Sculptures composed of lines, geometry, symbols, and memories are a common visual language in Hsi Shih-Pin’s art. He deconstructs and reconstructs familiar animal shapes and totems derived from his extensive collection of religious, architectural and cultural emblems. Various symbolism details are overlapped and transformed into another compositional form, and amidst the shapes and symbols are crisscrossing lines and textures, demonstrating the artist’s multidimensional exploration with shapes and materials. Spectators are able to faintly see their own reflections on the reflective material, which allows for an experience based on memories to be formed from linking together personal imaginations with the form created and the space it is in.
Qiling, the Silver continues from the artist’s extended fasciation with steeds and mythical subject matters. The body of the steed is a projection of strength, as a connection is formed with the mythological prototype through the artist’s imagination. The reconstruction of the prototype grafts the creature to life’s primal memory and desire, calling us back to a time of great thirst for knowledge, enchanting love, and when classicism and magic were equally practiced.