Perfect Imperfection

Inspiration behind the exhibition series

The news of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 prompted me to focus on Afghanistan and sparked a profound interest in the history of Gandhara. Historically, Afghanistan has been a crossroad of East and West, bearing witness to cultural transitions and clashes of faiths. In 2001, the Bamiyan Buddhas, monumental Buddhist sculptures from the Gandhara period, were destroyed by the Taliban. About 20 years later, the statues were briefly reimagined at their original sites through light projection technology. This cultural tragedy deeply moved me and inspired my artistic pursuit, leading to the creation of the series Vanishing Gandhara, which eventually expanded into broader explorations, culminating in the works presented in this exhibition.

The subjects of this watercolor exhibition are drawn from sculptural masterpieces of nearly 2,000 years in history, including the statues of the Parthenon, Gandharan art, and Buddhist sculptures from China’s Northern Dynasties as well as Tang and Song dynasties.

In museums, much of the historical legacy of both East and West is preserved in fragmented forms. My works reinterpret these notions of “incompleteness” and “loss” through water and color, striving for perfection in artistic language. While navigating subtle contradictions—between abundance and scarcity, concealment and revelation, simplicity and complexity, and density and lightness—I found inspiration in the Buddhist philosophy of “the union of manifestation and emptiness.” Through the re-creation of these classical materials, I aim to explore the “non-duality” of imperfection and wholeness, aspiring for harmony and perfection in the artistic dimension.