│EXHIBITION

In 2013, Tan staged Monroe in 6 min 30 sec, his second solo exhibition on Marilyn Monroe. His previous works on Monroe were relatively arbitrary whether in terms of understanding or interpretation, probably because they were the artist’s first attempt to depict this screen goddess. Feeling that he used to mistreat her by painting her image casually, Tan refined Monroe’s image as a compensation this time, which marked the major stylistic difference between the two solo exhibitions.

Monroe in 6 min 30 sec

Monroe in 6 min 30 sec is a set comprising 24 screenshot-like paintings. The number “24” represents the 24 hours of a day, a cycle from the beginning to the end.

To gain a better understanding of Monroe, Tan pored over a bulk of relevant material on her, finding that acting in erotic movies had been Monroe’s livelihood. Tan thus revolved his creations around this theme, thereby reinterpreting the whole event from his personal perspective. Hence Monroe in 6 min 30 sec was produced.

Here’s the story…

“A dim scene unfolded in the black-and-white film. A black car zoomed by, with a person sitting in it. The indistinct shape loomed like a woman. She entered a dark room and striped naked. It was hard to tell who the woman is. Afterwards, she went home on a rainy day…”

The women appearing in the film is reportedly Monroe, yet many people cast doubt on its authenticity. However, no one knows the truth. The truth remains secret. The only thing we know for sure is that Monroe was a tragic figure engulfed by the mass media. Tan sought to create new understanding and imagination about Monroe by reference to the content of this film.

Monroe in 6 min 30 sec was divided into six parts, including “The Beginning” (00:01), “Departure” (00:02, 00:03, 01:04), “Stripping off” (01:05, 02:06, 02:07, 03:08), “Composed” (03:09, 03:10, 03:11, 04:12, 04:13, 04:14, 04:15), “Pearls” (04:16, 05:17, 05:18, 05:19), and “The End” (05:20, 06:21, 06:22, 06:23, 06:24). The pictorial style was a dead ringer for screenshots, giving this set of paintings a documentary quality.

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｜SOLO──Tan Kai-I｜