A state of continuous creation proliferates a variety of styles.Basically, it is a successive sort of research which broadens the results of a certain aesthetic theme. In my present stage, the mode of expression for my continuous creation is to piece a series of paintings together, from two pieces to six pieces.

The purpose of piecing together my works is to exercise their capacity for different structure. I aim to develop my theme of the courtyard expressed through scroll and album formats as in Chinese painting. Any piece can be viewed individually, but piecing them together will form a more continuous and perhaps enticingly fresh structure. It is my hope to express a harmonious cadence and rhythm that exists naturally in my work.

Beholders may be inspired by the transitions of spatial and time relations in these series progressions. Also, the courtyard theme begets tranquility and solace that comes from it's natural forms.

Dong Shaw-Hwei
Spring 2010 at Taipei Municipal University of Education

Still life has always been a favorite subject of mine, even though it has often been seen as standard and uncreative. I contemplate in silence before starting to depict the subject and thus creating an artwork. As such, still life can been seen as a byproduct of my contemplations. Contemplating on the still life is also contemplating on oneself, on a certain kind of existence, the existence of the objects, of the table, of the background, of the connection between the viewer and the viewed. They are independent of each other, yet related. In Oriental still life, the “still” refers to the person. Completing a still life is like having gone through a period of solitude and being filled with serenity. more