The Three Souls - Soul Jar, 2024; watercolor, gesso and paper cutout collage; 12.5 x 5 x 1⁄2 in. (closed)
The Three Souls - Soul Jar, 2024; watercolor, gesso and paper cutout collage ; 12.5 x 10.5 x 1⁄2 in. (open)
The Three Souls - Dragon Incense Holder, 2024; watercolor, gesso and paper cutout collage; 12.5 x 4.5 x 1⁄2 in. (closed)
The Three Souls - Dragon Incense Holder, 2024; watercolor, gesso and paper cutout collage; 12.5 x 10 x 1⁄2 in. (open)
The Three Souls 2024 - present
In this series of collage work, I examine a correlation between Soul and Body with symbols from ancient mathematics and astrology.
The idea that the soul may be deposited for a longer or shorter time in some place of security outside the body, or at all events, is found in the popular tales of many races. It remains to show that the idea is not a mere figment devised to adorn a tale, but is a real article of primitive faith, which has given rise to a corresponding set of customs. There is another aspect to this power of disengaging the soul from the body. It is thought of as a concrete material thing, capable of being seen and handled, kept in a box or jar, and liable to be bruised, fractured, or smashed in pieces.
In Taiwanese’ common belief, a man's body lives by virtue of its animation by two or more kinds of souls. One is the Pò 魄. It is the lower soul, associated with the earth, with femaleness, with darkness, and in general with all things Yīn 陰. This soul is necessary to life, but is unimportant in the greater scheme of things. It tends to linger in coffins or around graves, and eventually to burn itself out and expire. A man has another kind of soul too — an ethereal soul, of brightness and maleness and celestial realms, in other words of Yáng 陽. This soul is called in common parlance a Línghún 靈魂.
The Odds Against a Misfortune, 2024; watercolor and gesso on paper mounted on board; 22.5 x 11.75 in.
A Three-year Journey to a Pure Land, 2023; watercolor and gesso on paper mounted on board; 22.5 x 15 in.
To Immortality, 2023; watercolor and gesso on paper mounted on board; 22.5 x 11.75 in.