In the summer of 2013, Bingyi went to the Longhu Mountains to paint Wanwu-the metamorphosis of all beings-the first in a series of reality-scaled land-and-weather-artworks created at sacred mountain sites across China. That year she loaded a truck loaded with massive sheets of bespoke xuan paper and her painting materials and drove from mountain to mountain looking to capture the essence of history and nature in a single site. She finally arrived in the Longhu Mountains where Chen Rong (1200-1266) the Southern Song master supposedly practiced Daoism and painted dragons. It was in the Longhu Mountains that Bingyi found her ideal site for painting Wanwu. Absolutely monumental in scale-coming to over 24 by 18 meters in area-the gigantic, dancing, flying shanshui paintings embodied the potent admixture of richly-layered historic memory with boundless natural power.
The Lightning Series portrays the “lightening” connection between the universe and all things that exist on earth, namely, the enlightening power that brings life and happening to the world. One can think of the Lightning Series as an extension of Bingyi’s land-and-weather artistic practice that connects Wanwu-all beings-with Tian-the encompassing universe.
