Lakeville Contemporary Art Space
Shanghai, China

“The birth and passing of things in this world are not simply battles of either–or, but a search for dynamic balance between seemingly opposing forces.”

Flowing water and solidified flame are like an eternal parable of creation, where repulsion and fusion coexist. The exhibition Water and Fire in Balance takes classical Eastern thought as its point of departure. Within a space where water and fire intertwine, between tides of pearls and constellations of basalt, matter completes a cycle of dissolution and rebirth, revealing an ancient story of tension, balance, and renewal.

The Realm of “Already Across”

“Water and Fire in Balance” draws on the sixty-third hexagram of the Book of Changes. Its image is “water below, fire above”: water moistens downward, fire blazes upward, yin and yang each in their proper place, mutually completing one another. It points beyond simple opposition toward a higher state of balance and harmony.

Water can temper the intensity of flame, yet can also be lifted and transfigured by fire into mist and cloud. Fire needs the restraint of water in order to burn steadily, yet also gives warmth and vitality to water. This mutual production and mutual restraint is a subtle insight into the workings of the cosmos in Eastern philosophy.

In this exhibition, the title Water and Fire in Balance becomes a visible field of thought. Between the soft radiance of pearls and the dense weight of lava, the viewer encounters a spatialized meditation on “mutual completion” and on the deeper truths of existence that lie between apparent opposites.

Spirit Cloud

Entering the space of Spirit Cloud, the viewer steps beneath a hanging installation composed of 33,000 freshwater pearls. Each pearl is threaded on a fine transparent filament so that together they form a three-dimensional pointillist cloud of light. The work recalls a drifting bank of mist; its sinuous form is inspired by scholars’ rocks in Chinese gardens and by the auspicious image of swirling clouds.

In Chinese culture, auspicious clouds are the visible trace of water and sky intermingling. They are omens of good fortune, and vehicles for immortals. They signal shifts in weather, and carry the imagination of both children and adults. Here, a legible cloud form evokes a sense of energy in motion and becomes a vessel for dreams and for a sustained contemplation of nature’s subtle beauty.

Opposition itself becomes an inner engine of harmony. Between heaven and earth, all phenomena participate in this ceaseless circulation of forces.

This cloud of pearls is a crystallized tide and a rising mist, the artist’s most poetic tribute to the spirit of water. Supremely soft, yet capable of nourishing all things; apparently still, yet charged with hidden movement, it creates within the exhibition a source of flowing, sustaining, and gentle energy.

Nebula

Responding across the space to the softness of Spirit Cloud is Nebula, where fragments of lava are recomposed into a suspended star map. The artist takes inspiration from volcanic eruptions and cosmic explosions, capturing an eternal instant in which creation and destruction are tightly intertwined.

Thousands of lava beads hang from fine golden wires. Each stone carries the imprint of volcanic force and stellar explosion, while the metal lines suggest the invisible energies and connections that bind the universe together and allow life to continue.

These lava stones, once pure fire, no longer flow or erupt. Instead, they release their power in a quieter, more inward way. Volcanic ash becomes fertile soil; the collapse of a nebula gives birth to new stars. The installation invites viewers to reflect on the grandeur of the cosmos and the forces that shape it, while also pointing to the interdependence of all things. Every action, like a ripple in space, ultimately reshapes the world we inhabit.

Endless Circulation

Extinguishing is the long prelude to rekindling; breaking apart is the hidden preparation for recomposition. At the point where repulsive forces meet, a different kind of union quietly emerges. The hanging cloud and the frozen star trail together give form to the ancient insight of water and fire in balance.

In this exhibition, the deep philosophy of “mutual arising and mutual completion” from the Book of Changes is embodied through two highly specific materials, pearl and lava. Within the shared space, their presence becomes vivid and affecting.

Without words, these works speak of a particular understanding of cosmic rhythm and the truth of life: that creation and dissolution, softness and intensity, restraint and eruption, are never simply opposed. When traditional Eastern thought and contemporary artistic imagination take on tangible, tactile form, they become a living continuation of culture, allowing buried wisdom to move through each new moment and each new viewer, circulating without end.

by curator: Joan Wang