ABOUT THE WORK
Material: Charcoal, Acrylic, Chalk Pastels
The concept of this artwork is based on the poem, The Mountain Spirit, by Qu Yuan (c.340-278 BC), during the... Read More
The concept of this artwork is based on the poem, The Mountain Spirit, by Qu Yuan (c.340-278 BC), during the warring states period. It illustrates a scene of a witch immersing in the depression when she is waiting for a revelatory manifestation of the Mountain Spirit, which ends up no shown. The monochromatic areas are depicted as witch’s hair and frock to symbolize her mythical characteristics, creating the iconography of both representational and abstract or something in between. The bronze crescent takes the focal point of the space to highlight the theme of the poem by carving QuYuan’s original verse on. To emphasizing the Chu culture of witchcraft at the time, the plants, the animal horns and the feather are being decorated on the head of the female priest to summon gods, and the icons of the twelve idols on the robe match the ceremonial scene as well, which all construct the ambience of the solemn night that worships the Mountain Spirit. The tiger and the wine vessel are employed to indicate the specific background that the lacquerware craft is the significant cultural feature in Chu’s history.