A Thousand Moons on A Thousand Rivers, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, London, UK (2023)

Named after the omnipresent nature of the symbolic Bodhisattva of compassion, known as the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (meaning: “the moon reflected in the water”), A Thousand Moons on A Thousand Rivers invites the audience to observe Chang paint a large-scale figurative artwork in Chinese ink, and is a rare opportunity to see the artist paint with stretch canvas in a vertical position as opposed to his usual horizonal large-scale canvas works on the floor. Using traditional Chinese brushes which he dips into buckets filled with dark, pigmented ink, Chang paints with gestural, physical movements that invite a sense of transcendence in the fluidi ty of space.

The twenty-minute performances will be accompanied by the sound of percussion instruments playing in deep water and the scraping of strings inside a piano that evoke the sense of moonlight reflecting on water, recreated and recorded by emerging Taiwanese multi-media artist Yu-Jung Chen, and commissioned specifically for the event. Consisting of three movements, the new sound work will be performed by Chen live and in direct response to the painting performer’s dynamic action painting.