I'm rooted, but I flow (2022)

The series came from a photoshoot of a plastic bag. Starting off with ‘leaving the blank space’ in Chinese painting, ideas of the art of blandness「淡」and the Chinese ink spirit, which narrates the ‘root’. Oil as a classic Western medium interweaves the strokes of Chinese calligraphy.

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The three pieces each performs a state of form of the plastic bag, differentiated by the changes of dilution, angle and structure. Stone grey, moss green, cloudy white and ink black representatively form the Chinese palette, the neutrality「中」within the palette speaks for a bland state of mind that is almost parallel to the rapid world. Encountering the micro perspective, through the drips of oil, a sense of blurred tranquility is built upon the macro beauty.

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The English title “I’m rooted, but I flow” was chosen from ‘The Waves’ by Virginia Woolf. Placing oneself by the boundless sea, whilst witnessing all the matters flowing by; momentarily, self-coordinated, connecting with the vast ocean, and to confront oneself in tranquility. ‘Self’ is regressed, identity is built.