The work revolves around the Chinese character ‘A’, with Heaven and Hell on its both sides. In Christianity, the Last Judgment signals a termination. Although I have borrowed this term for the title of my artwork, the work itself is not religion-related. Rather, I attempt to explore the unknown realm into which the human soul may enter when it parts with the physical body. This unknown realm cannot be fully conveyed by religious imagery alone. I therefore place the Chinese character 阿 (pronounced ‘A’) at the center of the work. This character has a relative with a slightly different shape and the same pronunciation, 啊. Both characters signal sounds produced out of a reflexive reaction. Besides, ‘A’ is also broadly used in prayers of many religions, such as ‘Amen’ of Christianity, ‘Allah’ of Islam, and ‘Amitabha’ of Buddhism. In the contexts of Taiwan’s Hō-ló and Hakka cultures, it is even broadly used within the circle of family and friends, such as ‘Aba’ (meaning ‘Dad’), and ‘Amu’ (meaning ‘Mom’). In any cases, ‘A’ is a sound which conjures up no specific thoughts or meanings. As far as non-Chinese speakers are concerned, it is simply a sign which corresponds with no extended meanings.
Although Heaven and Earth occupy each side of the work, they are employed merely to convey vague and bland notions of goodness and evil. In this work, I let the eyeballs wander aimlessly, and crack open an entrance on the surface of subcultures in my own way. It is so that I can insert through the slot all the symbols and people which I believe to reside either in Heaven or in Hell. I would note here that although I have borrowed the term ‘The Last Judgment’ for the title, the cultural-religious reference of the Western bears little reference to my work, in the sense that the term is not intended to connote ‘termination’ in this context. That’s why I place it under the rainbow, whose reflection is projected through a triangular prism, and onto the passage that leads to an unknown realm, as though I was clinging onto some wishful thinking which is often seen in some genre films or animation, and equally longed-for and absurd.
This painting is dedicated to my father, whose spirit has flown into the realm of the unknown.