deBorder explores boundaries as unstable, permeable conditions rather than fixed lines. Abstract landscapes using splashed sumi and acrylic inks on xuan (rice paper) mounted on cotton rag paper – simultaneously playing on the french meaning “to spill” and the english context of blurring the boundaries between Eastern and Western art practice and materials.
Gesture replaces outline; ink negotiates space without hierarchy. Eastern materials and Western abstraction intermingle without resolution, creating a visual field where control and chance coexist. The work resists categorical reading, favoring instead a state of continual becoming—where edges blur, meanings drift, and identities overlap.
This negotiation of boundaries resonates with later works such as E.Mo., where access to landscape is emotionally constrained rather than geographically defined, and soot(he), where the land itself demands a quieter, more deferential engagement. Across these projects, boundaries—cultural, emotional, territorial—are not erased, but softened, questioned, and re-drawn through material process.
CREATED BY: Stephen Chen | COMPLETED: 11/04/2021
