By Ali Ikram
An art show featuring the same painting reproduced 60 times is about to open in East Auckland.
The show, called The Asian, features copies of a painting of a shanghai poster girl made by Christchurch-based artist, Heather Straka.
The series of almost identical flat paintings somehow manages to both show how China manages to suck in, sell and ultimately misrepresent New Zealand culture and how we here do the same.
"We address things in New Zealand called 'the Asian,'" Straka says. "A lot of us can't distinguish between Chinese, Korean and Japanese. It's just a generic front in some ways this project is talking about that."
Straka took her painting of the Shanghai poster girl to the Dafen Oil Painting Village and had it reproduced by 59 different artists for between $100 and $300. The village is in southeast China and is dedicated to churning out copied art.
And while some choose to ponder on the works deeper messages, others just have a crack at trying to work out which of the wall of girls is the original painting.
The Asian opens at Pakurang's Te Tuhi Gallery on Saturday.
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