We are creatures of changes and transformations. Through time and circumstances we change within and with the planet we live in. There are no consistency in our existence and our environment and physicality thrives on constant transformation.
Through the ages painters has always try to capture the transformation of light and shadow within their art while sculptors create physical objects that distort the perception of reality. The painter allows us a window to view an alternative reality envisioned by him/her while the sculptor manipulates objects into 3 dimensional creation. I always believe the painter is more attune to our viewing perception as we all see the world through a bounded framework; the design of our eyes. Our vision is controlled by the shape of our pupils and eye lids as well as our cerebral cortex. A painting provides a “window” towards the artist’s imagination and the sculptor construct an object of his/her imagination for us to interpret. What the sculpture mostly fails is on distorting the reality beyond the created object while painting can frame us within his/her canvas.
There is a short coming of a painting though. Whatever technique he/her employed in which ever medium him/her have chosen it seems always to fail to capture the essence of change within our world. This is mostly related to the fact that a painting, in its 2 dimensional form, cannot fully absorb the true essence of light, shadow and time.
Our world cannot be viewed without light and shadow and this 3 dimensionality formulates rules and boundaries that guide our activities and action. This is of course related directly to time as the change of lights and shadows becomes intertwine with our behavior and action.
The first series of “tension” paintings is about the 5 seasons.
But there are only 4 seasons in our planet so what does the fifth entails? The first series of spring, summer, autumn and winter painting are connected to my feelings of Beijing and its seasons. The fifth is about the over expansion of the city that escalates pollution, which in turn affects all these seasons. It is a metaphorical reminder of how progress can change the perception of the weather and how we, as part of the city and planet, need to constitute reflection in our attitude towards the environment.
Each painting composes of the same geometrical theme of tensile fabric structure in 3D protrusion but each form is unique to the relevant painting. The color and texture employed are also relevant to the theme of each artwork but all of them share the same idea: when different angle, time or luminosity strikes the artwork, the light and shadow alters differently to the created form. This can all be achieve by means of natural light guided by the essence of time as well as by artificial illumination. The location placement as well as direction of the canvas also alters the aforementioned qualities and this represents the metaphor of constant transformation in our world.
Size: 130cm x 130cm (each)
Medium: Tensioned Fabrics over Canvas with Acrylic Protrusion Rods