project of HKBU Art Basel Hong Kong parallel exhibition 「紙象」 “Paperscape”

作品以蟲蛀狹長的舊紙為載體，以枯筆焦墨繪製一棵奮力生長的松樹。紙張的蛀痕象徵外部侵蝕與歷史傷痕，其狹長形制隱喻壓迫性的生存空間。松樹的枝幹穿透裂縫、盤錯向上，表達在限制中的突圍意志。作品將文人畫中「以松喻志」的概念轉化為當代隱喻，蟲蛀與松樹形成張力，脆弱的載體與不屈的筆觸互相對照，暗示現實困局的想像以及在逆境中持續生長的未竟之局。

This work employs an aged, worm-eaten paper scroll of narrow proportions as both medium and metaphor. Painted with dry brush and ink, the pine tree’s gnarled form claws upward through fissures in the paper—its fractured growth echoing a struggle against constraint. The holes made by insects represent both external damage and the passage of time, while the scroll's long shape conveys a sense of psychological confinement.

Recontextualising the literati tradition of “pine as moral fortitude,” the piece constructs a material allegory: the tension between the paper’s decay and the pine’s defiant brushstrokes mirrors the dialectic of fragility and resilience, highlighting the precariousness of survival, yet the incomplete shape of the pine suggests a persistent, open-ended growth.