Feb 9, 2023

By Vittoria Benzine

Raise Karma featured villagoneart’s co-artist, Orange Li, to share the deep inner dialogue of her work’s inception.

Orange Li, who grew up in Taipei. She is currently living and working in New York City and Jersey City.

She is interested in the In-between nature of existence, which is a process of changes, including transitions, synthesis, and transformation. It is the search to find a connection between humanism, the cellular world, and cosmological systems.

Orange’s work – it’s so outwardly appealing that it almost distracts from its intricacy. Single forms are comprised of smaller ones, snaking, dancing, and mingling in tight throngs. Each inch invites closer inspection.

“Each of my works is a deep inner dialogue, like a conversation with another part of myself that I have met in memories, books, dreams, and feelings,” Orange told the author.

It may match the very state of personhood. She continued, “it becomes a reflection of not just my life but the life of anyone who looks into it. It becomes an image of the infinite possibilities. “

Rather than manipulating the facts, Orange paints directly from her immediate sensations. As such, she said, “The different emotions allow me to express both the sadness and happiness of life, and it helps me to understand the dualities of nature and somehow dissolve them into one.”

She maintains specific rituals to prime herself for receiving her true state’s wisdom. For example, Orange told the author that before she paints, “I organize my work area, make some ginseng or lingzhi tea, then sit quietly with my eyes closed for a few minutes, and focus on my breathing.”

Her description of the process itself felt almost athletic. “While I am painting I just go with the flow, and paint until I am ready to collapse,” she said.

Her artwork is a hybrid of culture, a fusion of spirit and science, thus mixing the diversity of life into a philosophical vessel that explores the boundaries between isolation and wholeness.

Orange Li Star Gazer (2021) Acrylic on Canvas 36x36"

   Star Gazer (2021)  Acrylic on Canvas   Presented by VillageOneArt

Read more at Raise Karma.