Shanghai Dreamers, by Quentin Shih

Shanghai Dreamers by Quentin Shih are definitely not a news item, but that is never the intention of LA76 blog. We like to select projects, photographers, homes, design series or items that at some point of life inspire or excite us. And we find Quentin Shih’s work definitely inspiring anytime we look at it.

Remember the beautiful series of photographs, titled “Stranger in the Glass Box“, that Dior collaborated with Chinese photographer Quentin Shih to produce back in 2008 (see here)? Last summer, for the reopening of the Dior boutique in Shanghai, the house of Dior called upon Shih once again to produce a series of images, using the last couture collection, that would be displayed in the boutiques windows.

Shih plays with surreal beauty and creates oil painting-style compositions by retouching his subjects and in this case using one Chinese stereotype and repeating it in a pattern to reinforce the rigor and uniformity of Chinese mass culture. Some media have criticized Shih’s work as being racist (what do you think about that?), you can read about that topic more here.