From One to All Things

作品賞析

Artist Lee Yi-Hsuan is a cross-disciplinary creator. Calligraphy, ink painting, Western-style painting, sculpture, and jewelry design do not daunt her, and she is also good at combining the qualities of different creative media to forge her own artistic style. Her sculpture, From One to All Things, combines calligraphy with sculpture. She uses stainless steel to shape the character for “one” as it is often brushed. “One” is the beginning for the natural numbers and represents the essential process from Non-being to Being, from nothing to something, which leads eventually to the emergence of things by the thousands and ten thousands, or myriads. Indeed, as Laozi once said, “The Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to the myriad things.” The emergence and growth of all things in the world have a definite pattern. If you view this work from left to right, you will see that several fish are gradually emerging from the character for “one” and finally evolving into a complete fish, implying that any kind of complexity comes from primitive simplicity.