WHITE ON BLACK

The ancient world of China was full of war and violence; with each new ruler came massive book and sacred object burnings that makes knowledge of the roots of this culture difficult. However, out of this horrible hardship came a gorgeous cosmology. It envisions a world of one energy existing in an organic Yin/Yang polarity. This energy is called Qi (Chi/Ki), life force. According to Taoist teachings, the One, the Whole, the Great Ultimate, produces the dark and light forces of Yin and Yang, whose continuous interactions generate the Five Elements, from which all events and objects are derived. Yin is the sovereign over Earth, and corresponds with Female, dark, watery, soft, cold, and still. Yang is the sovereign over Heaven, and corresponds to Male, light, fire, hard, warm, and moving. Qi vitalizes and infuses all things with life and energy, and is responsible for joining the Earth of Yin and the Yang of Heaven.

I often start with an image, a character. This is my first cry. From here sometimes the art comes out as clear and straightforward, expressing exactly what I intend; and other times it melts into a completely different thing. The imprints surprise and delight me, revealing worlds and feelings I have no words for. Other times, I simply have to experience the mirror of my life force reflecting back every waver and wobble of mind, electric doubt, ecstatic stab, draining sadness, or urgent desire that courses through me.