Done after hearing the news of the recent ISIS bombing in Syria killing thousands of innocent children.

The piece zooms in to the central man holding an injured child looking helplessly for help. To his front-right side a baby girl with puffy hair is left lying dead. 

The scale, spatial contrast with brutal dirty colors and rough textures starkly contrast with the isolation and helplessness of the three figures.

We take our peace for granted, but there are still many people out there that dreams of peace but well deserve them much more than we do.

 

WHAT ABOUT THEM? the children, the heritage, the culture, their homes?

 

This is a ceramic vase that reveals our wildest emotions freely; to advocate that we should genuinely let out our wildest emotions to our loved ones more often, and throw away the 'stiff faces' at work. I sculpted the most spontaneous expressions from photographs of four people of different race, gender, age, occupations and fame, hoping to cover the fullest groups of population we have. No matter it is Obama, Queen Elizabeth, Yao Ming (Chinese MBA player), or Acacia (An ordinary baby girl), from the most serious and supreme leaders to the most innocent babies, there are always moments where our wildest, funniest expressions creep in unconsciously and nicely. In the four blocks corresponding to the four faces, I will plant in different types of plants as their unique ‘hairstyles’: Long spiky grass for Yao Ming, Long curly grass for Obama, Soft and short grass for Acacia, and short curly grass (white) for Queen Elizabeth.

The title, Ele stands for extinction-level event, and enfant means child in French. Together they mean the elephant species growing in its level of endanger. Elephant tusks trading is a severe issue in China. People do not realize that the brutal tusks removal is fatal to elephants, and the shocking numbers of death every year. My elephant's nose resembles a tail-symbolizing an ending, a sign to warn that the species will come to its end if we continue trading tusks. My aunt bought a huge elephant tusk year ago, fully carved with flower patterns. It was gorgeous, but all I could think of was the pain the elephants must had endured when I looked at it. The elephant's wrinkles are full of story just like the rings in trees, which helped me to convey the footprints and history of the species that needs respect. His deep dark eyes are forever calm, inoffensive that needs to be loved.

 

This piece consists of a pair of contrasting paintings. I was inspired by a series of photography taken of a girl who grew up in the wilderness of Africa named Tippi. She developed an intimate relationship with the wild animals in Africa, as if she is a member in the wildlife family. The beauty of those photographs was shocking, the gold in her hair, the trust she had with the most dangerous animals: lions, spiders etc… So in the first painting I illustrated referring to one of her photographs, edited using the most vibrant colors and abstract background to express the shine and vitality of this precious relationship with the wild. I dreamed of being able to come closer to the wild but I never had the chance. I lived in the crammed apartment bedroom dreaming with my teddy bears and stuffed animals in the city. I was like a plant in a greenhouse, yet deep inside I feel the same primitive temptation of reaching out, put myself in true nature.

This is my bold innovation to the Chinese painting style. It is seemingly a series of three scroll paintings depicting blueberries, corns and blackberries, but it is more of a caricature of the food security issues in China: Recently there out broke numerous scandals reporting the use of over dated materials for processed foods. I used disposable chopsticks, lit them and burnt holes on the berries and corns to illustrate the fruits and wheats. The burnt marks left an interesting and realistic effect as if the foods were smoked. I drew the ancient chinamen as a humorous emphasis of the ridiculous crisis caused by our modernization: how would our ancestors think if they saw we are poisoning ourselves in the 'developed' modern world? Did our Moral values develop? To make some laugh, I wrote “Blueberries are rotten”, “Blackberries are decayed”, “Do not eat corn”. The piece is presented in a formal, ancient, and elegant way, but the content is really forceful, quirky and contemporary.

Observational sketch The sculpture David by Michelangelo from the Renaissance is one of the greatest works in art history. I had the honor to view this masterpiece in person during my art trip to Europe two years ago. As time proceeded, people’s idea of what is art also changed dramatically, with modern art being completely revolutionary from the past. However, as modern art surged, classic art has been ignored and devalued by many people. I value classic art just as much as modern art. More importantly, I value people’s innovation and creative ideas of changing the art forms. By contrasting the classical sketch of the David cast with a twisted, distorted portrait created digitally, I want to express how our ideas changed so wildly over time. I intentionally picked a cast that has a small broken hole on the bottom right corner. I hope this broken hole will symbolize how there are always spaces for further innovations. Let our creativity continue to thrive!

