Daytime Dinner 2021

Size: 24x36 in

Material: Acrylic

Daytime Dinner depicted a sacrificial ceremony of a fried egg held by the Nuonuo. Nuonuo are little monsters who work as corpse chasers, a Chinese mythical occupation in charge of empty bodies of human beings and animals when their spirits leave them. As stated in Kangxi Dictionary, one of the most authentic dictionaries written in the 1700s, the word “corpse” in Chinese also means “god, or body possessed by god”. Nuonuo make masks like their own face and give them to their “clients”, so the messengers from the other world could not recognize them and destroy their bodies. Hopefully the fried egg will enjoy his afterlife in Nuonuo’s world. 

*The name Nuonuo was inspired by a traditional opera called Nuo Opera, originated from the dancing ceremony of Nuosim — an ancient religion in middle China — in which people wear masks to act as “god” and scare off ghosts and monsters.