Metamorphic Landscapes - Artist Statement

My creations were first inspired by scenes in nature. My works mostly utilize the changes in natural elements to interpret the emotional connections in life between humans and the land that exist in time and space. This solo exhibition, “Metamorphic Landscapes,” discusses the evolution, replacement, overlapping, and mutation of environments in time and space. Continuing the previous solo exhibition, “Mindful Sojourner,” the initial thought for this exhibition perhaps originated from my seeking a sense of belonging after living in a foreign place for many years, from finding an intersection between the two sides of the Pacific Ocean. In different periods of the past years, I have sailed out into the ocean from Taiwan and from the United States, when it was cloudy or sunny, at day or night. I experienced and tried to fathom the beating hearts that people from centuries ago felt when they first saw a new continent on the ocean or when they left their homelands. In the contrast of gradually approaching and gradually fading away, in the various and magnificent scenes, the vague fragments of images in the slow sailing forward and departing from land were assembled. I attempted to employ contemporary perspectives to create and present the ambivalent and the conflict of the old (historic) and the new (manmade) scenes in time that seem to exist but in fact have disappeared.

In my works, I used imagery that symbolizes geographical traces and the change and disappearance of contemporary scenes of time and space to create this theme. I combined the scenes of different moments, overlapping or eliminating scenes that are real or imaginary, to explore the relationship between humans and the world, and the way of thinking in natural philosophy. Meanwhile, I logically reflected and sensually comprehended the existence of the land, seeking improvement in the painting progress and in expressing the essence of abstraction, further creating meanings that are beyond the visual. The techniques I employed have multiple layers. Rendering, glazing, and almost mechanically regular (horizontal and vertical) brushstrokes on the surface keep moving and intersecting, creating differences in layers, thereby increasing the rich tension in the picture. I also attempted to integrate the main subject with the background space, creating an unrealistic realism with a form and yet formless. In the meantime, the picture is overlapped with layered and scraped off translucent and opaque layers of colors; the formation and disappearance of texture is a delicate process of multiple hiding and presentation. The large area of background space was symbolically left blank. This minimalist presentation of color and the concise brushstrokes sought a poetic multi-dimensional space visually.

A characteristic of life is that it is ever changing. However, during the process, we are always experiencing and pondering the meaning of eternity. Since I began creating, I have been doing all I can to make attempts and to explore, hoping my works can interpret the diverse features of life and reflect the meaning and spirit of contemporary arts, expressing infinity through finiteness.