As an oriental art medium by default, Earthstone’s works of Ink and Color on Rice Paper are often suggested by critics as neither exclusively oriental nor western but without doubt; a unique cultural intersection of the east and the west.
In perfecting his form, the lightness and buoyant characteristics of Chinese traditional paintings is an element Earthstone has intended to maintain while at the same time implementing masculine mass that defines the human shapes of western paintings. He endeavor to discover a new contemporary art form from exploring and combining the art traditions of two cultures.
Earthstone began experimenting based on the fundamentals of the Chaos theory, seeking out meaning within the discord of brush strokes and color. In the 90’s he began to glue recycled household objects to the compositions and gave the disarray an additional spatial dimension. This became the dynamic change that took his art through his own glass ceiling.
The conscious intent flows on even after the strike of the sword. This is the concept that inspired Chang Shi (張旭) to create the Wild Grass (狂草) style of writing from his observations in the flowing movements of the wielding sword more than a thousand years ago.
Of course in the case of calligraphy the concept becomes; The conscious intent flows on even after the stroke of the brush. This is where years of Tai Chi training has allowed Earthstone to appreciate the concept and take it even further, exploring and experimenting the spatial aesthetics between calligraphy and painting, blurring the fine line that distinguishes the two art forms.
Breaking away from the canvas plane, eventually Earthstone furthered his spatial exploration into Three-dimensions. The variety of recylced materials that he utilizes to fully construct his sculptural works reflects on the concept of the lingering energy.
Derived from the Chaos theory, the lingering energy allows for the free combination or dispersal of various elements. The freeform and liberation that this concept portrays is what Earthstone seeks to explore in his sculptures.
Utilizing mirrors and lights, Earthstone experiments further into the spatial relationships in his art, where space is infinite and without specific orientation of up, down, left or right. Not only are the artworks now freely scattered or gathered, they could so be freely perceived from any angle or position within or outside of the artworks.
Words from the Artist
In the summer of ‘76, I was an artist. But I was an artist contemplating about committing suicide rather than an artist capable of creating. At the time my work was merely conforming to bureaucracy and the authoritarians of traditional art. In the true artist sense, I was not at all contributing to a progressive society.
Years of depression eventually influenced my physical health. Strange sicknesses that could not be accurately diagnosed had begun to manifest. There was a period that my body ached daily with overwhelming pain. Painkillers filled my cabinets and as did acupuncture sessions to my daily schedules.
Feeling trapped and without hope, I was both mentally and physically tired. I was a working artist but was one without meaning or purpose.
Tai Chi and Daoism became the eventual liberation to the darkness that was my near demise.
Though Tai Chi was originally a commitment to regain my health, as I trained further, my realizations of its deep philosophies began to coincide with what I was starting to comprehend in the concepts of Daoism. Both disciplines emphasized on the understanding of the universe.
Tai Chi may have saved me from deteriorating health, but together with Daoism, the two saved my soul. What I had discovered for myself enticed me not only to live but also to explore the universe further in the name of art.
Since then, I live and breathe by the philosophies of Tai Chi and Daoism has become my main driving force and the two lives in all my art in infinite forms.