INSPIRATION

Being a farmer's son, I have had the fortune of growing up in the midst of abundant nature. To be able to breathe, eat, run. work__simpiy to iive__as a little child of the kind Mother, is for me a genuine blessing. And I hope I could contribute in my own little ways something to pay back her generosity.

Of all natural elements, the earth has a particular appeal to me. It's the fundamental source of life, and culture. All the great civilisations of the world have at various times been born, peaked, and declined on the simple brownish thing called soil.

Personally, moreover, this natural resource has always been part and parcel of my life. My childhood was filled with years of running barefoot, playing all sorts of tricks and games with friends, feeling the soft yet assuring cushions of the earthy ground. And hasn't this very same land been feeding me and my famity, so selflessly and with insurmountable patience? The value of the earth can never be counted, nor shouid it ever be.

In art, clay has lent itself to become the message of my imagination. Its boundless frame allows me to explore my inner world, and to develop it into as many shapes and forms as I like. Freedom of expression, the ultimate bliss for an artist like me, can be achieved because of this natural element. When applying clay to my art work, I feel that I could relive the joy of becoming part of nature, even if that's only momentarily.

All the worlds you are seeing in this exhibition, I hope, will raise some awareness of the significance of the earth. The theme may be partly abstract; however, the motif, and the medium, are real. And what other materials can capture the essence of nature better than this simple earth itseif?