GODS, FREAKS, HUMANS
The Paintful's Law Solo Exhibition
Gods, Freaks, and Human Beings is a showcase of the artist’s efforts in exploring the three very ideas that fascinate her and are predominant in her works in the last few years. Dubbed by her friends and family “the Psychic Lady”, The Paintful’s Law constantly draws inspiration from ancient myths and mysteries in the universe.
Since Chinese characters are logographic in nature and 「怪」 doubly means “freaks” and “to blame”, the exhibition title makes perfect sense when read forward or backward, giving opposite meanings of “gods blame humans” and “‘humans blame gods”. Either humans are to be blamed – just as the myths go, we never learn our lesson and so our gods punish us by inflicting natural disasters upon the human world; or our gods are to be blamed – because they, in our eyes, rarely show mercy to our predicaments. The way how it should be understood is up to the viewer.
Colours like black, white, pink, gold and silver are used in the illustrations which are sometimes adorned with gold and silver foils to highlight the Buddhist notions of desire, hate, and ignorance. While fluorescent pink denotes love, lust, and resentment, gold and silver are suggestive of materialism with black and white pointing to binary thinking that easily entraps us.
In this exhibition, you will notice that amulets woven in black and orange are affixed to some of the works as a proof that they are the artist’s originals. An amulet can be seen today as a sign or a certificate often embodying auspiciousness, but it used to represent almighty power and was first used by ancient emperors as a tangible way to grant authority to their administrative or military officials. As the concept of religion and folklore began to form, variations on the amulet were created. Seals and sigils were used by the common people to channel supernatural powers and even fight demons. Over time, the identity of amulet has evolved from political to mystical and religious.
Worry not, the amulets you see here are not meant to be occult. They are hopeful messages wishing every visitor peace and strength in resisting the dark force that is engulfing our home at the moment.