相見歡 春紅

La Serre

Oil, acrylic, ballast, sand, cement, ash, bronze and iron rust on canvas

120 x 160cm, 2022-23

林花謝了春紅，太匆匆。無奈朝來寒雨晚來風。

胭脂淚，相留醉，幾時重。自是人生長恨水長東。

On Hortus Conclusus 寓形於兩間

（中译）

What does “Hortus Conclucus” mean? 

In Latin, it means “enclosed garden”. In Medieval and Renaissance art and literature, “hortus conclusus” is both an emblematic attribute and a title associated with the Virgin Mary – a virgin depends on no earthly male; she is the numinous conceiver, the divine author of life, father and mother in one – the immaculate conception. 

Why call this painting series “Hortus Conclusus”?

Undoubtedly, its symbolic significance as “conceiver and creator” naturally resonates with an artist. “The Eternal Feminine leads us aloft.” (the final line of Faust) Additionally, there exists another layer of symbolism within the concept of the “enclosed garden”—that of innocence and protection. Consider Juliet’s garden in Romeo and Juliet, and the Grand View Garden in The Dream of the Red Chamber (《紅樓夢》中的大觀園), where within, fragile young love can flourish and grow, sheltered from the death and destruction outside. At that juncture, I felt profoundly bored and disenchanted with my life and the loveless material world surrounding me. I yearned for an enclosure where I could freely pursue the spiritual—Art, i.e., love. I sought a boundary to shield me from the distractions of what I perceived as the loveless external world, providing space and sanctuary for my inner spirit—love—to flourish. Interestingly, the root meaning of the word “paradise” is also “enclosed garden”.

In hindsight, I believe the catalyst for my sudden foray into painting at age 27 and my journey to become an artist began with the schism between the external and internal, the loveless and love, life and art. Through art, I aspire to reconcile the opposites and find transcendent unity. Art is a passion towards the whole.

I view Hortus Conclusus as my odyssey as a modern individual in search of a soul. Similar to how Goethe portrayed his lifelong quest for meaning in Faust, or how Odysseus embarked on his journey homeward, this series narrates my spiritual adventures. In the words of Joyce from Ulysses, “The longest way round is the shortest way home.”

What do these paintings depict?

From the past to the present, from east to west, from landscapes to portraits, and from myths to politics, the works in this series cover a broad spectrum of themes and subjects. However, the common thread that ties all the paintings together is their exploration of two fundamental aspects of existence: boundaries and duality.

In everything, there exists its opposite, and boundaries serve to distinguish one thing from another. Without boundaries, existence is impossible. Only through separation and isolation, we can understand and construct the world around us.

My work delves into the tension and transition between opposing elements: life and death, creation and destruction, beauty and cruelty, spirit and matter, poiesis and mimesis, masculine and feminine, light and shadow, order and chaos, good and evil, truth and falsehood, ideal and real, individual and collective, internal and external, micro and macro, eternal and ephemeral, and more. I consider these antitheses and their enantiodromic nature to be my “subject matter.” Therefore, instead of directly translating “Hortus Conclusus,” I have given this series the Chinese title “寓形於兩間” – derived from a Taoist text, which literally means “taking shape in between the two.”

A passage from Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain comes to mind, summarising the lengthy conversation between Dr. Behrens and his patient Castorp:

“What is death?”

“Oxidation.”

“What is life?”

“Oxidation.”

Living consists in dying.