Candice Lu
Fusang and Kaiming (2021)
Ink on Paper
11" x 14"
There was a mountain valley north of Heichi Guo called Yang Gu. It was there ten suns went to bathe, naturally turning the water there boiling hot. A mulberry tree, the Fusang Shu, stood in the water at the edge of the valley. Another giant tree was where nine suns rested on the lower branches and one on an upper branch. They changed places on a rotating basis every day.
There was a trench on the southern slope of Kunlun Shan three hundred ren deep. The guardian of the mountain was a ferocious looking beast called Kaiming Shou. With the look of a tiger, a very large one, it had nine heads, each with a human face, all showing in different directions, some bearded, some not, all fanged. The central head looked east from where it stood on the mountain.
The Queen Mother of Xihua (2022)
Ink on Paper
11" x 14"
In Chinese mythology, the Queen Mother of Xihua is a spectacularly arresting, some would say mesmerizing, leader of the Taoist pantheon. Not an actual beautiful woman of legend, this "Queen Mother," while possessing the upper form of a woman, had a leopard's tail, a tiger's fangs behind seductive lips, and the howl of a wild animal. Her tangled hair was held in place by jade ornaments. Charged with arranging calamities, pestilences, and punishments among earthlings, she functioned like an ominous constellation. Although not manifestly unattractive, the unconventional, almost feral beauty of this daunting creature exuded an inauspicious aura, owing to the dreadful events under her charge.
Protected by the fantastical creature Phoenix, the Queen Mother of Xihua is a guardian and nurturer of the immortals. She dwells on the Kunlun Mountain, a mysterious numinous mountain located in the far west, a place outside of time and space, where joy prevailed and music, poetry and divine banquets were held. Here in her palace of Kunlun Mountain, immortals gather to partake of a sacred feast and renew their immortality every 3000 years.
Candice Lu (she/her)
Candice Lu is a New York based artist originally from Ningbo, China. Her practice captures mysterious moments that compel viewers to wonder what has happened and what is to come. In each artwork, a unique narrative is created from the interaction between subjects and their environments, transferring something so extraneous into something tangible yet mysterious.
Artist Statement
Channeling mystery and symbolism, I create worlds where conflicting elements are at odds with one another. I wish to stimulate the imagination through exploring between the visible that is obscure and the visible that is perceptible, rather than proposing polemics with the viewers. I have no boundaries and no rules; whatever I experience becomes my inspiration. I feel therefore I live, I live therefore I create!