just keep going

 

history

paper & wire, 12 x 5.4 x 3.8 cm



Didn't think much of any particular history while making this spoon as it just so happened that I found the text torn in half among my paper scraps. The meaning of the word as his-story struck me. Isn't that the truth?



Recently, I came across some beautiful photographs of traditional clothing and textiles on Pinterest, which somehow led to some disturbing images of Chinese bound feet and half-naked mutilated eunuchs. I know they existed but didn't know the bound feet have been around for more than a thousand freakin' years and the eunuchs twice as long. Both were not banished until the 20th century. How could it take so long for something so wrong to stop happening? From the last eunuch I can almost understand but the ugly painful bound feet? Not really.

John said I am not understanding how deeply rooted the kind of thinking was at the time. Maybe I would do it too, given the circumstances. Those bound feet actually were never given a choice since their mothers/guardians started binding them as early as 3 or 4 years old to stop them from growing. So a grown woman with the size of a three-year-old feet was ideal beauty at the time. How could that be ok for a time span of a millennium? That's like 30 generations of billions and billions of women not being able to run freely for life.



Is it not much different now? What things will future generations look at us and be horrified about?

lights and echos

My biggest spoon yet. Cannot hear the ocean with it though.




Sound. thread, beeswax, paper & wire, 29.5 x 13 x 6 cm




Lights dancing into the night. Sisters secretly giggling over the brothers' echo laughing. Can't wait to be home with loved ones.

a cleansing

goodbye fears
goodbye time
goodbye waiting


beeswax, thread, paper & wire
34.5 x 16.5 x 3.5 cm

wounded

It's not really as fleshy and creepy-looking as above. More like this here:




scar, wounded series, wax, string, paper & wire, 13 x 2.8 cm

I made it last week. It's a new addition to the spoon series i thought i was done with last November:



It feels like i have only touched on the surface of what i want to explore. There should be hundreds more.

eggshell spoons

paper, wire, eggshells, works in progress



Something i've been working on these past couple of weeks.



i want to make wings out of you.



John thinks these look like sperms.



Thinking of breath, letting go, keeping steady.

blood sisters

This is for you, ding dong.

emptynes(t)

hair, paper & wire, 8 x 5.8 x 1.6 cm spoon dimensions

happy mess

Gosh where to begin...much has happened these past few months. My little uncle's baby was just born a couple of weeks ago. She is the sweetest thing, so tiny and precious in my arms. She also got these oddly long but very cute finger toes. I can't wait to see you again, little Tienna!

What else? Ba is not grumpy with me anymore, happy that John is officially family now. The other day Ting and Francis bonded over being the black sheep of the family. Ma and me able to talk things out no matter what. Sadly, not always the case with some friends though...

But oh yay! i got to meet Marjojo (Marion Michell) for the very first time in person when John and i took a trip to London this past September. So lucky in this lifetime i can get to know and be friends with my favorite artist in the world. Speaking of world, I want the whole world to know that Tate Modern Museum following our visit to Marion Michell's studio was such a disappointment. There was nothing i could remember that was remotely comparable to Marjojo's work. Seriously.

Coming back from the experience in London, i feel transformed, aware of myself changing and growing as a person, and in particularly as an artist. It's a feeling that makes you breathe deeper, stand taller, and unafraid to seek what you want. Thank you, David & Erica, for being there so we could make this trip.


Some studio updates: completed a new series of spoons, making progress with a couple of paintings, still wrapping those broken pieces of eggshell, and dipping all sorts of things in hot beeswax.

I am really loving how the dried fruits and leaves turned out after being covered in waxed. They seemed better protected now from the elements of decaying without being changed too much at all.


art art art

scattered underwear

It's been awhile here. Thank you for still checking in here...it really helps...

I've been moping around about this and that. Mainly: feeling neglected by sisters, being out of touch with cousins, and not being more there for my parents. Well, after a lot of back and forth in my head, it occurred to me that i really need to get a life. I don't have kids yet but i feel like i already know how it is not to be able to let your kids go and live their own lives. It sucks. Well luckily, i do still have my own friends and thank goodness for you guys. ♡

As for studio work, i'm still left with a lot of unfinished pieces that don't seem to be going anywhere. No red red days, you guys :(. I think i need to change my work routine or something. Too much emphasis on having the weekends free to make something that i end up wasting more time scattering about than getting anything done.

My little spoons of joy started not too long ago aren't too happy right now:



I still haven't been able to produce any good prints, even though the copper plates themselves look pretty nice to me:



Sadly realized that i don't really have it in me to be the kind of conceptual artists that i admire. How does one come up with awesome profound ideas? Yesterday, i didn't know where to go with the unfinished works laying around, so i started tearing up some paper. Before i knew it, i had a big bowl and a little bowl of it, and hours had passed.



Instead of getting depressed about how an entire free day passed without accomplishing anything 'substantial', i'm going to start being Okay about spending precious time like this. I like tearing paper. It's also prep work for making the spoons and whatever else later.

beginnings of an offering

woman, weeping

string over paper and wire, 166 x 5.5 cm




my pale weeping spoon