Within the Pure Land
Loretta Yang
2006
Size: 20×11×27 (cm)
Seeing the illusory and impermanence of "forms",
Compassion is the wisdom to face life.
As the Diamond Sutra says:
One should produce a mind that dwells on nothing.
In a life without forms and without self,
In images as illusory as dreams and fantasies,
Reminder:
Since life is impermanent,
Every moment is a treasure.
The illusory brevity of life is like a tiny bubble in the universe. Loretta Yang imagines the compassion of Buddha, contemplating the wisdom to free oneself from distress and unease, allowing her heart to be peaceful and quiet. Those bubbles, rising, seem like life, yet so illusory? So splendid, yet uncontrollable. Isn't this life itself? In the semi-transparent, square space, one suddenly realizes the freedom of being neither existent nor non-existent. Imagine retreating to the highest place in the universe and looking back on a short fifty years of life, is Loretta Yang just a tiny bubble in the universe?
The "Formless But Not Without Form" series is Loretta Yang's choice after years of continuous creation and contemplation, in which she finds joy. The essence of glass art extends the possibility of expressing what she wants to say. In Buddhist concepts, the true wisdom of life is to see through all "forms" as illusory. However, to abandon life because of its illusory nature is a kind of "attachment." This dialectical logic ultimately showcases a compassion that sees through the illusory nature of the world while embracing it. It forms Loretta Yang's creative logic of moving from form, to formlessness, and then to a state beyond formlessness. Yet, such ultimate beauty, the beauty of the end, the beauty of colored glaze, is Loretta Yang's brilliant contribution to aesthetics as a pioneer in Chinese glass art.
The "Formless But Not Without Form" series is exhibited at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in the United States, where Westerners with no knowledge of Buddhism can feel the peace and tranquility conveyed by the works themselves, without needing explanations or understanding of Buddhist principles. They say, "Dale Chihuly's works deeply capture my sight, while Loretta Yang's works tightly grip my heart." The Bowers Museum, rated by US News & World Report as a must-see museum in the United States, has become the most popular museum in California; it pays great attention to Chinese cultural relics but was exhibiting modern works for the first time.
In 2016, the "Golden Light of Bodhi Wish" from the "Formless But Not Without Form" series was collected by the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts.
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