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Yefu Bai
Illumination 1 |
Illumination 2 |
Illumination 3 |
Ink and acrylic on paper
2018
78 x 48 cm each
The soul of man is the essence of life.
Each person living in reality is an independent individual,
Having a unique appearance,
Being the one and only,
Created by God,
Full of beans;
鈥機ause of God's redemption,
His spirit renewed;
The Light of Truth,
Drives away Darkness;
The portrait of the soul,
Awakened to life.
Water and ink blending,
Spirit and breath ascending,
In the tunnel of time,
鈥機ause of the blood of the Son,
Freedom,
Release,
Enlightened,
Reborn.
鈥擸efu Bai
Illumination 1
Ink and acrylic on paper
2018
78 x 48 cm
Illumination 2
Ink and acrylic on paper
2018
78 x 48 cm
Illumination 3
Ink and acrylic on paper
2018
78 x 48 cm
It isn鈥檛 unusual to see newly renovated temples and even recently built churches to house those people seeking meaning and something to believe in. Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian temples alike are festooned with the prayer ribbons and filled with offerings of incense, money, and fruit in the hope of securing good fortune in love, one鈥檚 profession, or upcoming exams. Yefu Bai was one of countless 鈥渟eekers鈥 in contemporary China, seeking to fill what is called the jingshen kongxu (the 鈥渟piritual void鈥)鈥攁 practicing Buddhist who eventually converted to Christianity. His series Illumination was originally titled The Human Soul. These forms, luminous yet tangible, make manifest his belief that the spirit鈥攐r soul鈥攊s as real as the body.
About the Artist
Yefu Bai was born in 1963 in Hebei Province, China. He graduated in 1990 from the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 2012, he founded the Institute of Contemporary Spiritual Art under the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage Conservation. He now lives and works in Songzhuang, Beijing.