My artwork series investigates the interconnected relationships between pattern, transformation, and material process, merging philosophical concepts drawn from alchemical traditions with cosmological understandings of structural order found in nature. Across multiple bodies of work—including Microcosm and my Transmutations series—I explore how recurring generative patterns and processes of change shape both the visible world and human experience.
In the Microcosm series, I examine the philosophical principle of li (理)—the underlying structural pattern that organizes the universe—and its dynamic relationship to qi (氣), the vital energy that animates living systems (Chan 638). Spirals, branching systems, cellular formations, waves, and geological structures appear throughout these works as visual evidence of shared structural rhythms that link the human body to ecological and cosmic systems. Through repetition, layering, and accumulation, the works investigate how complex forms emerge from relatively simple generative patterns, revealing the continuity between microcosmic and macrocosmic environments.
In parallel with this investigation, my alchemical transformation series approaches art-making as a contemporary form of the magnum opus, or “great work,” in which material transformation functions as both method and metaphor. Inspired by historical alchemical philosophy—where transmutation symbolized the refinement of matter and consciousness—I employ processes such as weathering, chemical interaction, transfer, erosion, and layered construction to allow images to evolve through stages of dissolution, reformation, and renewal (Eliade 8). Surfaces fracture, pigments migrate, and textures accumulate, producing works that embody transformation rather than merely depicting it.
Together, these artwork series position pattern and metamorphosis as inseparable forces: structure provides continuity, while transformation generates evolution. Psychological interpretations of alchemical symbolism further reinforce this relationship; as noted by Carl Jung, alchemical imagery historically functioned as a symbolic language describing processes of psychic and spiritual integration that parallel transformations observed in the natural world (Jung 224). By combining observational pattern systems with experimental material processes, these series seek to reveal how matter, time, and energy continually reshape one another, offering a visual meditation on the interconnected systems that bind body, environment, and cosmos into a continuously evolving whole.
Works Cited
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press, 1963.
Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy. University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Jung, C. G. Psychology and Alchemy. Princeton University Press, 1968.
In the Microcosm series, I examine the philosophical principle of li (理)—the underlying structural pattern that organizes the universe—and its dynamic relationship to qi (氣), the vital energy that animates living systems (Chan 638). Spirals, branching systems, cellular formations, waves, and geological structures appear throughout these works as visual evidence of shared structural rhythms that link the human body to ecological and cosmic systems. Through repetition, layering, and accumulation, the works investigate how complex forms emerge from relatively simple generative patterns, revealing the continuity between microcosmic and macrocosmic environments.
In parallel with this investigation, my alchemical transformation series approaches art-making as a contemporary form of the magnum opus, or “great work,” in which material transformation functions as both method and metaphor. Inspired by historical alchemical philosophy—where transmutation symbolized the refinement of matter and consciousness—I employ processes such as weathering, chemical interaction, transfer, erosion, and layered construction to allow images to evolve through stages of dissolution, reformation, and renewal (Eliade 8). Surfaces fracture, pigments migrate, and textures accumulate, producing works that embody transformation rather than merely depicting it.
Together, these artwork series position pattern and metamorphosis as inseparable forces: structure provides continuity, while transformation generates evolution. Psychological interpretations of alchemical symbolism further reinforce this relationship; as noted by Carl Jung, alchemical imagery historically functioned as a symbolic language describing processes of psychic and spiritual integration that parallel transformations observed in the natural world (Jung 224). By combining observational pattern systems with experimental material processes, these series seek to reveal how matter, time, and energy continually reshape one another, offering a visual meditation on the interconnected systems that bind body, environment, and cosmos into a continuously evolving whole.
Works Cited
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press, 1963.
Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy. University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Jung, C. G. Psychology and Alchemy. Princeton University Press, 1968.
