Four Colour Deck, 2022

Industrial paint on maple wood

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79 x 19 cm

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Are you familiar with the 四色牌 (Sì Sè Pái) cards game? 四色牌, which translates to four colour cards, is played between two to four players with no written rules. To win, you need to create a winning 'hand'.

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When I was a young boy, I would accompany my grandparents and watch them play 四色牌 with their friends at the void deck. Naturally, I was very attracted to the bright green, red, yellow, white colours and the characters on the cards. Out of all the characters, my favorite is 車 (Chariot). I would secretly pick out all the cards with this character and hide them away!

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My grandparents and their friends would play for hours on end... To combat boredom, I would bring along my mini skateboard and ride around the neighborhood. My deck was my chariot!

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The idea to marry the two has been on my mind for a while, and working from home during the pandemic has afforded me the time to hand paint four decks in the game's signature colours with my favorite character as a way of remembering my grandparents.

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We are less than two weeks away from Lunar New Year. This is the period when I think about them the most. They are no longer with me and I miss them.