5. Tear a Time Hole(1-4/4)

2024 color pencil, water color

Tear a Time Hole (1/4)
16.54’ x 23.39’

This drawing series (P2-P5) reflects my journey through Suzhou’s Chinese gardens, where I explored the interplay of time and space through poetic narration. Using watercolor and colored pencils, I sought to blur boundaries, capturing the fluid essence of these ancient landscapes and the possibility of encountering the past within the present.

1 Inspired by the traditional Chinese garden technique of “view borrowing”—a method of integrating surrounding natural scenery into the garden to create harmony—the first drawing depicts a moonlit night where the boundaries between inside and outside are deliberately blurred. By merging external elements like trees and clouds with interior decorations, I created an ambiguous door that challenges the viewer’s perception of which way it opens.

As a modern visitor gazing at the pavilion, I found myself wondering if it also holds the presence of ancient souls from the Northern Song Dynasty, peering through the cracks of time to glimpse the modern world beyond.

Tear a Time Hole (4/4)
16.54’ x 23.39’

2 In the second drawing, I juxtaposed modern and imagined ancient figures, placing them within the same time and space, where time and space intertwine and generate one another.

The central Moon Gate serves as both a divider of space and a conduit for the fluidity of time. Each opening within the gate reveals a different moment in history. Through the gate, figures from the Han Dynasty, once carved as relief on the stone wall, come to life; a Ming Dynasty opera performer sings once more; and the modern visitor appears to witness it all.

Semi-transparent souls and a wandering cat move freely throughout the scene, symbolizing existences that transcend the boundaries of time and space, hovering and drifting without constraint.

Tear a Time Hole (4/4)
16.54’ x 23.39’

3 Interested in the concept of coexisting temporalities, I overlaid colored pencils and watercolors in the third drawing to amplify the sense of synchronicity.

4 The fourth drawing shuffles and rearranges the logic of past, present, and future, creating a scene where there is no distinction between ups and downs, now and then.

Tear a Time Hole (3/4)
16.54’ x 23.39’
Tear a Time Hole 2025 ->