Hu Zi’s renderings of these icons engage in a sort of “schema correction” --to borrow a phrase from EH Gombrich--of western canonical images (the schema) that results in her own original, visual language (the correction). As Gombrich wrote in Art and Illusion, “The artist cannot start from scratch, but he can criticize his forerunners.”

Many of these images are so ingrained in the institutionalized western canon--reproduced in art history books and museum postcards ad infinitum--that we have become desensitized to them. Hu Zi’s variations gives us a fresh perspective, and makes us look anew.

如果借用贡布里希“图式与修正”（schema correction）的说法，那胡子对这些西方肖像画（“图式”）的重访，也即她以自己独特的视觉语言对其所作的“修正”。贡布里希在《艺术与错觉》一书中写道：“艺术家的创作不可能无中生有，但他可以对他的前辈们评头画足。”

这些西方艺术史上的著名画作令人仰视，它们反复出现在书籍、博物馆乃至明信片等复制品中，让人看得快麻木了。而胡子的重访，则给了我们新鲜的眼光去重新观看这些画作。