Artist statement: She Postscript

Juin Shieh, October 30, 2023

The illusion and reality frequently alternate within the cavity of my mind, circulating in the realm of appearance. Positioned between concentration and distraction, extremes and chaos, passion and indifference — in phenomena that are hard to differentiate — I find myself isolated between the rational platform of parallel time space and the ever-disorganized studio. Engaging in self-fooling and self-entertaining, amidst the endless shifts of spaces and thoughts, I’m approaching to the awakening and the postscripts.

 

The shifts of spaces— during a spelunking trip in Turkey, I exerted all my strength, crawling forward amidst endless light and shadow of the cave. In the collision between limbs and stones, I glimpse the semblance of ancients, sensing the essence of mud, ash, and dust, all from my own projection and odor. As the searchlight gradually dims and my strength wanes, I drew some qi from my Dantian1 and gather some strength, then, perhaps I am able to get closer to the prototype of fate which long confined in the secret realm of the mind. However, fatigue and weakness allow more mundane disturbances to quietly trail and infiltrate into the void, frequently creating flashing illusions and intertwining with reality.

 

The shifts of thoughts— the endless mundane disturbances, if could be simplified into basic daily routine, then even the minutiae such as eating and breathing could be considered a salvation in their own right. Consequently, the placement of the chopped ingredients on my cutting board and food stir-fried in the pot can be considered visual art that changes as I eat. The ivy growing along my wall indoors and the wild shrubs fight for their space outdoors, eventually reach a state of symbiosis. With freehanded brushstrokes on canvases and by sculpting three dimensional sharp lines and chunky proportions, I try to describe the experience of being confined in my inner prison. The thoughts turn into jagged and smooth lines that emerge and cross paths on paper, canvases, as well as other objects such as shields, chopping boards, pots and pans, and they have all transformed into artworks. The visual vocabularies that evade logic actively engage in the creases of my memory and interpret the fate of women in Greek mythology. Examining the feminine vision in the miscanthus choice of Syrinx, reviewing the maternal lineage in Venus's reproductive destiny.... I seem to sit on a regularly rotating merry-go-round, extending viewpoints inward and outward. The shifts of thoughts will reveal flashes of partial repetition and inevitable differences or inevitable repetition and partial differences, leaving behind records akin to nomadic footprints, which respond to the sincere, authentic image within the mind.

 

The awakening— between the context of parallel and interlaced exploration and the frequent flashes of visual creations, I attempt to explore a long-term dwelling cavity in my mind, where virtual and real circumstances and fluctuations are my daily reality. The cave allegory of Plato leads me continuously back and forth between the darkness inside and the sunlight outside, depicting a visual narrative akin to the confession in such a process.

 

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1Dantian is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine, loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the "qi focus flow centers", important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as tai chi, and in traditional Chinese medicine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian

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