Archive for March, 2007
168: 一六八
Artist Statement:
The concept of 168 is a visual metaphor of the concepts of time, cycle of nature and Yin and Yang. It is also a record of my tea drinking over a period of one hundred and sixty-eight days. The installation consists of a tea book scroll, woven monofilament and scattered loose tea. In this context, the tea scroll represents time/cycle; the woven monofilament represents sky; the loose tea represents earth; and the dark gallery space represents the universe that contains all three elements in one. The tea book scroll was constructed using one hundred and sixty-eight used tea bags that were consumed by me. The tea bags were arranged from light to dark to portray a constant cycle of time from sunrise to sunset or changes of seasons. 168 was chosen based on the total number of years of my age and my parents’ age to further exemplify the concept of time passing from one generation or one cycle to the next. The progression from lightness to darkness also symbolizes the harmony of the Yin and Yang. In Taoist philosophy, Yin and Yang are the two primal forces or modes of creation in the natural world. When each force reaches its extreme it produces a seed of the opposite and thus creates a never ending cycle of growth and change. Yin connotes Darkness, Moon, Night, Female, Autumn, & Winter. Yang connotes Light, Sun, Day, Male, Spring, & Summer. In a nutshell, 168 is a journal of my tea drinking as well as a complex visual contemplation of how time functions in relationship to the physical and metaphysical world. Time can be interpreted in fragments of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years or something completely beyond our interpretation of a concept of time.
Location: San Jose State University, Black Gallery, Art Building
Exhibition Dates: March 12th - March 16, 2007
Reception: Tuesday, March 13th, 2007, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 12:30 - 6:30 PM