From the Heart of the Mountain Anchored the Path of Unknowing
Composed of eight vertically stacked parts, this ceramic sculpture takes inspiration from pre-modern Chinese funerary vessels to create a new form that evokes an architectural column or the spine of a gigantic creature. Lau treated the textured clay as a painting surface, laying ceramic glazes and oxides with a Chinese brush and letting temperature, heat, and gravity take control. Various shades of white and green glazing recall jade objects or ancient bronzes. Other shapes—including palms, marbles, creatures, and cavernous formations—are hand-sculpted or scratched and engraved into the surface with a needle tool. Lau, who grew up in Macau, cites her family’s Daoist beliefs and business in Chinese medicine for nurturing her understanding of the intertwined relationship between human bodies and the cosmos, a core concept of her sculptural installations. The urban gentrification that threatens the mixed heritage of colonial Portuguese architecture and Southern Chinese customs in Macau, compounded by the mourning of her mother’s death, prompted this body of work. The title of this sculpture is taken from Classic of Mountains and Seas, an ancient Chinese collection of texts about mythological beasts and geography, further illustrating Lau’s interest in the relationship between organisms and nature explored in Chinese philosophy and beliefs.
Artwork Details
- Title: From the Heart of the Mountain Anchored the Path of Unknowing
- Artist: Heidi Lau (born Oakland, California, 1987)
- Date: 2023
- Medium: Glazed ceramic
- Dimensions: 92 1/4 × 20 × 7 in., 69.2 lb. (234.3 × 50.8 × 17.8 cm, 31.4 kg)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Anonymous Gifts, 2023
- Object Number: 2024.66a–h
- Rights and Reproduction: © Heidi Lau
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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