
KAN JIANG
An exhibition in the Logan Art Gallery called ‘Movement and Energy’ captured the attention of Chinese student Fang Shujing.
Last Saturday, she caught two trains and one bus to visit the exhibition that draws on the ancient Chinese philosophy.
The exhibited images in the first foyer are abstract and for full effect, require visitors to stand back from them.
A short video that recorded the whole process of the work played continuously beside the images.
In this small documentary, the artist Lynne Mullen started with a blank canvas and coated it with bitumen.
She dressed in protective clothing and rolled over the canvas again and again.
As the artist said in her description, she has a long standing interest in Taoism and the relationship between the diametric opposites of Yin and Yang.
Chinese student Fang Shujing could relate to the artist’s idea and intention.
“The variations in the images depend on the times and energy used by human as they roll over,” she said.
“In our Chinese philosophy, there is constant movement and energy flow between the feminine Yin and the masculine Yang.”
Art gallery coordinator Michael Wardell said within just a month there had been more than 2000 visitors to see this exhibition.
“The most successful is the direct translation of her body movement, sometimes like dancing,” he said.
“This work expresses human gesture and it doesn’t matter whether the subject is a woman or man.”