Fluid Garden
Nandina, resin, plastic, clay, ink and ice dyeing
Variable dimensions
Exhibited in Gusuli Art Gallery, Suzhou, China
2024
‘Fluid Garden’ is series pieces created during the art residency in Suzhou, China, inspired by the resident environment, a Chinese classical garden named ‘Zizhi Garden’ in Gusu district. This series of works shows the ephemeral beauty of nature felt in the mountains and forests during the journey in Zizhi Garden, and metaphorizes the subtle moments of nature and life through the instantaneous changes of different materials. The light and shadow cast by the sunlight through the cracks in the forest are always fascinating, and the transparent colors of the resin and transparent plastic clay materials are intertwined with picked plants of Nandina that produced fruit in winter, together created a dreamlike garden landscape installed in Gusuli art gallery. The characteristics of the material reflect the gorgeous light and shadow, which is the beauty of flow that people feel in the natural environment. The works are interspersed with the shape of twist cups, carrying the movement of liquids, heralding the pleasure of residents drinking in the garden feast. The embellishment of red fruits is a metaphor for the impermanence of natural life, implying that the moment of beauty will eventually face transformation. That is decay, growth, regeneration, time turns, and life goes on in circle.
With textiles by ice dyeing to install, presented the ephemeral beauty of nature through the instantaneous changes of mixed materials to as a metaphor for the subtle moments. The cold and translucent ice is my first impression of winter, and as a person who grow up in the south, it is also the obsession with winter. The cooling, transient, and inevitable melting of ice further amplifies the sense of impermanence in ice-dyed experiments. The solid-state melts into a liquid state and eventually disappears without a trace, reflecting the fragility of life, how easily the beauty of the moment slips away. The ice cubes flow on the weaving, each moment like ripples in the water of a lake until it finally dissipates, and the process of melting is a subtle dance of the passage of time and the beauty of the ephemeral.