There are an endless amount of things in this dangerous world to look out for. This week I learned that the middle of the calendar year is something to add to the proverbial “list”. It appears that, according to Chinese folklore, poisonous animals emerge from the cold of winter, along with a herd of pesky hostile spirits, deadly diseases, and your most nefarious foes, out of slumber. and they aren’t here to make amends. As a tribute to this “most wonderful time of the year” artists Lauren YS and Makoto Chi have created twenty-eight works (and a mural, see below) for their new “Five Poisons” exhibition, on view in Philadelphia at Arch Enemy Arts. The show opens this Friday. We’ve interviewed the artists about the work below.
Pardon my cultural ignorance, but my “research” on the Five Poisons has led me to find that in China the “Five poisons” are represented by animals, snake, scorpion, centipede, gecko, and toad and in Buddhism the five poisons of the heart are: attachment, aversion, ignorance, pride, and jealousy, while wikipedia also includes: the “five perceived threats the Chinese Communist Party sees for its rule over Mainland China.” I see snakes and dangerous looking creatures with spikes probe-y parts swirling about in all the work for this show but am curious if you are both agreed upon what the poisons are and what they represent?
As with many very old wisdoms and symbologies, things morph over time, and shapeshift depending on their contexts. “5 poisons” refers to an ancient Chinese medicinal concept; in particular the centipede, scorpion, frog, snake, and spider. Mid year is said to be an inauspicious time , as poisonous animals emerge from cold slumber; along with them hostile spirits, disease, and often, enemies. During this time, talismans inscribed with these 5 poisonous animals, sometimes with an addition of a tiger to ward them off, were worn as protection. Some ingested tinctures infused with small amounts of poison, with the belief that “fighting poison with poison” could combat the threat of poisoning by one of the 5 beasts or other malevolent spirits. We are both drawn to ideas regarding poison within the medicinal and vice versa, and how that undergirds dynamics of how we observe people relating to one another.
The figures in many of the paintings (hybrid human or otherwise) seem to be coexisting with these insects and animals…?
Both of us have been working with ‘hybrid’ creatures in our work for a while now, with subtexts surrounding mixed identities and heritage. It seemed fitting to bring these creatures together in one space, in homage to the ancient Chinese medicinal concept, and the result is a sort of multi-layered approach to hybridity between our respective backgrounds. Makoto is particularly gifted at creating compositions that evoke coexistence at the same time as struggle, passion, love—dynamics that are multifarious in nature, just as all dynamics are in our own lives. Lauren is deft in weaving contemporary and ancient mythos and deep cultural research, especially in celebration of genderfluid chimaeras and mythological beings.
You both collaborated on works in this show. Can you explain how that process worked?
We each individually made bodies of work, some in each other’s presence, and then worked collaboratively on the title image (‘5 Poisons.’) I think the sense of a collaborative show here is captured in a more wide energetic sense, as we influence each other as people and artists. When working together, we plan and draw simultaneously, sketching first to allow various parts to overlap and interweave, and then take turns drawing. Painting is much the same; sometimes we took turns painting each other’s designated portions to experiment further and learn from each other. In this way we are able to achieve cohesion, allow for possibilities that we may not reach in our own work.
In this way we are able to achieve cohesion, allow for possibilities that we may not reach in our own work.