Balance: East and West

---

Stoneware, Stain

9"h x 5.5"w x 5.5"d

Coming from a Chinese immigrant family and growing up in America, I have always experienced a conflict of different cultural values, and I thought I had to choose one or the other. The East values group collectivism, passivity, quietness, and introversion, while the West values individuality, sternness, vocalization, and extroversion. I always felt like I lived in one culture at home and another when I stepped outside. But now  I realize that I do not have to disown one culture, but should strive to balance the best of two worlds. 

The Dragon and Phoenix are common celestial animals grouped together in fengshui. The Dragon represents yang and the Phoenix yin, but together they both symbolize ultimate marital happiness. However, I substituted the Phoenix with the American bald eagle, together with the Dragon, in order to symbolize the marriage of East and West. 

Terracotta, Stain 

40"h x 30"w x 8"d

Stoneware, Glaze, Stain

30"h x 30"w x 20"d

Terracotta, Stain

30”h x 50”w x 10”d

One of the goals of the Chinese Cultural Revolution was the complete eradication of tradition such as destroying art, literature, temples. As well as persecuting individuals who were educated and in a way embodied those old ways. These individuals were teachers, scholars, artists, and doctors. The revolutionist who persecuted these individuals were a group of youths called the Red Guard. Those who were persecuted where publicly paraded and humiliated wearing plaques that said they were against the revolution with their names sometimes x’ed out. Then, they were either  killed, set to hard labor work camps, or fled the country if they were not caught. 

The three individuals are the founders of the big schools of thoughts in China. Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and Confucius, the founder of Confucism. The three of them are wearing the plaques that the educated wore during the revolution as they were being surrounded and persecuted by the Red Guard. The Red Guard are depicted as a flock of sheeple. This depiction is a critique on how many of the youth blindly followed orders without question but also the idea of group conformity and mob mentality and also the Communist belief that everyone is equal. Furthermore, they are holding Mao’s little red book with his political ideology and wearing red armbands signifying their allegiance.

Terracotta, Glaze, Stain

18”h x 8”w x 6” d

During the Cultural Revolution of China, many people were killed and art was destroyed. Those who took part in the destruction were young students, and decades later some of these individuals felt a great deal of regret for their actions.

This sculpture is referencing the defacing of buddhist statues and those who feel a great deal of shame in the form of sheeple. The mutilated face is that of Quan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. Even though these people feel ashamed for their past actions, do they deserve compassion for what they have done? The aged surface is symbolic of how much time has passed since the revolution but the ramifications are still being felt today.

Porcelain, Glaze, Stain

84”h x 36”w x 12”d

Porcelain, Glaze

8"h x 4"w x 3"d

Terracotta, Glaze

 40”h x 36”w x 12”d

Terracotta, Glaze, Luster

15”h x 18”w x 9”d