The Stop
Artist :Michael Zheng
USA/ChinaLocation : Vanier Park and Charleson Park, Vancouver
Media : Aluminum, steel, paint
The Stop, by San Francisco & Beijing-based conceptual artist Michael Zheng, explores the possibility of subverting the power of signs through placement, dislocation and design. By positioning the STOP sign, a common sign that we unconsciously and collectively obey, out of its expected location and away from automotive traffic, Zheng asks us to reconsider the power of the original sign and to explore new possibilities for its interpretation.
The artist intentionally used pink on one side to "lighten" and make the signs less authoritarian. The linear repetition of the STOP sign makes the sign into a formal motif that mediates its "official" meaning. While such repetition should compound the authoritarian message, the sign instead becomes a decorative element in its repetitive declaration of STOP STOP STOP. Zheng hopes that the experience of coming upon this work in the park setting will be somehow warm and disarming so as to invoke curiosity in visitors and to cause them to actually slow down and stop to ponder, making the site The Stop.
For more information visit the artwork page on www.vblearn.ca
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