A sculptural diorama for cinematic viewing from all angles, exploring the concepts of doors opening to another world.
12x14x9'' Materials: paper clay, wood, wire, acrylic paint, varnish, moss, tape, fabric, fairy lights
Who is There?
A mysterious and enchanting scene where the spirit opened the door to a visitor (the viewer). The spirit is just a harmless child! But beware, don't let the innocent looks fool you, what's hiding behind the large doors are the glowing nine tails and the unknown...
A short story:
The air felt somewhat cold on a warm summer night. Lost deep in the forest mountains, I stumbled upon a red building while looking for shelter - a shrine. The lanterns hung dimly on the door, illuminating the frightening Menshen faces. They stared at me, I think their eyes moved. On the moss crawled stairs, two paper boats sat quietly, barely moving with the breeze. My guts told me to turn around and leave, but my hand already reached for the golden door knob.
Knock Knock.
My heart raced; should run and hide? After a few moments, the door creaked open. There, stood a child whose silk-like hair glimmered and rose-tined cheeks flushed as the lantern flickered. The child glowed as if you peeled beneath the skin and flesh, you will find iridescently glowing bones. Behind the red doors, I can faintly see several luminous fluffy tails, softly wavering in the air.
"Who is there?"
It asked in a soft, almost whispering voice. I stood frozen, unable to speak for god knows how long, and just stared into those pair of piercing crystal eyes...
In Chinese culture, door gods protect the residents of a household against bad spirits. I depicted the gods He & He (和 & 合) at the HuLi Jing shrine where a young spirit (HuLi Jing) resides. HuLi Jing is a nine-tailed fox spirit that can shape-shift into a human. They can either be good spirits who bring favor and fortune, or bad spirits who cause mischief and evil. The more tails the fox spirit has, the stronger it is.
