Moonlit Night & Metamorphosis

Work in Progress. Photo credit: Lily Honglei Art Studio. All Rights Reserved.

Combining realism with Eastern aesthetics, the project will reflect human sufferings caused by wars, climate catastrophes, or migrations in today’s world.

The Broken Moon consists of four oil paintings on wood panels cut to shapes that signify various natural and man-made phenomena, visualizing human sufferings caused by wars, climate catastrophes, or migrations.

Puzzle of Chinoiserie reflects the context and lasting impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In the late 19th century, American cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, began to add large numbers of traditional Chinese art into their collections, which helped popularize Eastern art in American society. On the other hand, the Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, banning Chinese laborers from immigrating to the country. This painting visualizes the contradiction, namely, collecting objects while excluding people. The image is a rendering of the installation that consists of 26 pieces of painting on wood panels, which will be assembled on the wall as a broken antique showcase.

Moonlit Night visualizes immigrant/migrant journeys, reflecting on their family histories, cultural memories, lives, and agonies. The wood panels are cut to the shapes of traditional Chinese kites, symbolizing immigrants’ endless journeys.

The Overland Route was the first transcontinental railroad in the US, with half of the railroad built by Chinese laborers in the 19th century. On the composition, the railroad with porcelain patterns represents Chinese workers. The silhouettes are a popular folk art during the same period in the States. The two figures shaking hands in the middle are the owners of the railroad companies. The silhouette figures are based on a photo of the railroad completion ceremony, presenting a large crowd in the celebration. However, Chinese workers were absent from the celebration photo and other media coverage completely.

Manicure Masterpiece illustrates a nail worker’s hand whose nails are painted with a masterpiece of Chinese landscape painting. Meanwhile, the greenish hue of the nails and wrinkles on the hand are the outcomes of the toxic working environment of the nail worker. The composition takes inspiration from the Chinese landscape painting of the five-finger mountains, symbolizing fate and destination.

The concrete float is a common tool for Asian construction workers. For example, in Flushing Chinatown, there are many immigrants holding a float, standing at the street corners, and waiting for jobs. The float represents their occupation and identity. This composition shows an oversized concrete float appearing inside an old American house; the plaster residues on the float form a pattern similar to a Chinese ink painting. This metaphor visualizes the encounter between different cultures and classes.

Name painting is a type of Chinese folk art using fancy patterns to construct a person’s name, which is becoming popular in the US thanks to Chinese immigrants. This design reads IMMIGRANT or I’M MIGRANT with the patterns showing the sad folk tales of family separation, which most immigrants or migrants have to endure for years in their immigration/migration journeys.

Resembling the American flag, Stars & Stripes compiles auspicious symbols from Asian culture to construct a new cultural icon representing Asian American identity.