He Fa on Andy Warhol

A fluffy silver-white wig surrounds the head, while a black turtleneck holds the central body steady. The long coat opens sideways, and four He Fa portraits against different colored grounds almost replace its fabric. Warhol's public appearance and the mechanism of repeated portraits become references together. Standing among prints of myself, I can finally see both the copied faces and the person responsible for wearing them.

The four images are not four extra characters; they are prints on clothing, yet materially affect how the central face is seen. Copying has not made each face an identical experience: background color, neighboring relations and vertical position all change attention. So-called identical content often also includes decisions that seem mere packaging while actually participating in interpretation.

I am willing to use repetition to take an image to more places, without equating its circulation count with the depth of understanding. Familiarity may draw people closer, or make them stop checking because they think they already recognize it. If every copy retains only the easiest expression to identify, the printed face gradually makes demands of the living character: keep looking like what has already circulated, and do not cause new trouble.

He Fa's cool face stays above the coat, without performing in unison with its four prints. It reminds me that copies can have effects, but a subject need not surrender every action to those effects. I let the color blocks stay open and preserve a forward gap for the central body. If the next imagining walks out from there, it need not first gain consent from the four old faces on the clothes.