to light. (Christian Schad, Man Ray, and Moholy-Nagy are known for their fine art photograms of the
1920s-30s.) Technically you cannot repeat the same result.
Fontucubera writes:“This object exemplifies my interest in how nature is represented. Here is a dialogue
of graphic signs with different semiotic meanings: the index or track (the photogram) versus the symbol
(the painting): in other words, nature vs. culture. It is also a way of producing a “Palimpsest” piece not
out of conventional flat image but by doing an intervention in a recycled, already-existing object.”
“Chine Fan” is reproduced (full-page) in the catalogue “Paper Gardens: Recent Work from Joan
Fontcuberta” (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1990), p. 20, which was published in conjunction with the
December 15th, 1990- March 3rd, 1991 exhibition.
The actual fan was purchased in Chinatown. Fontcuberta was “interested in its vernacular nature and
how it witnesses popular culture.”
