Thursday, April 2, 2009

Lantern's Diary 2009 Artist Statement

Artist Statement

The night was dark.

Moon cakes, candlelights, the smell of melting wax from burning candles, lanterns. The laughter of children, voices of excitement walking in the dark. Children were carrying their lanterns of red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The stars lit the night sky. That was my memory of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the late 70s.

Thirty years later, the very last village on the island of Singapore was gone. The city that replaced it was brightly lit by it own streetlights, the stars nowhere in sight—the dark night had disappeared.

Change is constant. I enjoy the changes of the past and present. It is a bittersweet experience, like the process of making the lanterns. It is a memory of the past, a product of the present, and a hope for the future.

Lantern's Diary 7 The Weaving





Lantern's Diary 6 The Process






Paper Making

Lantern's Diary 5





Lantern's Diary 4

Handmade Paper
Red, Yellow and Blue Xerox Paper.
Drinking Cup and Rice Bowl
Faucet and Block
Prototype

Lantern's Diary 3

Brigham Young University, Harris Fine Art Center Gallery Front Foyer.
The process of making the installation was part of the installation work of the entire project.



Lantern's Diary 2

The main installation of the 30 lanterns.





Lantern's Diary






Sorry for the late post of my show. Had been busy with my oral defense of my work and two weeks ago my mac hard disk crashed. All three years of work and pictures were gone. Lucky the hard disk can be send for retrieval, but would cost a fortune. I decided to do that back in Singapore. Cheaper and faster. These are some photos from my show.