Cultural Synaesthesia
“The sky blue waits amidst misty rain” is perhaps the most poetic description the ancients gave to celadon—a sensibility deeply embedded in the aesthetics of the East. Like synesthesia drifting through different senses, this poetic feeling permeates the artist's materials and brushwork. This series, titled Culture, extracts sensorial metaphors from traditional cultural elements—celadon, white porcelain, and talismans—and reinterprets them through abstract painting.
Celadon and white porcelain evoke contrasting psychological responses: celadon is like vapor or water—light, flowing, and ethereal; white porcelain, like clay or earth—modest, grounded, and still. To reflect these distinctions, I chose wood panel and acrylic for the celadon works, and canvas and oil for the white porcelain pieces. Both, however, incorporate Chinese calligraphy on rice paper, as the aesthetic of celadon and white porcelain is inseparable from the brush-and-ink tradition of ancient literati.
The White Porcelain Pentaptych forms a circular structure that is at once open and closed—symbolizing the cyclical, continuous-yet-fractured passage of Chinese civilization over millennia. The edges of the celadon panels are gilded, referencing the idea of “gold inlaid with jade,” echoing the ancient belief that celadon possesses the quality of jade.
The Talisman series is a custom-based project. In Chinese culture, talismans also serve as conduits to fate and spiritual forces. Drawing from the metaphorical imagery of the I Ching (Book of Changes), I concealed the talismanic forms within abstract shapes reminiscent of natural flora—eschewing geometric diagrams in favor of forms where spirituality resides subtly within the image. （Loy Luo)
Celadon, Earthenware, Rune, 2021- 2022
Earthenware, 2022
Celadon, 2021
Curatorial Note
In the Celadon series, Loy Luo begins with traditional aesthetic symbols and weaves celadon, white porcelain, and talismanic forms into her abstract compositions. Celadon appears light as water and drifting as vapor; white porcelain feels grounded as earth and quiet as being. She employs wood panels and acrylic for the celadon works, and canvas with oil for the white porcelain ones, integrating calligraphic lines on rice paper across both. Her approach reflects a meeting of literati tradition and contemporary abstraction.
Celadon works are edged with gold, invoking the classical idea of “jade inlay,” echoing the ancient notion that celadon approximates jade. The white porcelain pentaptych is structured in an opening-and-closing formation, symbolizing the cyclical yet fractured trajectory of Chinese civilization. In the Talisman series, she draws on I Ching imagery, embedding spiritual motifs in abstract natural shapes rather than relying on geometric diagrams—allowing power to reside subtly within the image.
Through this series, Luo resurrects cultural motifs via abstraction. The works are a renewed inquiry into the spirit of materiality and a bold experiment in deconstructing traditional symbols with contemporary visual language.
