NARRATOR:

Skyland Expression #15, created by Wucius Wong in 2003, features ink and pigment on paper. It is 215 centimetres high and 120 centimetres wide, about the size of a door.

This vertical ink painting consists of densely spaced black blobs and curved black lines, which evoke a bird’s-eye view of rivers flowing through an undulating landscape. Near the bottom of the canvas, the blobs and lines are closer together and the ink is denser; while the upper part has more empty space and the ink appears diluted. When viewing the work from bottom to top, your gaze seems to shift from the foreground of the landscape to the distant background.

In the foreground, there are over ten prominent ink blobs elongated with a tail. They appear to swim towards the bottom of the canvas—towards you. The largest blobs are roughly the length of an adult’s palm, while the smallest ones are about one joint of an adult’s index finger. The blobs are concentrated in the centre of the painting and between them are sparsely spaced curved lines, calling to mind the ripples of a river. The two sides of the canvas feature closer lines and denser pigments. The forms of these blobs, lines, and pigment resemble an oil spill dispersing and concentrating on the sea surface.

The background at the top features more empty spaces, which appears hazy and dream-like. The ink flows light, eventually turning into thin strokes of light grey; some of the ink extends upwards, giving the impression of the oil spill spreading into the distance.

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