A Lonely Traveler in Life’s Journey

作品賞析

Workcarving artist Lee Chi-Hsun often combines the lower half of the female nude with cockroaches, spiders, or octopuses, creating a sense of contrast and conflict. She jokingly calls herself a “legs man,” and she attempts to create an aesthetic of conflict by attaching beautiful legs with loathsome creatures. She rebels against established aesthetic views. She wonders whether beauty and ugliness can represent only dualistic aesthetic values. When creating this series, Lee frankly admitted that she was feeling at a low ebb after a year and a half, and nearly gave up her creative art path. A Lonely Traveler in Life’s Journey seems to interpret her conscious desire to escape from her present state of mind. Here she shows the lower part of an “octopus woman” in a seated position. Her upper torso is partly transformed into that of an octopus. One tentacle curls tightly inward, like a fist. Her knee is raised slightly and touches her right elbow, and her legs and arms are bent as if she is trying to protect herself. Perhaps the return after an escape is the most successful ending in this journey of self-repair and self-protection.