Mirror Light Tower 1871 - 1933

Jian Guzhai made this Mirror Light Tower, which is now at the Met, using I think lacquer, or something similarly dark and reflective, and perhaps also some silver inlay. I see a process here that’s all about layering, carving, and revealing what’s underneath. It’s like the artist is digging into the surface to find the light, or maybe to make the light visible. I’m really drawn to how the shapes are both organic and geometric, like they’re trying to find a balance between chaos and order, but they aren’t really fighting, they are dancing together! Look at the edges. See how they’re not perfectly straight? That imperfect geometry gives the whole thing a kind of human touch, like it was made by someone who wasn’t afraid to let their hand show, in contrast to the perfectly balanced and precise symbols in the middle. It reminds me a bit of some of the work of Richard Tuttle, but with a completely different cultural and material history. It shows how artists across time are always trying to figure out how to make something new out of something old.