Ancient Love

Good news: one of my work is in the exhibition: A Time to Love & Red at Karen Solem Gallery in Elmhurst. The opening reception this Friday evening, Feb 6, 2009 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

Bad news: Regrettably, yours truly already made plan to attend another event at Pritzker Military Library in Chicago. And, I failed the self-cloning experiment. I will not be able to be at multiple places simultaneously, yet.

Lucky news: I am taking advantage of the blog to communicate, as if, we are standing in front of the piece together.


Below is the description of the piece in the show.

In this piece, titled "Contemporary Ancient Love," one sees the stark black ink of a Chinese Calligraphy character 情 (pronounced as Qing, means Love) at the upper right hand corner, against the backdrop of an ancient-style black-and-white Suminagashi* painting. At the bottom left-hand corner, one sees the highly stylized symbol of the Segami chop in red: the double S. She uses this to represent the western concept of love-- sense and sensibility.

The Chinese, as well as many other Asian cultures, regard Love as a serious matter. Hence it is represented in dark sumi ink. The left side of the character represents the heart and feeling. The right side of the character represents clarity. Love is the clarity of the heart, in an absolute sense, without doubt. This applies to parental love, a spouse's love, lovers' love, and the love between friends or the love between a person and an object, such as a piece of art. It can also extend to patriotic love. All in all, love is universal, from East to West.

Instead of the typical figurative expression of love with kisses or embracing, artist Amy Lee Segami uses the motion of the fluid movement captured by her signature style to express her interpretation of love. The gaps between the lines transform, going from open spaces at the lower bottom left to narrower margins at the upper right corner. As sense and sensibility are established, love appears. This is her artistic license for an artistic expression.

Difference between 爱 Ai and 情 Qing:
Chinese characters have multiple meanings and the meaning can be represented by various characters, synonymous. Romantic love is 爱情, Friendship is 友情, parental/family love is 亲情, etc. Therefore, 爱 is a sub-set of 情. 情 is boarder, more inclusive, according to Amy Lee Segami.


*Suminagashi (Sue-me-nah-gah-she) is an ancient art of flowing ink on the surface of the water, originated in China over 2,000 years ago. Like many traditional art forms, it was passed onto Japan and practiced by Shinto priests in the 12th century. In 1989, Amy Lee Segami (see-Gah-me), a former engineer, was inspired by this nearly lost traditional art. Since then she uses water as canvas, draws her knowledge of science and traditional Asian cultures to create paintings that blend the disciplines of art and science, as well as the expressive traditions of east and west.


"Contemporary Ancient Love"
Mixed media Sumi ink and Acrylic on Washi
Framed 30.5 X 25.25 ins.
Flate Art 24 X 19 ins.
currently available at Karen Solem Gallery