Mountains of Immortality I

作品賞析

When the artist Lee Chen-lin went to Kyoto to visit the Karesansui gardens, the rocks there, which are selected precisely to give the impression of landscapes, the scene resonated with her, so she created the work Mountains of Immortality I. She transformed the rocks of Chinese landscape paintings and the textures that Japanese monks rake into the white pebbles of their temple gardens and wove them together into a scene modeled on the Song-era painting, Emperor Xuanzong’s Flight to Sichuan, which features a paradise-like landscape. However, here the artist seems to place herself in its midst, looking for her own retreat. For Lee, this quest is not yet over, so the long horizontal composition is a suitable format, in line with the traveler’s ever-changing mental state during her journey.