Blossom Awakening

 

Only five days are left for the year of 2018, the weather in Tokyo is beautiful. At Odaiba in Tokyo Bay, the golden or sometimes red-tinged sunshine is cast upon balcony railing every morning when the sun rises. It is such a touching moment to witness that the nature is truly a greatest artist. 

During the Christmas period, the stock markets in the United States, Japan and most countries all plunged sharply. Securities analysts on TV joked about it as Black Christmas. The tragedy news of the Indonesian tsunami made people worried, whereas in China a Chinese Santa Claus stormed the internet. 

It seems like we lose our way nowadays. Whether it is in the era of Cold War or so-called New Cold War, we seem to have cut off the need of theoretical basis after Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, and smashed into a dead end in direst cruelty. The selfish faithlessness is everywhere. In China, we are over-promoting the term “positive energy”. But since both positive and negative are needed to achieve balance, why only positive one is emphasized? Isn’t it a new version of Ah Q, （*a character created by Lu Xun in his novel The True Story of Ah Q, famous for his “spiritual victories” and self-deception when faced with extreme defeat or humiliation.） 

The world worships science. As we enjoy the convenience brought by scientific and technological advance, we are also manipulated or controlled by the machines we invented. Be it the philosophical history of desire or the capitalism of desire, let us expect that the redemption of art can be the last hope of the era. 

We need to prepare for the the winter to come, but the Spring is not far away. The exhibition “Out of Line”「不像漾」, is to encourage ourselves and others and together we wish the spring could return with its warmth and spirit. 

Shun, written in Tokyo studio

December, 2018