China – Far East Series

Chinese Warrior Series

Darlean Morris S.C.A. (Society of Canadian Artists)  darleanmorris.com

INSPIRATION

The Highlights of China trip, organized by the Art and Travel Committee from Museum London, London, Ontario, included the cities of Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Yangshuo, Shanghai and Hong Kong.   One site captured my heart.  Seeing the life-size Terra Cotta Warriors on-site at the incredible exhibition in Xi’an left me breathless.  These artifacts were associated to the Qin Dynasty (211 – 206 B.C.). This experience inspired me to capture my feelings on canvas when I returned to Canada.

MY DESIGN and WORK PROCESS

Being Rich is Glorious  and  IN Style, District 798 & Cashmere

40” x 30”, acrylic, mixed media, gold and sparkle dust, and ink, on canvas.  2010

China, being an ancient land of many contrasts and multi-layers of history inspired me to the method of using collage to create my paintings.  In both art works, Being Rich is Glorious and In Style, I used many varieties of paper – souvenir tickets, advertisements, rice paper, newspaper, wrapping paper, to build up the stratum of my experiences in China.  These repetitions of shapes enabled me to create a rhythm of movement by overlapping, just like the many layers of time.

In the centre of each of these two paintings, I used sparkle dust to enhance the focal point.  There is a partially exposed invitation card to an art exhibition called “Being Rich is Glorious”, which was added to the collage.  It seemed appropriate to the present day direction of the country along with a section of Cashmere store and a picture from a current brochure advertising the Warrior exhibition at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.

The sister painting called IN Style is also a network of found objects from China. It too has a sparkle focal point; however, the centre square is flanked by two portraits of warriors who are looking elsewhere in time. The repetitions of shape, varieties of size, textures, earth tone colour along with iridescent blues give these abstract paintings a feeling of being both overwhelmed with history and dazzled by glamour.

Benevolent Warrior,

40” x 36”, oil, mixed media, gold and sparkle dust, and ink on canvas,  2010

In the painting called Benevolent Warrior, the same method of collage was used with the idea of again building up the concept of layers.  I wanted to focus on a representation of a Warrior – an Archer from the past, yet now very much in the present.  He needed to be bigger than life, yet life-like.  I also wanted to illustrate modern day China so the warrior was combined with modern day designer bags, illustrating the commercial life of present day China. Instead of holding a bow and arrow, this archer is reaching into a commercial shopping bag with the intention of sharing wealth.  There is an outline of gold around the Warrior, giving him a special glow as if life has been given to him.

BEAUTY

14” x 11”, acrylic, rice paper, ink on canvas.  2010

At the museum in Guilin, I was able to obtain some discarded brush stroke paintings.  Surprisingly, along with the beautiful brush strokes of the bamboo tree, this drawing of a female form was found.  I decided to use it in a separate painting by building it up on layers of rice papers.   To stay with my theme of layers of different experiences, I added a business card from a hotel embedded in translucent rice paper.  Also, the Chinese symbol of “beauty” was drawn on top of the card to give the viewer another point of interest.

My desire, in this Chinese series, was to give the viewer a sense of the complexity of present day China.  This land of contrasts, glitter, wealth and poverty is so intriguing that my art needed to reflect my feelings of being overwhelmed and very impressed.  In this series, more is more.

 

 

 

Advertisement