Description

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“Bake clay and make it into cups, it is the space within the cup that makes it valuable; thus the cup is useful. Cut out doors and windows, it is the space created by the doors and windows which makes them valuable; thus a house is useful. Therefore, what has substance is beneficial, what is without substance is useful.”
—Laozi, 6th century BC, Tao Te Ching

This project is a study of the concepts of "white" and "emptiness". I am really fascinated by the quote above. I started to look at the daily-use commodities. In fact, we are using the “substance” as well as the “emptiness” within those objects. As a result, “what is not there” is as important as “what is there”. But this is the fact which people usually ignore. It is easy to see the materials from which an object is made and how all of these substantial things would benefit us, but what we spontaneously pay the least attention to is the absent thing — the emptiness.

What would happen if the emptiness is absent?

In order to remove the emptiness, I started to fill up all the empty spaces within objects such as cup, plate, spoon, fork, scissors, screw driver, corkscrew, toothbrush and shoes, so that all these objects were not usable any more. I also made two wax models of my hands; the spaces within palm or between each two fingers were all filled up. Additionally, I built a doorway of which the empty spaces behind the door, between the stairs and even within the door handles were all blocked up.

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I am a graphic designer, illustrator and artist who is currently living in London. I love art, music, film, travelling and food. I work in a wide range of styles and formats, using different materials and media, and I am mostly experienced in graphic design, illustration and commercial design.

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