make it great. I love the people who fight for New York.

So, I was inspired to create this artwork.

1. A white background, with just two people hugging each other. One person sketched out with smooth lines; the other's silhouette filled with the same sentence in 15 different languages: NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU.

2. This artwork is created in simple black and white. The intent is for the viewer to focus on the different styles used for each sketch- forming a tight contrast, increasing the visual tension.

3. This city is made up of countless “you and me” from all over the world. We meet here like rivers and blend in with each other. At the same time an open- mindedness to all cultures of the world. No matter what language you speak, where you come from, we are a family as long as we together fight for New York and love New York.

To love this city is to know that the city embraces you. You can be part of the medical staff at the front lines, you can be another of our essential workers, you can be every one of us hoping for the best and appreciating every good and kind gesture.

My love for New York is strengthened by those front-line medical workers. They are giving their hearts and souls, and even their health, for this never-ending fight. They have really shown all of us the greatness of this City and that we can’t give up. Heroes don’t fall from the sky. They’re just ordinary people who have stepped forward.

So we don’t give up. We are connected to one another because we must be. We are connected to generations past and future. There are no strangers here. New York, I love you.