Quan Yin

Comment

Comment by Deborah Robinson on September 9, 2016 at 1:47pm

Thank you for your analysis. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Indeed she is separated from the earth plane in the way that she has earned the right to leave the world of suffering and is destined to become a Buddha, but has forgone the bliss of nirvana until all suffering on the earth plane has been eradicated. The birdhouse is symbolic too, empty until the celebration of song returns once we see the the end of suffering and then she will ascend to nirvana.

Comment by Resident Curator on September 8, 2016 at 5:36pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

Your painting of the goddess Quan Yin came up in a recent search, and I’m interested in the relationship between the organic figuration in this more representational work compared with your floral paintings. The flowing lines and open values in her robes echo the shapes in the landscape, albeit in a different color temperature range.  The warmer brown tones in the tress and ground tend to reverse the atmospheric perspective in the piece, and float the figure within the picture plane. While I can’t appreciate the metallic highlights noted on my view screen, I wonder if the change in matt/reflective surface further separates her from the earth, or if these inclusions serve to connect her to the landscape.  While flowers aren’t necessarily focal elements in this piece, the centrally composed lotus design in her head piece and treatment of the drapery folds intimates natural petal configurations, while the longer vertical striations at the bottom of her form mimic stem growth patterns.