2021 | Connected
A series of wet folded paper with Gold flake accents

“What was once called the objective world is a sort of Rorschach ink blot, into which each culture, each system of science and religion, each type of personality, reads a meaning only remotely derived from the shape and color of the blot itself”  -- Lewis Mumford

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The human mind and how it works has been the subject of my works for the past three years after my son is born. Since becoming familiar with the series of images from the Rorschach test, there has been an overwhelming curiosity in me to express my understanding of it in my art. I am especially interested in how the audience perceive my interpreted works of the Rorschach world and derive different meanings and interpretations from them. Taking inspiration from a Rorschach, with its symmetry in form, this piece offers a glimpse into the "soul" as my artwork is greatly influenced by the emotions and moods that I experienced during the process until its completion. 

 

 Beginning with a blank sheet of watercolor paper, I used water to shape and create the folds, introducing a “flow” into the different pieces which will later make up the entirety. Like water flowing through a stream, water gives new form to the once flat and plain watercolor paper – symbolizing new beginnings and optimism for the future. Water is a universal solvent capable of combining different substances together. This principle holds true with the pieces of the Rorschach which are “blended” together as a result of the introduction of water and creation of the different folds. The humble paper is no longer the same once touched by water while it is being transformed by the hands of the artist – much like all things when touched by water become different from what it once was. Adding in water onto the paper helps me freeze each particular emotion felt during the process, recording that moment in paper as I reshape it.

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The white paper symbolizes all human beings – regardless of nationality or race; we are all living through these uncertain times of pandemic for which no end is yet in sight. The gold flakes subvert the subject by layering another trace of Rorschach ink blot which offer a varying narrative to the viewer, perhaps offering glimpses of hope in this otherwise mundane existence. 

 

This art piece is also my secret wish for understanding and connectedness for all mankind during these trying times; that like a kaleidoscope, we can come together to focus on and see the beauty in our lives - making it more meaningful and worthwhile, wherever it is that each one of us calls home.