THE BLUE PEOPLE
PETRI DISH, PLASTER, PLASTIC FIGURINES, INK
VARIABLE DIMENSIONS
SCULPTURE
2021
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PETRI DISH, PLASTER, PLASTIC FIGURINES, INK
VARIABLE DIMENSIONS
SCULPTURE
2021
During the home quarantine of the epidemic, I was frightened by the symptoms of a cold and a low fever. At the time, I was met with a cold and even sarcastic response from my brother, which made my anxiety and panic even worse. This got me thinking about what the mental health of those in isolation during the epidemic was like. How did conflicts arise between those in home isolation and those close to them during the epidemic?During the epidemic the Blue Sky Coalition set up a psychological help line, yet they received no more than 1-2 calls in a day, and even when video conferencing was set up, only a single digit number of people actually came through the connection. The number of people concerned about their mental health was very small, and the agencies that provided psychological assistance were rare. I interviewed twenty people who were isolated during the epidemic about their psychological changes and feelings and the conflicts they had with those around them during the isolation. Long periods of isolation, lack of information, inadequate supplies, social and family isolation, fear of infection, financial pressure, and stigma ..... were the main reasons for their psychological problems during the isolation of the epidemic. People who have been isolated are like having a gas bomb in their bodies and it is difficult for these people to return to their old interactions with the people around them.
I saw Anthony Gormley's sculptures during the epidemic and it struck a chord with me, prompting me to create 'The Blue People'.I used 12 plastic figures in different poses and filled the gaps in the plastic figures with putty, found a mould turning factory and had the master turn the moulds in plaster. After making the plastic figures into plaster, I polished the rough plaster figures and finally I placed each of them in a petri dish soaked with Klein blue ink to allow them to stand and change. Klein blue is considered by Yves Klein to be the blue that best represents the essence of the universe, and here the Klein blue coloured ink that is immersed at the bottom symbolises depression and anxiety. They climb up the villain's body, eventually taking over all corners of the plaster villain's body.The colour of the plaster figurine is constantly changing as it absorbs the ink as it penetrates. As the ink climbs upwards, the figurines as a whole experience a change from Klein blue to deep purple to finally becoming completely dry and absorbed, turning back to blue again. Although they are no longer as vibrant and saturated as the Klein blue they started with. These colours continue to struggle on the plaster figurines, but the overall trend is to climb and spread. I have fleshed out the psychological changes of those who have been isolated in the plaster figurines, who seem to have become a new race of people, more visibly exposed to the gaze.Each combination of petri dish and figurine is placed by me on a display case, arranged in the room, high and low, near and far. Like an island on which a silent human being exists. The glassware looks so transparent and fragile, but it literally isolates one person after another.