WHEELSPROUTS
Red clay slip, porcelain powder, ink, beans, hessian, canvas
55*55*2cm, set of 2
Shenzhen, China | 2013
Through my fascination with Taoism and the Taiji I wanted to create a diptych of works that relates the symbol we call in the West the 'Yinyang'., which uses black and white to express the dark and light forces and potential within nature. Here I created two canvas of layered clay, porcelain and ink, with radish - I'd never eaten so much of it before going to China - seeds underneath that would slowly grow through and break away the surface. I found the effect of the ink sprayed onto the powdered porcelain to resemble velvet, a dark curtain over the surface of the works. The two canvas's were mirror imaged to feel like they were hinged together, and complete only as one unit. Being wall-mounted as the seeds grew they would extend upwards from the painting, and as the clay dried it cracked to reveal the porcelain and red clay below, and then as the seedlings dried out they would droop down towards the ground, and eventually start of go mouldy. See Opticycle.