- The largest scale work I brought to this exhibition, the work about my own world. It is hard for me to explain this [exhibition concept] clearly, let say I have my internal conflicts. I want to go back to my childhood, to what I heard from my parents, since I was born I was a baby that never cried. Growing up and getting mature, I am more less a contrary boy, pursuing my ideas, but I am fortunate to have a very accommodating mother. So back to my main project here, that is also the theme for this exhibition. Even as a child with all my demands and all the attention on me, I always yearn for things and subjects that bring visual effect. Like paper folding, sketching, or things that stimulate me, take up my priority and my playtime. I was trained to be an architect, and I practiced architecture for 10 years. However, I am not completely satisfied as an architect. I did not see myself in those designs and buildings. It felt kinda lonely. Like a loner walking along side life. No, I don’t defy or want to be separated from this universal life; it is just my observation, that living this life does not suit me. After some time working and gathering experience as an architect, I started to sense a world, a metaphysical world pulling back to where I should be and what I want and dream of. That’s why I started to practice art with various experiments, in which I focus on painting and treating and creating visual effect from different materials and textures.
- I stopped working as an architect about 10 years ago and started exploring painting and visual effect. The major work of this exhibition, which is also the theme, aims to describe a world. Imagine this is the universal world that belongs to everyone, which including me, I am living there but spending less and less attention. And my own world exists simultaneously. “Their” and “my” mutual world reduce is scope every day, while my own world is growing, expanding proportionally with my passion and energy that I devote to my work. Interacting with my main work,I hope you can feel a larger surrounding. There is no clear figures or indication here either, it just a display of the way I feel, the question of who I should be in the mutual world and how I live in my own world. So, people ask: what is your ideology, what are you trying to achieve, or what is your concept or your creativity objectives when you carry out the way you practice art.
- I will summarize, to me this is a persistent pursuit. No, not really a pursuit, more accurately this is to find the point where I was created from natureand granted the power to do so. When I first was charged with the task to practice art, I was lost in the finding process, I thought creating art means one must have ideas, bundle of ideas to organize into concepts, perfecting those, endeavors to create big project. But after I let the course rolled out, the course of work hard and tried everything, I felt that method and effort was pointless and waste of time. But it helped me to understand in my gut, despite that even nowadays I don’t really have a “point of view on art” like what people expected me to have a statement, but the experience pointed out, help me think that art is not something I have to try to conceive, or trying to concoct a concept in order to create.
- Simply art is the art itself. Art is a category of nature. A category of being that is existed independently from the human race, it is something that was born of nature.
- So the question shall be am I capable of creating art.
- In the real world, creating art, I do not have the power to do so. Simply I am just a human who work and try my best, to explore further into my own world, as quietly and as extremely hard as possible, so that one day I can be reach closer to the true art.
- This is my answer about my point of view, or what I am trying to achieve, or if my work carry any meanings.
- I will give it all with what I was born with, or what I can. My endeavor is to approach the world of true art, and bring it out to the people world through my work.
- After 10 years of trials and errors, I realized that in the early stage I always want to control the outcome, the details of the result, how things are arranged and position, pushing details into my preset situation. But as things rolled out and how I come along I realize I am not the creator, but only a carrier, bringing out what might be art value through my labor. I realized that I cannot purposely create an art object but rather the art objects and value will come to life, and my task is to work alongside and facilitating the project until my biorhythm or my inner energy catch up and find balance with the result, the project that is when I stop. Today maybe I don’t have so much exposure to life, thus my energy might not be strong enough, but at least I am happy with what I can touch on the true art world.
- The entire work exhibit here marking my 10 years of putting it all out. 10 years I live with what nature gives me. Perhaps the next 10 years my own world become bigger than the mutual world I share with people. May be I’d have to pay for it, living in isolation, falling into depression, or losing control of mind or losing consciousness. But if I was born to nature, then nature will have a way to give back to me what I deserve. It could mean I am crazy in the universal world. But it’s alright. Crazy in the universal world but perhaps happy in my own, contented and be free. I am willing to be happy with that.
- I want to talk more about my work method that includes rhythm and energy. Positive energy is like a medium, a catalyst for me to transfer my spiritual sense from my own world to the art world.
- So what is this “energy”. Is that what fuel the sensual and extraordinary feelings of joy and sorrow that often people label artist with? Well, not artist but all human have feelings. I work long hours, much longer than the 8 hours day of most people, may be twice as much for a lengthen period, maybe 6 months at a time. So how do I stay lucid and robust throughout? “Energy” is what I call the process of using up and rebooting the soul, staying vigorous. You have to stay positive and avoid negative influence. Thus I spend time focusing on myself, I will do what I want when not working, often I would spend 4 months resting between working stretch. There are ways I can rebuild my energy, reading, trekking and climbing high mountains, travelling solo. Even reading about far away destinations on the internet, land that I cannot visit yet. Most important is to spend time exploring my own world, because this world is where my values and energy are fully protected. I can hold a conversation with myself to find answers to questions that common life or even books cannot answer. Think about it. You are so busy, there are so many distractions. When do you have time to sit with yourself for a proper conversation, listen to yourself raising question. This is your opportunity to be your soulmate to listen to your voice and answer. For me now holding a time with myself is even more significant than reading a major literature work, major novels or research. Sometimes in the middle of reading a research, I have questions arise to the contrary of the theory. If I find the answers and if the theory is not reflecting my belief then I will stop.
- I am using the same method while working. I always imagine someone stand with me watching I am working. We will discuss along the way, although I work alone. The conversation could be a hypothesis, or my current studying subjects. Or what I am doing, why I am doing it. It is just a conversation that covers all and any area. Obviously when I focus on work I would have more time to talk to myself. Which I do more and more these recent years. Therefore, I realize, I don’t have to interact with many people. I feel quite satisfy to be in my own world. That’s enough, that is my freedom, I am not obligated. Now this is the end of my dialog, I want to answer the question: what is my upcoming journey? Am I successful.
- I think my journey is endless, because I will continue looking for true art values. Therefore, I think I am success when I die, because when I am still alive I am still working, so I am not success yet.
- How about my work? I want to quote Nietzsche:Admiration for art can be so strong that we cannot possess it”. Once the work is completed and depart from me, I am an audience just like everybody else. I then will also have the need to sink back into studying mode, the need to find art values even from my own works.
- And Oscar Wilde point out “a flower blooms for its own joy”. It does not try to impress anyone, we should be grateful to have witness it, and that is the only interaction between the flower and the beholder. There are flower sellers who would make profit from selling it, but that is not the flower’s intention.
- My works exist the same way with the flower. You can enjoy them, get some value from them. You can possess them and make them useful to you. Above all, those works are themselves, having their lives and joys. And what you do have no impact on those works.
Henry Le