Through the observation from cultural codes and eastern costumes, traditional paper-cut art and totem, in the Chinese society, reveal mainstream consciousness toward love, sex and felicities for “reproduction” and “normal pattern” in miniature. With the passage of time, expected role played by women should be loyal and humble.
"The shells of moral pattern" suppress female desire, bodies and soul so they don’t have self-oriented cogitation but serve others as anchor point to move. In hence, facing external changes, they are defenseless within empty shells in the patriarchal environment.
Nowadays, love and sexual connection cannot be limited by “moral pattern” or “legal framework”. Instead of ignoring the phenomenon and humanities under the surface of shell, we should face the gap between “moral surface” and “underlying reality” with open discussion.
Through the observation from cultural codes and eastern costumes, traditional paper-cut art and totem, in the Chinese society, reveal mainstream consciousness toward love, sex and felicities for “reproduction” and “normal pattern” in miniature. With the passage of time, expected role played by women should be loyal and humble.
"The shells of moral pattern" suppress female desire, bodies and soul so they don’t have self-oriented cogitation but serve others as anchor point to move. In hence, facing external changes, they are defenseless within empty shells in the patriarchal environment.
Nowadays, love and sexual connection cannot be limited by “moral pattern” or “legal framework”. Instead of ignoring the phenomenon and humanities under the surface of shell, we should face the gap between “moral surface” and “underlying reality” with open discussion.
Originally from Taiwan, I began as a fine artist investigating realism in painting and drawing. My work has evolved into multimedia works examining the existence of matter and the tension between the perceived “surface layer” and an imagined “flowing underlying layer.” I examine this tension in diverse subject matter utilizing collaged physical everyday objects, organic textures and fluid. My process usually starts with building physical collage art objects and ends up digitizing them with techniques such as frame-by-frame photography, time-lapse, photogrammetry, etc to create animation.
Ten years ago, observing and shooting mold growing on a wall day by day, I observed the decaying process via time, environment, and human factors. Wall mold grows, decomposes and proliferates in a similar way to more highly evolved creatures. By analyzing the conditions and the motion and comparing it to biological evolution, “Step by Step” (Stop motion, 2012) became the pilot animated film for three animation installation pieces in 2013-2014: “Semi-liquid Space”, “Breeding Ground” and “Fish-Bird Community”. These three pieces contained imaginative organic design that evolved in three different manners: living characteristics, sociological metaphor, and exploration of techniques intended to visualize the growth of the mold. I am interested in the duality of what you see versus what lies underneath.
My ideas are inspired by both the concept “Assemblage” proposed by Deleuze & Guattari, and the concept of “the flesh of the world” by Merleau-Ponty. “Assemblage” examines social complexity and its relationship to emphasizing fluidity and exchangeability. “The flesh of the world” emphasized the body as the primary site of knowing the world, the body and that which it perceived could not be disentangled from each other. These philosophies permeate my own work in both the ideation process and the visualization.
The animation installation, “Mental Black Hole” (2016) examines how people perceive depression as opposed to the invisible activity taking place in the brain. This media-based installation, in the form of physical space with three-channel projection, presents a creative interpretation of the amygdala and hippocampus’ physical manifestations of depression.
Currently, I launch my online brand, ZLAB which includes three sections: Labspace of commissions, Artstore of collectibles, Bulletin of conceptions. In the Artstore, it features the ongoing project “Spooniverse Series” and focuses on one-of-kind, hand-made ceramic spoon figures in thematic installation shadowboxes. These practical, original spoon figures bridge my conceptual artworks to the realm of daily life which explore food science, food psychology, food as medicine.