Winter Solstice | 2023

Winter Solstice celebrates the shortest daylight and longest night of the 24 solar terms, a moment when yin energy reaches its peak and yang energy begins to rise. During this festival, nature is dormant, gathering its strength for the oncoming transformation.
The work centers on deep shades of blue and gray, capturing the quietude and chill of a winter day teeming with life. The composition features three vertically aligned circles; the lower ones are deep blue and nearly black spheres, echoing the totems of Di Lei Fu in the Yijing (I Ching), symbolizing the peak of yin energy and hinting at the rising yang force. The hidden totems within the spheres, along with the text at the bottom of the piece, allude to the ancient Daoist philosophy from Dao De Jing that everything will turn into its opposite when it reaches its extreme. This phrase emphasizes this cycle and the transformations that are central to Eastern wisdom.

Winter Solstice captures a burst of energy about to transform in the midst of extreme cold and silence. The deepest shades, much like the turning points of yin and yang in a Tai Chi diagram, subtly conceal the life force of spring soon to arrive.

Winter Solstice symbolizes the energy of transformation and rebirth, embracing the moments after introspection and decline, with the dawn of new opportunities and revival soon to be welcomed.