Photographer: Gao Xiao       Model&Editor: Myself

Dance blends me into the wilderness. My body transforms in shapes and paints arcs in the air that resembles the primitive nature. I extend into the distance, imagine myself as a part of nature while I dance. My muscles are a part of nature’s refinement as they twist and form legato strokes. Every movement, leap and pirouette is bonded with the rhythm of the music…this is an action that naturally flies out from the heart. I dance like an animal, totally forgetting the limitations of human form. I've danced for 10 years, but this is my very first time to model a photo-shoot with a professional photographer: Gao Xiao. It is also my first attempt in editing using Photoshop. I created a smoky atmosphere using two different color tones to illustrate both the vibrant and the chaste side of dancing. The swirling of the smoke reflects against my body form, symbolizing the volatile nature and the far-reaching possibilities in dance.

Women are well known as “shopping beasts”, of jealousy, obsession and “fake”. The world trend is changing women’s attitudes of life. Nowadays women are seeking for more means of decorations on their bodies: make-ups, jewelries, even surgeries…these artificial adornments are causing women to lose their minds, becoming slaves of beauty. The phenomenon I wish to stress is different from the pursuit of fashion; it is a malicious cycle of trying to blindly become “beautiful” but not genuine. I would say the pursuit of beauty is instinctive within women, but the overexertion of it would only cause them to lose their own selves. We should seek to shape our spiritual beauty instead of solely the materialistic beauty. The sketch was cutout and pasted with 5cm gap on the background spray painted with the brightest of neon colors, glued with pieces of patterned fabrics and cutouts of luxurious items from the magazine.

DO. 

DO DODO, DO DODO, DO DO.

The three panels of the triptych chronologically represent the soldier’s life from birth to death with the amplification of pain throughout the panels as the mood. So many soldiers were forced to go on a path they didn’t choose, to suffer from war for void honor…and because war is so far away for me, I can never empathize enough. As I heard the news of wars in Syria and Ukraine, the inspiration came up. The three panels show a transition of atmosphere from gruesome, to violent and at last peace. The iron chains done by charcoal symbolize the fixed fate soldiers faced, and the abstract, unrestrained effects done by gel medium on the middle panel depict the brutality on battlefields. I used gold, silver and bronze with gold leaf to illustrate the long-wanted peace at last. The soldier’s life is sublimated, but as the cycle repeats itself(reappearance of the chain). There would always be conflicts and wars in some parts of the world. Why can’t we change that?

This is a series that consists of three panels with theme colors of yellow, black, and violet. Boundless beauties are in the nature. I couldn’t help noticing just how stunning the colors are, in ordinary plants that we often walk past; their forms are in the best proportions gentle on the eye. So why not take the beauty that’s already out there ? I collaged on all types of berries, withered vines, leaves, flowers, corns, orange peels, eggshells, nuts, onion skins, hay…and this vibrant effect is created. This series is as frank and simple as it can be, I just wanted to mess around and freestyle the entire surface to create an forceful visual effect to present what nature feels like to me: Yellow represents freshness, black represents growth and form, and violet represents bloom. The panels together side by side form a diagonal surge form the bottom left to the top right, expressing extension vitality, and the never ending positive energy from nature that inspires me.

The form of the vase is obviously inspired from a conch I collected. I sketched numerous observational drawings from the wild plants and creatures and tried to integrate their unique forms into my ceramics. I wanted to express serenity, translucency and liveliness through this piece. I am personally a huge fan of the nature, because I believe that nature hides all the inspirations for beauty and what we can take from it is infinite. A lot of artists have created forms of seashells, but I wanted to make this piece uniquely as my own. The opening of the vase is largely extended and curved, and the whole form is slim forming an ellipse. The texture of the vase was carved assimilating the patterns on the conch, yet I played with the glaze colors in freestyle using crystal blue, sandy yellow, white, brown, purple and exaggerated the tones. I could not see but only conjecture the final outcome of the colors after the firing, and it turned out rich in layers more organic than I expected.

Watch the divers jump off from cliffs of 30m, swirl in midair and plug in the ocean like eagles. Feel their wild bravery and passion that seek to defy human nature of gravity. The piece was inspired by the high diving competition in the FINA World Championships, 2013. The portrait depicts Orlando Duque, from Columbia, who eventually won the competition. As he stares confidently and directly at us, his gaze shows all toughness and courage there can ever be in a man. Most people would call extreme sports like this 'madness', yet I look up to these athletes who have the true courage to fulfill their eagerness for freedom. The seconds in midair is lengthened to a maximum, as the divers make a beautiful arc, spin and forget about the world in that few seconds. We all have an eagle of freedom captured in our minds. As we release him into the wild we will find ourselves spiritually sublimated.