Scattered Pearls

ongoing series since 2020

works on paper, often displayed in the form of installation



Ancient Persian poets compare poetry to a pearl necklace. Each couplet in the poem is like a pearl. Once strung by meter and grammar, they form a perfect verse. Deeply influenced by Indian and Persian art and literature, Han Mengyun recreated the poetic imagery in the mind of Persian poets in works such as “A Broken Verse I”(part of The Pavilion of Three Mirrors ) , a manuscript-like painting depicting a severed string of pearls. “Scattered Pearls” (ongoing since 2021), on the other hand, is a series of works on paper inspired by another form of Persian literature—prose, which evokes the image of loosely scattered pearls that engage in an open and spatial dialogue with one another. 


Scattered Pearls: Woman

2023

acrylic on paper, artist designed stainless steel wall mount

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Scattered Pearls: The World

2023

ink and white gold leaf on papar, artist designed stainless steel wall mount

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Scattered Pearls: The Trace of Time

2023

Ink and gold leaf on paper, artist designed stainless steel wall mount

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Scattered Pearls: Tasbih

2023

ink and mineral pigment on papar, artist designed stainless steel wall mount

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Scattered Pearls: Wisdom

2023

ink and gold leaf on paper, artist designed stainless steel wall mount

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Exhibition View, Han Mengyun, The Unending Rose, ShanghART Shanghai, 2023

Scattered Pearls: Ways of Nomenclature

2023

ink, mineral pigment and white gold leaf on paper

triptych, each 28.5x19cm

overall: 28.5x57cms

“Scattered Pearls: Ways of Nomenclature” (2023) focuses on the intangible nature of thought and the various forms of language.The Sanskrit word khapupa meaning “sky flower" in Chinese Buddhist sutras, denote things that do not exist. Three pearls represent the Buddhist ideals known as the “Three Jewels” (triratna), namely the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The floral pattern from Tang Dynasty is a signifier that crystalizes the signified—nature— into a highly abstract symbol. By
juxtaposing language, image and pattern, Han Mengyun reflects on the interrelationship between various ways of naming the world and its myriad things, as well as on the mechanism of meaning construction, in order to render things that do not exist in the mind, such as flowers in the sky.

Exhibition View, Han Mengyun, "The Shape of Silence", Painting Unsettled, UCCA EDGE, Shanghai, 2023

Finding Simorgh

2021

ink and gold leaf on paper, artist designed stainless steel bookstand

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Her III

2023

acrylic on paper; ink and silver leaf on paper, artist designed stainless steel bookstand

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Prison of Love

2021

ink and mineral pigment on paper, artist designed stainless steel bookstand

Diptych, each: 28.5(H) x 19cm ;Overall: 28.5(H) x 38cm

Sors!

2023

Ink and silver leaf on paper; artist designed stainless steel frame

19x28.5cm

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