thevisualilliterate on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/thevisualilliterate/art/Year-of-the-Monkey-2016-625536680thevisualilliterate

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Year of the Monkey 2016

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Description

Media: watercolor and gold marker on Saunders Waterford watercolor paper (300g)
Size: 55cm x 40cm



This year is the Year of the Monkey, 
and back in February when the Chinese new year celebrations were in full swing, 
(Chinese new year is in February because it's based on the lunar calendar)
I couldn't go anywhere in Taipei without seeing houses, stores, and streets adorned with Chinese new year decorations. 
Imagine Christmas time and seeing Christmas lights hung on pine trees, dancing snowmen and singing Santa Clauses in every corner--it's something like that--only all the decorations were in red and gold, because those two colors are the auspicious colors, signifying prosperity and wealth. 
(www.weekendnotes.com/im/002/02…)

Although I do have a soft spot for the appeal of this traditional aesthetic,
I wondered what my take would be if I were to rethink Chinese New Year art,
and what choices I would make to modernize the aesthetic.
Such wondering lead to the creation of this piece. 

I've included several traditional motifs in this artwork, so I'll go through them so you'll have a better understanding of the choices I made: 

1. The Monkey 
The monkey I chose to depict is the Spectacled Langur, also known as the Dusky Leaf monkey. 
(www.aboutanimals.com/images/du…)
While going through the long list of various species of primates,
I was so struck by the strong contrast between adult grey/black Spectacled Langur giving birth to bright orange/yellow babies,
that I decided they would be my choice of monkey.
A golden baby monkey seemed like a good nod to the traditional taste for gold,
but also signifies that the arrival of Spring promises new life.

I also made the choice to include a mother and a baby monkey to show the importance of family.
The paper wasn't large enough for me to include a male monkey too. 
Chinese new year is the biggest celebration because it's a time for family reunion.
We're lucky that transportation and technology has made keeping in touch easy nowadays,
but in the past, Chinese New Year was the time when family members would spend days travelling long distances to return to their hometown in order to see their families and have a proper feast together. 
It was not uncommon for fathers and sons to work in faraway cities, 
and not being able to see their aged parents or wives and children for the whole year.
As a result, sometimes young children would not recognize their fathers when their fathers returned home...sad. 
  
2. Peony 
There are four flowers that are frequently used in Calligraphy painting to represent the seasons. 
Spring--Peony
Summer: Lotus 
Fall: Chrysanthemum 
Winter: Plum blossoms 

In addition, due to the grand appearance and size of peonies,
they have also come to symbolize blossoming wealth and blessing.

3. Butterflies:
The pronunciation for "butterflies" in Chinese is "hú dié"  (蝴蝶)
The pronunciation for "good fortune" in Chinese is  "fú" (福)
Since "hú" sounds a bit like "fú,"
butterflies symbolize good fortune. 
(Many Chinese symbolism are derived from such puns.)

I decided to depict the butterflies arriving in this image, 
since, obviously, it seemed like poor judgment and bad luck to depict them as flying away.  

4. The word Spring (春) 
To welcome the coming of Spring, 
you'll often times see the character "Spring" written on diamond shaped red paper and pasted on doors. 
(61.67.232.229/ArDocCDN/AR00/AR…)

You'll also often see the this character pasted upside down to mean that "Spring is here,"
because the pronunciation for "arrive" in Chinese is "dào"(到),
which sounds similar to the pronunciation for "upside down" in Chinese "dào" (倒).
(pic.pimg.tw/togai/1326560641-1…)

This is why in the lattice like pattern in the background of this painting, 
you'll see the word "Spring" written both right side up and upside down. 

Also, I incorporated the symbol for "money" into the character for "spring." 
Old Chinese money used to look like coins like this:
(gd3.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3…)
The hole in the center of each coin allowed you to string together your coins and wear them around yourself like a belt.
If you look at the lattice of "Springs" diagonally,
you'll notice that the coins are rotating because the square hole in the center changes from diamond to square to diamond and so on, 
which I wanted to represent wealth rolling into the painting.

Moreover, I also designed this "Spring" word to look like a flower,
in order to further emphasize that spring is the season for blossoming new life.
(And also to make the butterflies happy).
Emote-Spring 



Well, that's the gist of it! 
Thanks for checking out the drawing! 

love-love-love Vi 

-the visual illiterate- 
 
Image size
6075x8459px 2.41 MB
© 2016 - 2024 thevisualilliterate
Comments26
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inkishdoll's avatar

Love the colors:D