METAMORPHOSIS
Daishi Luo
2024
Copper, oxide, transparent polymer material, stainless steel, LED component
L 450 XD 30 XH 160 cm (variable)
Sculpture-installation
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In the "Metamorphosis" installation series, Luo Daishi further explored the possibility of developing a deep collaboration between the body and nature using copper as a material medium. In the works, the changes in time participation and the nature of control and uncontrollability in life are revealed one by one.
The artist uses her own hair to symbolize herself. First, she carbonizes it into black "hair ink" and draws abstract and concrete growth paths such as butterflies, brains, and fractal structures on a copper plate. Then, she places the copper plate in a carefully designed cultivation environment. After 72 hours of collaborative reaction with natural elements such as air, rain, and sunlight, countless blue-green crystals grow along the black hair path on the copper plate to form surprising "fruits". Finally, she uses the "golden cicada sheds its shell" technique to peel off the "fruit" from the copper plate, transforming it into a new picture with a light-transparent texture.
She placed the transparent (transparent) screen and the copper plate with the fruits removed (non-transparent) side by side in a mirror-image symmetrical manner, and presented the dual life forms of "artificial nature" in the semi-folded "illuminated petri dish".
Among the five luminous petri dishes in this group of works, the artist controlled the generation of five images by using the same production methods and growth factors (such as formula, temperature, material, etc.) as quantitative indicators, and by setting five different cultivation durations (12h/24h/36h/48h/60h/72h) as variables to explore the differences in growth results caused by time. As the duration increased, the crystal texture formed in the images became denser, and the overall color became richer and greener.
Furthermore, through the design of different volumes for five unit body installations, a continuous visual illusion of perspective change is created, thereby ingeniously translating the passage of time and drawing the audience into the world born from the collaboration between the body and nature.
The most distinctive feature of this group of works is the semi-folded luminous petri dish design, which resembles half-open wings or petals, suggesting the connection between the artist's laboratory working method and nature. It even showcases the iterative research of De Shi from non-translucent to translucent technology, as well as the first results of her intervention in creation with body elements (hair). At the same time, it metaphorically represents her personal and creative "transformation" and growth.
The collaboration between the artist and nature is what she desires and what nature itself desires as well.
EXHIBITION
METAMORPHOSIS exhibited at Beijing Time Art Museum (2025) and Shanghai Chun Art Museum (2024)