The Four Disgracers

The Four Disgracers depicts four falling human figures carved directly into a freestanding plasterboard wall. The figures are drawn from the mythological characters represented in historical prints by Hendrick Goltzius and his circle, in which mortals are cast down for attempting to enter the realm of the gods. Han Ren translates these historical bodies into a damaged surface through chopping and digging, exposing the soft acoustic material and the rigid metal frame beneath. The wall becomes both image and wounded body. The act of carving transforms the represented fall into a physical event, collapsing the distance between historical image, material destruction, and the body.