PEM in an Hour
7. Mr. Nobody
Look for the Native American mask, and on your right you'll find a small blue and white porcelain figurine. This is Mr. Nobody, one of the first known representations of a Western person by Chinese artists creating works for export to Europe and beyond. Mr. Body’s a pretty humorous fellow! He has literally no body and his ballooning pants go right up to his neck. Contemporary artist Michael Lin engaged a factory in China to produce several hundred of these identical figurines for an installation at PEM. And for sale in the museum’s shop. Lin’s installation revealed tensions between originality and mass production; identity and anonymity.
As you pass through this gallery and exit into the next big atrium, look to your left to see Michal Lin’s spiral stairwell painting installation.