GEOSCROLLS
Calligraphy paper, ink stamps, ink, silk mount
45*120- 100*220cm approx
Shenzhen, China | 2016
One of my favourite places to visit in Shenzhen is Hongfa Buddhist Temple in the Wutong mountains. Although sometimes there could be many people visiting I was struck by the sense of peace, harmony and balance that resonated from the experience. My journey learning the Chinese language has helped me greatly in my understanding of Chinese culture and philosophy, as so much of the meaning and references are woven into the characters and words, and passed on through story. It was fascinating for me that so many of the most elemental characters were simple stylised pictographs with a relationship to nature, farming and the humans. As an outsider I found this to be a common ground, bridging our primal neolithic origins into a universal history. I also saw the geometry of these simple characters to be another common denominator, through our shared use of the language of nature: mathematics. From my travels in India I was first exposed to Islamic art, and the concept of representing God in the majesty and brilliance of mathematics and science had a profoud impact on me, which I started to explore in this series of works. To create marks I used geometric jade ink stamps carved by a local craftsman master friend. To apply the ink to the paper I would spray on flat in several layers. Rice was scattered across the sheet beforehand, which when removed gave a 'cosmic' quality to the paintings.