The Sacred Mountain No1, No2, No3
The surface of the plywood was burned with fire, then painted over again in black. The scorched marks lie hidden beneath the paint, yet the charred grain of the wood remains as a relief under the black surface. On this ground the mountains were drawn in white chalk and acrylic, and gold leaf was laid over them. Ridges and rocks, spray and snow-covered slopes rise in white lines and planes, while the sky and the waterways are covered in gold. A sun and a moon hang on either side, the mountain stands beneath them, and at the heart of the mountain is a dam. Water spills over the concrete sluice gates and flows down as a river of gold.
The Sacred Mountain No1, No2, No3. 2026, Acrylic, chalk and gold leaf on charred plywood, 162 × 130 × 3.8 cm
Painting landscapes in gold on a black ground is an old method of traditional East Asian painting. So is raising the sun, the moon and five peaks behind the seat of a king. In that tradition the mountain was not something seen but something built. These paintings build a tunnel, a dam and a breakwater at the heart of that mountain. Boring through the mountain, holding back the water, pushing away the waves: the artificial force of technology that goes against nature.
Fire passes first, black covers it, and the painting comes on top. What has burned cannot be undone, does not disappear when covered over, and gold does not burn. Gold leaf is not light but a surface that gives light back, so it lights up and dims each time the viewer moves. Not illuminating the mountain in full, but returning only a little of it from the dark. That is how the sacred mountain is left.
