When the four smaller paintings got sold during the opening of the exhibition, “Chinese Surrealism” at Alisan Fine Arts, Daphne asked if I would be interested in make another group of small works to be shown on July 3, in time with Southside Saturday in which I was to do a tarot reading event.
Of course I said yes (Mostly out of the need/want to sell more paintings).
XIX The Sun (2021). Watercolour on Paper, 19 x 24cm.
To continue with the theme of tarot (While definitely not directly responding to the Surrealist artists showing at the HKMOA, tarot was still very much a tool that was favoured by surrealists, see Salvador Dali, Andre Breton, and Leonara Carrington), I created further interpretations of the Sun, Moon, and Star cards, in which I reimagined them as plants. Plants are in a sense a symbol of growth and of fertility, a term we often talk a lot about when reading the cards.
For the Sun, the lady bugs represent that sense of curiosity when exploring the new world that the card implicates during a reading. It brings in the charm of innocence and passion a child has.
XVIII The Moon (2021). Watercolour on Paper, 19 x 24cm. In Private Collection.
I clearly worked my way backwards. The second painting I did as replacement paintings for the Four Seasons was XVIII The Moon. The Moon, as a card talks of being at the crossroads, dealing with choice, and playing with the balance between the subconscious and the conscious, the real and dream. Here, I made use of the colours to differentiate the two realms while the goldfish continue to be my travellers between them.
XVII The Star (2021). Watercolour on Paper, 19 x 24 cm. In Private Collection.
The last of the trio, XVII The Star is another balancing act, yet the card itself is also one of blessing and of hope. The mushrooms represent that feeling of getting stuck, while the stars brighten the path to lead the way out of this maze.